NEA stands for Non-Exam Assessment

NEA stands for Non-Exam Assessment although most people would still consider it to be coursework and that is what it is often called.  You prepare for and work to produce the NEA throughout your course but the final project must be fully submitted by the 15th of March in the year you are sitting your examination.  Your tutor will help you prepare and plan for the NEA and carry out the initial marking, but the exam board has the final say.

What is NEA?

NEA stands for Non-Examination Assessment, although most people would still consider it to be coursework and that is what it continues to be called.  You prepare for and work to produce the NEA throughout your course but the final project must be fully submitted by the 15th of March in the year you are sitting your examination.

Arranging your exam if you are doing NEA

If you are studying AQA A Level English Language, English Literature or History or GCSE English, then your subject has an NEA component and the way you book your exams is different from any other subject.

Here is a brief summary of the exam process;

Oxford Open Learning (OOL) or Oxford Homeschooling (OHS) will be your “ENTERING CENTRE” i.e. the centre where you make your exam entry and you will pay us to make your exam entry. We only charge the exam board entry fee and the transfer fee plus a much smaller admin fee than most other entering centres.

You will not sit your written exam papers with us, you will sit these at what is known as a “HOST” centre. Your host centre will usually be somewhere that is closer to where you live. You must find your host centre before we can make an exam entry. In order to do this, you should initially follow our instructions for finding a normal centre.

When you have located somewhere to help, you will need to explain that you are a candidate with Oxford Open Learning or OHS (make this clear, it often helps) and you are looking for somewhere that will “HOST” you as a “TRANSFER CANDIDATE” for the written exams only. The host centre does not have anything to do with your NEA/coursework, we deal with all of that, they do not have to pay anything to AQA or make your entry, they only have to fill in their centre details on the transfer form and offer you a place to sit the written exam. You pay them for this and it should be substantially less than the cost of a normal exam entry.

Here is the sequence of events;

  1. Look for a host centre, as early as possible and definitely before the Christmas holidays as many places now get full very early. Use the instructions on our website and our centre map to locate a possible centre. We cannot take your entry until you can confirm and provide details of your host centre.
  2. You will need to give our details to your host centre (see below) and explain to the exam officer that OOL/OHS will send the transfer form to them at the appropriate time.
  3. When you have found an exam officer to help, make it very clear that they should not enter you for the NEA subject. Say that OOL will:
    • make the exam entry,
    • mark the NEA/coursework and
    • sort out any enquiries about results.
    • send the exam officer the transfer form
    • arrange payment of the transfer fee to AQA
    • deal with any SENCO issues

    Jenny Booth, jenny@ool.co.uk or tel. 01865 798022,  centre number 62373 will be happy to speak to them to explain further if necessary.

  4. If the exam officer agrees to help you, ask for confirmation in an email, or even better find out their fee for hosting the exam and pay them straight away. You do not want to be in a situation where the exam officer gets very busy during February and changes their mind about helping you.
  5. When you have confirmed your host centre, fill in our entry form and pay for your full exam entry. Do not arrange your host centre and then forget to make the full exam entry, this could be extremely expensive or even not possible at all. Entry fees will be on the form we send to you.