Arrangements for private candidates for 2021 examinations

Due to the ongoing pandemic, exams for summer 2021 have been cancelled and schools and colleges will produce Centre Determined Grades for their learners for approved GCSE, AS and A level, and Skills Challenge Certificate qualifications in Wales.

You are a private candidate if you do not study at a school or college and are not entered for qualifications by a school or college. Some examples are:

School-age learners who are educated at home by their parents or carers, or private tutors
Adults who study independently
Learners who study with a distance learning provider that does not offer exam entry

You may also be a private candidate if you study at school or college, but you also study an additional subject that is not offered at your school or college, for example, a language like Latin or Russian.

Depending on whether you already know a school or college that has agreed to enter you for a qualification, there are two possible routes for you to take to be assessed for qualifications.

These routes apply to approved Wales-only GCSE, AS and A level, and Skills Challenge Certificate qualifications offered by WJEC only.

Separate arrangements are in place for learners taking GCSEs and AS and A levels offered by other awarding bodies. More information can be found on the Qualification Wales website.

The term ‘centre’ refers to a school, college or other educational establishment that has learners attend their site for teaching and assessment.

1. Centre-assessed route: If you know a school or college that has already agreed to enter you for a qualification and carry out assessment of your work, this can continue as planned.
2. Centre-hosted route: If you do not know a school or college, you will be able to find one that will enter you in your region of Wales. For Carmarthenshire, this centre is Ysgol Gyfun Y Strade, Llanelli. Please do not contact them directly. Please register your details below and they will contact you.

The deadline for applications is April 26. For the purposes of administering the applications in Carmarthenshire, please complete the online form by 12 midnight on April 25 so that we can provide the information to WJEC of all candidates by the due date.

REGISTRATION FORM

Other bodies such as the WJEC or Qualifications Wales may be aware that you’re interested in applying. We will cross check with other organisations so that various routes to expressing an interest have been explored and pursued.