Does the Science Practical Endorsement Carry Forward When You Resit?

No, provided you already hold a Pass. A Pass carries forward to a resit and can be used alongside the new grade. You would be re-sitting the written papers only.

If your endorsement was recorded as Not Classified, there is nothing to carry forward and you would need to complete the twelve required practicals again with a centre able to assess them.

Yes. OCR states a Pass may be carried forward even where the resit is with a different exam board, using the appropriate entry code. AQA confirms the science practical result carries forward even if it was awarded by a different awarding body, and publishes a list of compatible specifications across AQA, OCR, Pearson Edexcel and Eduqas.

Check the specific specification pairing before you rely on it, and get the entry code confirmed in writing.

It carries for the lifetime of the specification, with no time restriction. There is no rule that it expires after one year, two years or five years.

The limit is the specification itself. If the specification you originally sat has been withdrawn and replaced, the compatibility table is where you check whether the old result still maps to the new one.

It means the endorsement was not achieved. The centre did not judge that you had consistently met the CPAC competencies across the required practical activities.

It is reported separately from the A*–E grade and does not reduce it. There is no partial result: the endorsement is either Pass or Not Classified.

Yes. The endorsement can be entered separately from the written papers, which is the position for a candidate who holds an acceptable grade but was recorded as Not Classified.

It requires a centre with a laboratory and the ability to assess against CPAC, running the twelve required practicals across the year. Our own charge for the endorsement alone, where the written papers are entered elsewhere, is on the exam fees page.

You can be awarded the A*–E grade without the endorsement, the two are reported separately, and the endorsement does not contribute to the grade. Your certificate would show the grade alongside Not Classified.

Whether that is acceptable depends entirely on where you are applying. Many university science and medical courses require a Pass in the endorsement as a condition of the offer. Check the specific course before deciding this is a route you can take.

No. It is reported separately as Pass or Not Classified and makes no contribution to the grade.

What does affect your grade is practical knowledge: at least 15% of the marks in an A-Level science assess practical skills, examined within the ordinary written papers. Carrying forward the endorsement does not excuse you from learning that material.

Because universities and employers treat the endorsement as evidence that you have worked in a laboratory. Science and medical courses commonly make a Pass a condition of the offer, and a Not Classified on the certificate is visible for the life of the certificate.

It also matters for the written papers, where practical technique, apparatus, error analysis and experimental design are directly examined.

Twelve per subject at A-Level. A centre completing the endorsement must be able to demonstrate that reasonable opportunities were provided to undertake at least twelve appropriate practical activities.

AS Level carries no formal practical endorsement, but AS papers assume six required practical activities and examine them on paper.

CPAC stands for the Common Practical Assessment Criteria. It is the shared set of competencies against which the endorsement is judged, following written procedures, applying investigative approaches, using apparatus safely and correctly, and keeping appropriate records.

The criteria are common across the awarding bodies, which is one reason a Pass transfers between them.

Your Unique Candidate Identifier, the awarding body and specification code of the original award, the series in which it was awarded, and evidence of the Pass, normally the statement of results.

Ask the centre to confirm in writing which entry code they have used, and check it against the awarding body's published entry codes.

It is printed on your statement of results. If you no longer have that, the school or college that entered you holds it, and the awarding body can confirm it on request with identity evidence.

Do not let a centre proceed without it. An entry made under a fresh UCI gives the awarding body nothing to match a carry-forward against.

Yes. It is made with the entry, so the operative deadline is the entry deadline, 21 February 2027 for the Summer 2027 series.

Late entries are accepted for a period afterwards at an increased fee, but a carry-forward attached to a late entry leaves less time to correct an error.

No. A standard entry will not pull an old endorsement through. The centre must make a positive carry-forward request, or select the transferred-endorsement entry option, using a specific entry code.

This is the single most common point of failure. Check your statement of entry when it arrives.

Yes. The result sits with the awarding body against your UCI, not with the school. A closed centre does not remove an awarded result.

You will need your UCI and your statement of results. If both are lost, the awarding body is the route to recovering them.

No, because AS Level carries no formal practical endorsement to carry forward. The endorsement exists only at A-Level.

AS papers do assume six required practical activities, and that practical content is examined on paper, but there is no separate Pass or Not Classified line at AS.

No. The endorsement is per subject. Carrying forward a Chemistry endorsement has no bearing on a Biology entry, and vice versa.

Each subject you resit needs its own carry-forward request against the same UCI.

No. The certificate records the endorsement as Pass. It does not annotate the series or centre in which the endorsement was originally achieved.

This is not a route open to candidates studying in the UK. Pearson states that its International A Levels are not available for candidates studying in the UK, so the question does not arise for a domestic resit.

If you are resitting in England, you are resitting a domestic A-Level, and the carry-forward rules above apply.

The current endorsement was introduced with the reformed linear specifications. Practical work assessed under a legacy modular specification is not the same qualification component and does not map onto the current endorsement.

If your original award predates the reformed specification, assume you need to complete the endorsement and confirm the position with the awarding body before you pay for anything.

For the endorsement itself, yes, there is nothing to assess. But at least 15% of the written-paper marks assess practical skills, so laboratory teaching still improves your paper.

We teach the practical content of the specification to carry-forward candidates as part of the ordinary course, using our laboratory, without charging the endorsement rate.

The centre. The endorsement is centre-assessed against CPAC and confirmed by a declaration from the centre to the awarding body, subject to monitoring visits.

It is not marked by an external examiner and there is no paper to sit.

Ask them to identify the rule they are relying on. OCR and AQA both publish the opposite position, and AQA publishes the compatible specification list.

If the answer is that the centre cannot process a carry-forward. That is a statement about the centre rather than about the regulations, and you should find a centre that can.