Cambridge Advanced Nationals, our new Level 3 Alternative Academic Qualifications (AAQs), have been approved for funding for first teach from September 2025. 

This page provides a summary of the admin arrangements. Detailed step-by-step guidance on administering these qualifications will be available from September 2025.

Cambridge Advanced Nationals are unitised, series-based qualifications. Each qualification consists of a combination of examined and non-examined assessment (NEA) units. 

Each year, there will be two exam series (January and June series). 

There will also be two moderation windows:

• In the first year, these will be in Spring (February series) and Summer (June series). 
• After the first year, these will be in Winter (February series) and Summer. 

Exams are paper-based and must be administered according to the JCQ Instructions for conducting examinations (ICE). 

Non-examined assessment (NEA) units are assessed using an OCR-set assignment, marked by the teacher and and moderated via a face-to-face or virtual visit: 

• You choose the method of moderation for each series by submitting a visit arrangement form. 
• The number of criteria achieved for each unit is the ‘raw mark’, which must be submitted 10 working days before your visit. 
• You will then receive a sample request, which must be uploaded to our Submit for Assessment service 3 working days before your visit. 
• Verbal feedback will be given on the day of the visit and written feedback will be sent to you shortly afterwards. 

For more details about the assessment process, please see our specifications, which can be downloaded from the qualification pages.

Most OCR centres in England will be automatically approved to offer Cambridge Advanced Nationals. 

Centres that offer OCR qualifications that do not contain formal timetabled exams and non-OCR centres will need to request approval – see our support pages for more details. 

Cambridge Advanced Nationals are not available to centres in Wales or Northern Ireland.

Deadlines will align with existing series key dates wherever possible. Please see the key dates timeline. 

The provisional timetables are produced so schools and colleges have an opportunity to raise any concerns before the final timetables are published. Please send feedback as shown in the following table:

At the start of the course, you need to register your students for the relevant Cambridge Advanced Nationals subject. 

When they are ready for assessment, you make exam and NEA unit entries for the relevant series. 

At the end of the course, you make a certification entry in the final series. 

See our support pages for more details about entries and registrations.

Cambridge Advanced Nationals units are graded pass, merit and distinction. 

For examined units, unit grades and marks will be issued to centres on set results days for release to students the following day. The raw mark the student achieves on the paper is converted to a mark on the uniform mark scale (UMS). 

For NEA units, centres will already know the outcome of moderation following their visit. On results day, you will be sent the unit grades and the raw marks (number of criteria), which will be converted to UMS.

Cambridge Advanced Nationals qualifications are graded Pass, Merit, Distinction and Distinction*. 

Qualification level UMS grade boundaries are available in the specifications. 

Certification is available from the February 2026 series and will then be available every January, February and June series. 

For students with a certification entry, qualification grades will be issued at the same time as any unit results they achieve for that series. 

In the summer, results will be issued at the same time as A Levels.