AQA, one of the UK’s largest awarding organisations of qualifications, has made a welcome announcement following the recent Ofqual consultation over whether there should be a resit opportunity for A level subjects that changed in September 2015.

As well as agreeing that there will in fact be a resit opportunity in 2017 for the outgoing specifications, AQA have also stated that there will be an opportunity to sit the exams for the first time for students that have enrolled on these courses before September 2015.

The official letter from AQA on 4th February sets out the Ofqual guidelines that re-sits only should be held in 2017. AQA go on to state that: ‘However we recognise that students may have enrolled for these courses before September 2015 intending to complete the course of study over several years…’

2017 will be the final opportunity to resit exams for outgoing NEC A levels in:

• Business Studies
• Sociology
• Psychology
• English Language
• English Language and Literature
• English Literature

Student Services Development Manager at NEC Louise Tolhurst is responsible for ensuring that NEC students get the right information about exams, as well as working with our partnership exam centres across the country.

‘I am really pleased to hear that there will be an opportunity for NEC students to resit these exams in 2017,’ she said. ‘It is also great to see that AQA are acknowledging that not all students have the same needs, and that some may have enrolled before the specifications changed with the intention of spreading study over a number of years.

‘Having this flexibility, which is one of the things that appeals to students about distance learning, will give many of our students peace of mind. It will also be a motivator for those who are at risk of not continuing because of the time pressures placed on them.’

If you are an NEC student and want to know how this affects you, please do get in touch with us. You may also find AQA’s timeline of changes useful. You can find this here.