Top tips for receiving and managing your question paper materials

This blog has been updated for the June 2024 series.

Jayne Harris, Customer Support Manager for Durham, East Riding of Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, North Yorkshire, Northumberland, South Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear and West Yorkshire 

In her first blog, Jayne Harris, our Customer Support Manager explains what question paper materials you’ll receive when and provides some tips on managing them effectively. 

As the exam series rapidly approaches, I thought it might be helpful to give you an overview of what we’ll be sending you in the coming weeks from OCR and share some of the top tips from my previous role as an exams officer. 

Sending confidential question paper materials 

From the end of April, we’ll be sending out question papers for our general qualifications (AS, A Level, FSMQ, GCSE, Core Maths) and Cambridge Nationals. All Cambridge Technicals question papers will be sent together in early May. You can see the specific despatch dates in our key dates spreadsheets. 

It’s worth remembering we send a ‘despatch email’ for every question paper despatch – this contains the DHL tracking reference, which you can use to set up reminders and check who’s signed for your delivery. 

Please note that modified papers are sent separately to the main question papers and, while they may arrive at the same time, in some cases, they may arrive a couple of days before the exam date. 

In all cases, Braille question paper materials will be sent separately – they’re sent via Royal Mail special delivery tracked service (and you won’t receive a despatch email for these papers). 

Receiving question papers materials

It’s critical everyone involved in the process understands their role and responsibilities. These are outlined in the JCQ Instructions for conducting examinations. 

The receipt log must be completed and you must have robust arrangements in place to guarantee confidential materials are never left unattended. The JCQ has a handy receipt log template available which you can adapt to use for your own centre. The JCQ centre inspector may ask to see your receipt log at an inspection visit. 

All confidential materials need to be immediately transferred to the secure room for checking. 

Remember, your reception staff, or any other member of staff, can also refuse to take delivery if there are no keyholders to your centre's secure storage available to receive them or they can’t be stored securely immediately! 

If you experience any issues receiving your question paper materials, please do let us know. Our logistics team tracks every delivery and follows up all reports with our courier, DHL, directly. 

Checking question paper materials 

The exams officer or authorised person must open the boxes and check the materials in your secure room. These must be checked as soon as possible on the day you receive them and, if that's not possible, no later than the next working day. If they can't be checked on the day of receipt, the boxes must be placed, unopened, in your secure facility until the next working day.

The question paper packets must be checked against the despatch note and the centre timetable or entries – a log of the check must be kept. The JCQ inspector may ask to see this log during an inspection visit.

You can use the JCQ Exams Materials Receipt Log template and adapt it for your centre. Alternatively, you could use a copy of your centre timetable showing the number of entries and use this as your log. 

For modified papers, you might want to print the individual timetables for any students requiring modified question papers and display them in your secure room – to mark off when received. 

When checking confidential question papers: 

1. Open all boxes and find the despatch note – for OCR, there’s a sticker on the box containing the despatch note (this box also contains your attendance registers and script return labels). 
2. Check your materials against the despatch note and your centre timetable or entries – do not open any of the sealed question paper packets until the permitted time on the day of the exam.
3. Record and highlight the number of papers you receive to make sure you have enough and you can see which papers you are still waiting for.
4. If you have any issues, contact us – if you don’t have enough papers, the number you have received differs from the despatch note, or any of the packets have been damaged in any way, please immediately contact our Customer Support Centre on 01233 553998 or at support@ocr.org.uk. 

Tip: Prepare your ‘second pair of eyes log’ before exams start. You could use the JCQ template or you could print out a copy of your centre timetable with additional columns for two signatures, time and date of checking/opening for use on the exam day. 

Storing question paper materials 

Following the checking, question paper packets should be arranged in timetable order and stored immediately in the secure storage facility. How you organise your question papers will depend on the size and type of your secure storage but clearly indicating the different dates and sessions helps to reduce the risk of selecting the wrong question paper on exam day. 

Remember: Your secure storage facility must only contain current and ‘live’ confidential materials. Mock/internal papers may be stored in the secure ‘room’ but must be always kept separately from ‘live’ awarding body material and be clearly identified. 

Attendance registers and script return labels 

For general qualifications and Cambridge Nationals, we’ll send your script return labels (yellow and white) and attendance registers with your question papers in an ‘admin pack’, which will be clearly identified. Unlike the question paper packets, you can open the envelope containing these as soon as they arrive. We do the same for Cambridge Technicals, but your ‘admin pack’ will also include the script return envelopes. 

If you don't receive your 'admin pack', please let us know.

Tip: Check these materials against your centre timetable to confirm receipt and then file them in date order in a file within your secure room.

Once we have sent script return labels in the 'admin pack', we continue to generate and despatch labels for any late changes. Please destroy any old labels and use the new label. 

For general qualifications and Cambridge Nationals, you can request one emergency replacement label per exam from Interchange. If you need more than one label or need a Cambridge Technicals label, please contact us.  

Exam stationery 

For general qualifications and Cambridge Nationals, you should already have received your exam stationery – this includes generic answer booklets, data booklets and script return envelopes. Please check the materials you receive against the packing note provided.

If you’re missing anything or need any more items such as four-page continuation booklets (OCR4), you can request these from our Customer Support Centre. You can see everything that we send (and also that you need to provide) for each exam in our stationery listing. 

For Cambridge Technicals, we don't send four-page continuation booklets (OCR4) as standard as there’s plenty of answer space already included in the question paper. However, if you find your candidates do need some extra pages, you can request the continuation booklets by calling our Customer Support Centre on 01223 553998. 

Remember: All exam stationery must be stored in the secure room and returned there at the end of every exam. It’s good practice to store stationery in the secure storage facility if you have the space, but it’s not mandatory.

Stay connected 

We’re here to support you, so if you have any queries about digital question papers, please contact us on 01223 553998 or email us as support@ocr.org.uk. 

About the author

Jayne Harris – Customer Support Manager

Jayne joined OCR in January 2022 as the Customer Support Manager supporting centres in the North East, Yorkshire and Humberside. She has worked within the education sector since 1997. She has over 16 years’ experience as an Exams Manager within secondary schools and Sixth Form colleges so can relate to the challenges EOs face on a daily basis, but also remembers how rewarding the role can be. Jayne is passionate about providing the highest standard of support to our customers.