Making changes to your entries successfully

Sharon Green, Manager (Entries and Results), Assessment Processing, Operations

This blog has been updated since last published in 2023.

Once you’ve made your general qualifications and Cambridge Nationals entries for the June series, you may need to make amendments or even withdraw them. Making sure your entries are correct before the final entry deadline ensures you won’t incur any unexpected late entry fees. However, once you receive your entry feedback documents from us, this provides another opportunity to check both your entries and your candidates’ details are correct.

Interchange or A2C?

You can use A2C or Interchange to make amendments to your entry file. However, it’s really important to submit any amendments using the same method (A2C or Interchange) as you submitted your original entry file. If amendments are submitted via a different method to the one you originally used then the information in your amendment file will completely overwrite your original entry file on our systems. If you stick to the general principle of using A2C or Interchange, not both, you won’t go far wrong!

Keep your MIS up to date

Take care to ensure your own management information system (MIS) is kept updated – if you’re making amendments via Interchange then any changes won’t automatically feed back into your records, whereas A2C automatically feeds amended details back to your MIS.

Making personal detail amendments 

You can make amendments to candidates’ personal details free of charge until certificates are printed. In general, this is mid September (apart from early certificates, which are printed on or around 1 September). Any requested changes after certificates have been printed will mean certificates have to be reissued and replacement certificate charges will be applied. See our fees list.

You can use A2C or Interchange to amend candidate details until the withdrawal deadline for each exam series.

After the withdrawal deadline, you can still make amendments but these need to be emailed to us at entries@ocr.org.uk.

You should also make sure any amendments made to candidate details on your MIS and via A2C or Interchange are consistent with the details on the Learning Records Service (LRS) website. If they aren’t, the candidate’s unique learner number (ULN) will no longer be valid.

What if a candidate changes their name?

• If a candidate changes their name before the withdrawal deadline then you can change this on your system and let us know via either A2C or Interchange. If the withdrawal deadline has passed, please email us at entries@ocr.org.uk.
  
• If the candidate’s full name is correct at the time of the award, but changes later, we can’t reissue a certificate with their new name. However, if the candidate is going on to take other qualifications in a later exam series, please make sure their new name is recorded on your MIS, via either A2C or Interchange, and amended with the LRS. 
• The exception to this is where a candidate undergoes a gender reassignment – in this case their previous certificates can be reissued with their new name. Please contact our Replacement Certificates Team.

Will I be charged if I make a change to an entry option or tier? 

If you’re changing the method of moderation (eg from postal to upload) or whether to carry forward a candidate’s results for a moderated component, there’s no charge. 

If you change an entry option that involves a change to a question paper, late entry fees apply from 22 February unless it’s a tier change – you have until 21 April to make tier changes free of charge. 

For full details of which fees apply when, please take a look at our fees list.

If I withdraw a candidate, are entry fees refunded? 

Refunds for withdrawn entries from the June series are available until the following deadlines:

• GCSE, Entry Level Certificate and Cambridge Nationals – 21 March
• AS and A Level, Core Maths, Extended Project and FMSQ – 21 April
  

It’s still possible to withdraw an entry after these dates (until the withdrawal deadline – more details below), but we’re unable to refund your entry fees unless there is a medical reason and a certificate is supplied.

When are your final withdrawal deadlines?

The deadline for making entry withdrawals is approximately one week before results are issued for each series. Take a look at our key dates for the specific deadlines. After these dates, it's not possible to withdraw your entries.

Do you still have questions? We’d love to help. Call us on 01223 553998 or email us at support@ocr.org.uk.

About the author

The Entries and Results team manages all entry processing for general and Cambridge Nationals qualifications as well as the issuing of results. Sharon started her role at OCR as the Entries and Results manager in 2015 but previously worked in the Sales Ledger Finance team at Cambridge Assessment for 24 years, starting as an assistant and working her way up to Sales Ledger Manager. After so many years she felt it was time to broaden her horizons, take on a new challenge and learn everything there is to know about assessment processing.