Guidance on entering qualification details

GCE qualifications

For GCE Advanced Subsidiary (AS) subjects, we refer to 'certification' of qualifications. You 'certificate' an AS subject when you claim or 'cash in' the results. For GCE AS subjects, you can choose when you 'certificate' your results. If you have certificated a GCE Single Award and you are taking a GCE Double Award, you must enter the GCE Single Award with a grade and the GCE Double Award with the grade pending.

You must list all subjects that have been certificated (also known as 'claimed' or 'cashed in') at GCE AS and ASVCE level. This includes subjects which you are taking at A2 level. You should also include a subject even if you are re-sitting a unit to improve your A2 grade. However subjects that have not been certificated cannot be listed.

If you have any doubts about the 'certification' of your AS subjects, you should check with your school or college, or whoever is helping you with your application.

For certificated qualifications you are recommended to include details of all units with a separate result/grade, but which are incorporated into the overall qualification grade.

If you have certificated an AS level and are continuing the subject to A2, you should:

  1. enter the AS level, overall grade and unit titles and grades that make up the AS;
  2. enter the same subject as an A level with the overall grade as pending and then list only the A2 units with the grades as pending. You should not re-enter the AS unit details for the A level.

Music, dance, drama or speech qualifications

If you have music qualifications, such as ABRSM or equivalents, dance qualifications, such as RAD or equivalents, drama or speech qualifications, such as LAMDA, only enter each subject once with the highest grade you achieved.

Open University credits

In the title box, you should enter the programme code, the programme title and the number of credit points for all the Open University programmes you have completed or for which you are studying, for example, S103 Discovering Science 60 points.

Additional admissions tests

Some universities and colleges require applicants applying for certain subjects to sit additional admissions tests as part of the admissions process. An up-to-date list of tests can be found here.

You should enter details for any admissions tests you have already taken with results and for any admissions tests you still need to take. All your choices of university or college will see the information you have entered for your qualifications. Only certain universities and colleges require specific admissions tests for particular courses so when you provide details for an admissions test, you give some indication of the institutions to which you have applied and the type of courses. The universities and colleges will not, however, have the details of any of the other institutions or courses you have entered in the choices section of your application.

Scottish qualifications

Standard Grades, Intermediate 1, Intermediate 2, Highers, Advanced Highers

You should not enter details for the units that make up these qualifications unless your chosen universities or colleges have asked you to provide this information. If you have entered details for an Advanced Higher Mathematics course, or a Higher Mathematics course taken in 2007 or earlier, you should add details for your External Course Assessment option (Mathematics 3 or Statistics) as a unit/module.

National and other free-standing units

You should enter details for any units you have obtained or for which you are studying that are not part of a completed course or a Scottish Group Award. You must not enter details for Core Skills units as national or freestanding units. You must enter these units under your Core Skills Profile (see Core Skills Profile below).

Group Awards such as HNCs, HNDs, National Certificates, National Progression Awards (NPAs), Professional Development Awards (PDAs), Scottish Vocational Qualifications (SVQs)

Firstly, you must enter the title for the whole course, the date when you finished or expect to finish the course and the result or grade. If you are still studying for the qualification, you should leave the result/grade box blank. You must then enter details for all the units or subjects that make up the qualification. If you are entering details of an HNC or HND that includes Group Award Graded Units, you should give details for these units by putting 'Graded Unit' after the unit title, for example, HNC Business Graded Unit 1.

If you have taken, or are taking, HNC or HND units, national units or workplace-assessed units, but not as part of a course or group award, you should enter the details as free-standing units.

Core skills profile

Firstly, you must enter the general information for the whole Core Skills Profile. You must then enter details for all the core skills that make up the profile.

Access programmes

If you are taking a Scottish Wider Access Programme (SWAP) or an access programme agreed locally with a university or college, talk to your tutor before you start to apply.

Welsh Baccalaureate Qualification, Advanced Diploma

You should only enter details for the core under the section for the Welsh Baccalaureate, Advanced Diploma. You do not need to provide details for all the individual components of the core.

You must enter details for all your options under the section for the appropriate qualification, for example, GCE A level, AVCE (six units) or BTEC National Certificate. You should enter WBQ after each subject to indicate that you are taking it as part of a Welsh Baccalaureate, for example, 'Biology WBQ'.

Irish Leaving Certificate

Enter details for all subjects you have studied. In the level box, select 10 for Irish Ordinary or IH for Irish Higher.

If you have any queries about entering your qualifications, speak to your school or college, or whoever may be helping you with your application.