Cambridge Advanced Nationals: Registrations and Entries

Cambridge Advanced Nationals: Assessment overview

Cambridge Advanced Nationals are unitised, series-based qualifications. Each qualification consists of a combination of examined and non-examined assessment (NEA) units.

Each year, there will be two exam series (January and June series).

There will also be two moderation windows – in the first year, these will be in Spring (February series) and Summer (June series). After the first year, these will be in Winter (February series) and Summer.

• Exams are paper-based and must be administered according to the JCQ Instructions for conducting examinations.
• Non-examined assessment (NEA) units are assessed using an OCR-set assignment, marked by the teacher and moderated via a face-to-face or virtual visit.

For more details about the assessment process, please see our specifications, which can be downloaded from the qualification pages.

Registrations and entries

At the start of the course you need to register your students for the relevant Cambridge Advanced Nationals subject.

When they are ready for assessment, you make examined unit entries and NEA unit entries for the relevant series.

At the end of the course, you make a certification entry in the final series to let us know the student requires a qualification result.

You can make your registrations, unit entries and certification entries via A2C using basedata, or via our secure website, Interchange.

• Registrations
• Examined unit entries
• NEA unit entries
• Certification entries

Registrations

You can make your registrations via A2C using basedata, or via our secure website, Interchange.

Students must be registered for the subject before any exam or NEA unit entries are made.

What is the deadline for registering students?

There is no final deadline for registrations. However you must register your students before you make any examined or NEA unit entries.

You can submit the registration at the same time as the first unit entries for the student. If you are making your entries via A2C, registration and unit entries are submitted in separate entry files.

What information is required when registering students?

You register students for the subject, for example 'Applied Science', 'Computing: Application Development'.  You do not need to tell us what size qualification (Certificate or Extended Certificate) the student is working towards when you make the registration. 

We will require the student's personal details, your 4 digit centre candidate number and their UCI number. If the students have a ULN, this should be included.

Registering students via A2C

Registrations are made using 'annual' basedata which is separate to the exam and NEA unit basedata issued for each series.

We will release registration basedata each September. This will use the September series (09) and board identifier 01 (OCR).  All registrations made during an academic year will use this 'annual' basedata.

Students must only be registered for each subject once. You do not need to register them each academic year.

Examined unit entries

All Cambridge Advanced Nationals exams are available every January and June series. 

You must make examined entries for the series the student will be taking the exam. Examined unit entries must be made by the relevant deadline for the series:

What information is required when making examined unit entries?

When submitting examined unit entries, we will require the unit entry code. These are in the format Fxxx, for example F180.

Students must be registered for the subject before you make any examined unit entries. If a student has not been registered, you can submit the registration at the same time as your unit entries. If you are making your entries via A2C, registration and unit entries are submitted in separate entry files.

Is there a 'terminal rule' for Cambridge Advanced Nationals?

No. There is no requirement to take exams as terminal assessment at the end of the course. Examined units can be taken in any January and/or June series. 

How many attempts are permitted for each examined unit?

Students can resit each examined unit twice for a total of three attempts before certification.

NEA unit entries

There are two moderation windows each academic year. You must make non-examined assessment (NEA) unit entries for the window you will be requesting moderation:

• Moderation window 1 entries are made in the February series
• Moderation window 2 entries are made in the June series

When can moderation take place?

For 2025/26, the first moderation window will be in Spring 2026 and the second window in Summer 2026. In subsequent years, window 1 will open earlier:

2025/26

• Window 1 (Spring): 30 January to 27 February 2026
• Window 2 (Summer): 9 March to 5 June 2026

2026/27

• Window 1 (Winter): 30 November 2026 to 26 February 2027
• Window 2 (Summer): 8 March to 4 June 2027

What is the deadline for submitting NEA unit entries?

2025/26

From 2026/27

What information is required when making NEA unit entries?

When submitting NEA unit entries, we will require the unit entry code. These are in the format Fxxx, for example F182.

There is a single entry code per NEA unit. You do not need to tell us when making NEA unit entries the method of moderation (visit or virtual visit). Teachers will specify the method of moderation when requesting a visit. 

Certification entries

The certification entry (also known as ‘cashing-in’) lets us know the student is ready to complete their qualification and needs an overall qualification result. You make the certification entry for the size qualification (Certificate or Extended Certificate) the student is planning to achieve.

You must make the certification entry in the student’s final series (which could be the January, February or June series) by the relevant unit entry deadline for the series.

To be eligible to a receive a qualification result, the student must have been entered for all units required for the qualification, either in a previous series or in the same series as certification. When you make certification entries, we will let you know if any students do not have enough units/unit entries to receive a qualification result.

Certification entries always in the format 'Hxxx', for example H051, H151. Note: Make sure you enter the certification code for the correct size qualification (Certificate or Extended Certificate).