Taking exams as a private candidate
In this article, Karen Binedell, mum to ‘Our Travelling Family’, talks about finding an exam centre as a private candidate.
It’s January 2020 and if, like us, you have a child preparing to write their GCSE Levels’s in May you will be at the point where you need to register at an exam centre. I’ve been told that this is something many families find stressful but fear not, the entire process (from start to finish) is simple, straightforward and stress free. And rest assured, in the unlikely event that you encounter issues along the way, your Wolsey Hall exam officer is but an email away – ready, willing and able to assist.
To guide you through the process I’ll share a step by step account of how we went about registering.
November 2019
We received an email from Nuha Lami, our international exams officer, letting us know that the exam timetables for May and June were available and we could begin the process of booking our exam centre.
December 2019
We had originally thought Sebastian would write his GCSE Levels’s in France but due to a change in circumstances it looked more likely that he would write in Portugal. We consulted our exam centre list (available from Wolsey Hall) and found that our closest exam centre would be the International School in Aljezur. I sent an email to the school enquiring as to whether it would be possible for Sebastian to register as a private candidate and asking if they could let me know what the costs involved would be.
3rd January 2020
I received a reply from the school saying it would be possible for Sebastian to register and asking for additional information such as: full name, date of birth, GCSE Level subjects, parent’s name, tax number and address. We were also sent a price list with a detailed breakdown of the costs involved and were told that fees needed to be paid in full by the 7th of February.
13th January 2020
We received our ‘Statement of Entry’ and were asked to check that all the details were correct. We confirmed that everything was as it should be, paid the fees and that was that.
Handy hints
• Consult your exam centre list sooner rather than later so that you have plenty of time to choose the right school/centre for you.
• Request information on cost of exams/registration as this can vary considerably from school to school and country to country.
• Should you have any concerns feel free to contact Wolsey Hall Oxford.
