Private Candidates are students who have not studied with the exam centre that makes their entry. Included in this group are, for example:
- school age students who have been home educated,
- adults who have studied independently,
- students who have studied with a distance learning provider which does not offer exam entry,
- students at a school or college who have studied an additional subject outside of the school or college; and
- students returning to their former centre to resit a qualification.
Past papers for private candidates
The GCSE, AS and A Level past papers from the exceptional Autumn 2020 exam series have now been published and are available on the subject pages of our website.
Past papers from the Autumn 2021 exam series continue to be available to teachers only, in line with usual practices.
Private Candidates who are intending to enter for an examination in Summer 2022 and who require the Autumn 2021 exam materials to support their exam preparation can now request access to these materials.
We recommend that you first discuss this with the centre that has accepted your entry. Where this is not possible, you may also request the materials by following the instructions below.
You can find a range of past papers for our International GCSE and International A level qualifications on the subject pages of our website.
Some past papers continue to be available to teachers only, in line with usual practices. In preparation for the Summer 2022 series, centres have been advised to make use of past paper material for contingency assessments, in the unlikely event that exams are cancelled. It is important that student have not already sat these papers ahead of the contingency assessments.
We recognise that private candidates who are intending to enter for an examination in Summer 2022 may require access to additional past paper marks schemes to support their exam preparation.
UK-based private candidates who have entered, or intend to enter, for an International GCSE exam in Summer 2022 should request additional past papers and mark schemes by following the instructions below.
You will need to inform your entering centre that you have accessed these materials, so that they can take this into account when setting contingency assessments.
International private candidates who have made an entry for Summer 2022 via the British Council should contact the British Council to request additional past papers and mark schemes.
Please download and complete the relevant past paper request form and attach this to a case using our customer portal.
To create the case, you will need to complete the details as shown below, selecting the relevant qualification and subject from the drop-down lists:
Once complete, select 'Next' and provide your personal details, then select 'Next' again.
You should then select the option to 'Send us a message' and upload your form when prompted.
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