Entries – getting it right first time! – Sharon Green
07 March 2016
Within the Entries Team, we often find centres make the same mistakes when making entries. This isn’t surprising given the complexity of the system, the number of candidates, qualifications and awarding bodies that are involved! However, getting your entries right first time can save a lot of time, effort and, in many cases, late entry fees, which might be needed to put it right…
We cover a lot of information in our Essential entries guide but here are a few more things we thought it was worth covering again in the run up to the June 2016 entry deadline (21 February). We hope you find it useful but if you have any questions, please get in touch on 01223 553998 or at general.qualifications@ocr.org.uk.
Personal details
Name
| Must include surname and forename(s) and be the candidate’s legal name.
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Gender
| Male or female
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Date of birth (DOB)
| Must be provided
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Unique candidate identifier (UCI)
| Must be provided and be in the correct format – OCR formatting allows 13 digits, 12 numeric followed by 1 alpha.
If you have candidates with more than one UCI, please email us at OCRGQ.EntryProcessing@ocr.org.uk so we can merge them. |
Unique leaner number (ULN)
| Must match the details held by the Learning Record Service (LRS)
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Candidate number
| Must be unique for the series and cannot to be changed mid series |
An incorrect name, gender, DOB or ULN will prevent candidates’ results updating on the Learning Records Service (LRS) website.
Unit and certification entries
Units
| Candidates can’t be entered for the same unit at different centres.
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Option codes/tiers
| If an option code or tier is required, please include it with the entry.
Candidates must only be entered for one option code or tier per unit.
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Mixed moderation
| Only one moderation method can be used for each individual unit, e.g. postal moderation, visiting moderation or OCR Repository.
The singular moderation method doesn’t apply to carry forward coursework entries – they are entered as a separate option.
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Carry forward
| The carry forward option must only be used if a candidate has previously been entered for that unit and certification code.
If a candidate completed all units in a previous series and was not certificated, as long as the terminal requirement is met, a late certification can be made. Without a certification, a carry forward entry cannot be made.
Carry forward will only work if the UCI used by the candidate is the same for all relevant series.
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Certification
| Candidates must not be entered for the same certification at different centres.
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Certification (GCSE)
| Candidates must be entered for units with a view to meeting the 100% terminal requirement.
A certification entry must not be made unless the candidate has met the 100% terminal requirement.
If a candidate is eligible to certificate then you need to make a certification entry.
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Certification (GCE and Cambridge Nationals)
| Certification entries must only be made once all the applicable units have been entered. The units can be entered over different series. |
Entry and amendment files
Initial entries
| GCSE and GCE entries must be sent in separate files: 6a for GCSE and 6b for GCE.
Make sure you only send one entry file for each one – subsequent entries must be sent as amendment files as otherwise they will overwrite the previous file.
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Entry amendments
| Use only one method for making entries (either A2C or Interchange). Mixing entry methods can lead to earlier exam entries being overwritten on our systems.
Submit amendment files in the correct sequence. Files submitted out of sequence can also lead to files being overwritten. |
About the author
Sharon Green - Manager (Entries and Set-up), Assessment Processing, Operations.
The Entries and Set-up team manage all entry processing for 14-19 qualifications and the maintenance of product reference data. Sharon has worked at OCR as the Entries and Set-up manager for seven months 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.