General information for England, not advice. Every board, centre and university has its own rules, and they change: check with each before you commit.
The basics of sitting exams without a school (what a private candidate is, finding a centre through JCQ, arranging extra time) are the same as for GCSEs, and our guide to GCSEs as a private candidate covers them. The wider choices at 16 are in home education after 16.
Which subjects are straightforward
Plenty of A levels come with no conditions at all for a private candidate, and those are the easiest to arrange: the centre only has to enter you and seat you for the papers. These are AQA's conditions, subject by subject:
| What AQA asks of the centre | A levels |
|---|---|
| No extra conditions | Accounting, business, economics, law, mathematics, further mathematics, philosophy, politics, psychology, religious studies, sociology |
| Practical skills endorsement | Biology, chemistry, physics |
| Non-exam assessment, supervised and marked | English language, English literature A and B, English language and literature, history |
| Non-exam assessment with four days of fieldwork | Geography |
| Fieldwork supervised by a teacher, with a declaration | Environmental science |
| Speaking test | French, German, Spanish |
The table comes from AQA's page on AS and A-levels for private candidates, where several other languages, including Bengali, Panjabi and Polish, have no extra conditions either. Four subjects aren't on the list at all: art and design, computer science, drama, and design and technology.
Pearson says a UK centre can enter private candidates for any qualification it's approved to offer, but only if it's confident it can manage the non-exam assessment properly. In practice that comes to the same thing as AQA's conditions.
The science practical endorsement
A level biology, chemistry and physics each come with a practical endorsement. Students do at least 12 required practical activities over the course, and a teacher assesses them against a common set of criteria. The endorsement is reported as a separate result alongside the grade, as a pass. The grade itself comes from the written papers, and at least 15% of their marks are about practical work.
That makes the sciences the hardest A levels to take outside school. Most of the practicals need laboratory equipment, so AQA's guidance for private candidates says you'll have to find a school or college willing to run them and assess them, and warns there's likely to be "a considerable cost". The same note says a student without the endorsement is likely to have "not classified" on the certificate.
Some centres that take private candidates for written exams won't do this, because it means lab time and a teacher's judgement spread over the whole course. Raise it in your first conversation with a centre, before your child starts studying.
Can you skip it? Pearson's rules for centres describe a candidate who has declined the science endorsement, with a form the centre sends to Pearson. Universities may still expect it. King's College, Cambridge, tells home-educated applicants that their science qualifications should include the practical elements, so check the course you're aiming for before you decide.
Retaking with an endorsement already done
If your child has already passed the endorsement and is resitting the papers, it doesn't have to be done again. AQA lets private candidates carry forward a previous endorsement, even one awarded by a different board. OCR says the same and adds that NEA results can be carried forward for the lifetime of the specification.
Coursework in English, history and geography
At A level the coursework is called non-exam assessment (NEA). For each AQA subject that has it, the centre must supervise the work, authenticate it and mark it, and accept responsibility for the whole qualification. The exceptions are the French, German and Spanish speaking tests, which AQA marks itself.
AQA's history NEA shows what that involves. It's a historical investigation of about 3,500 to 4,500 words, on an issue set in a context of roughly 100 years. The centre marks it and AQA moderates the marks. The title has to be approved first, on a form the centre sends no later than 20 October in the year before the course ends. For a student finishing in June 2027, that date has already passed.
The centre is vouching that the work is your child's own, so it needs to supervise it as it's written rather than receive a finished essay. JCQ's key dates put the deadline for centres to send A level coursework marks to the boards at 15 May 2027, so the work has to be finished and marked before the written exams begin.
Before you choose a coursework subject, ask the centre which board and specification it teaches, whether it supervises NEA for private candidates, and what it charges for the marking.
International A levels
International A levels can avoid some of the NEA. They're a different qualification from the A levels taken in schools in England, with their own content and assessment.
- Pearson Edexcel International Advanced Level Biology tests practical skills in two written exam units. Its getting started guide for teachers says: "There is no coursework or practical exam." The units can be sat in January, May to June or October.
- Cambridge International AS & A Level Biology (9700) is open to private candidates, but its Paper 3 is a two-hour, laboratory-based practical exam. The lab work is shorter than an endorsement, but it's still there.
Pearson says its International A levels remain comparable to A levels, citing NARIC. What counts is whether the university you want accepts them for your course, and that's for each university to decide. Look up the entry requirements, and if they don't mention International A levels, email the admissions office. Not every centre offers them, so ask about that early too.
The summer 2027 calendar
JCQ's key dates for June 2027 give the fixed points:
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| Set by your centre | Its own entry deadline, which may be earlier |
| 21 February 2027 | Boards' entry deadline for A levels |
| 10 May 2027 | First exam on the common timetable |
| 15 May 2027 | Centres' deadline for A level coursework marks |
| 22 June 2027 | Last A level exam (23 June is the contingency day) |
| 12 August 2027 | A level results |
Fees
You pay the board's entry fee for each subject, plus whatever the centre charges. At AQA, a UK entry for A level mathematics (7357) costs £150.30 in summer 2027 (AQA fees for summer 2027). Other subjects cost different amounts. At AQA an entry after 21 February 2027 costs double, rising to two and a half times the fee after 21 April.
Centre fees are where the sciences and coursework subjects cost more, because you're paying for lab sessions or for a teacher's time supervising and marking. Ask each centre to put them in writing.
Applying to university
A home-educated student applies through UCAS without a school attached, as an independent applicant. Two parts of the form usually come from a school, and you'll have to arrange both.
The reference
UCAS says an independent applicant's referee must know them in an academic or professional capacity, and must not be a family member, friend or partner. Nor can your child write their own. UCAS emails the referee a link, and your child won't see what they write.
That rules you out as the parent, however much of the teaching you've done. Think of someone who has taught or assessed your child: a regular tutor, a teacher at the centre who supervised practicals or coursework, or a tutor on an online course. Ask early, and give them something to work from, such as your education record, marked essays and past results.
Predicted grades
The referee enters any predicted grades through the same link, so pick someone who has seen enough of your child's work to make an honest estimate. King's College, Cambridge, for one, asks home-educated applicants for predicted grades in every exam not yet taken. A student who applies after results day has grades to report instead.
Deadlines for 2027 entry
For most courses starting in 2027, UCAS's equal consideration deadline is 18:00 on 13 January 2027. For Oxford, Cambridge and most medicine, dentistry and veterinary courses it was 15 October 2026, so that date has passed for 2027 entry.