Candidate registration and results

Find out how to register, enter and result your candidates in order to ensure accurate and timely certification.

Register a candidate

To register a candidate you must provide:

• the candidate's name
• date of birth
• gender
• address (where the certificate will be delivered)

Once we have this information we will allocate a Scottish Candidate Number (SCN). A candidate should only ever have one SCN where their achievements will be recorded. If, when registering your candidate, we find a candidate with similar details already on our database, we will report this back to you as a possible match. You will then be responsible for checking if the candidate record we already hold is or is not your candidate.

If you find a candidate on our database with more than one SCN you can request that these records are merged by competing a merge request.

Registering a candidate under 16 years old

All candidates going through the Scottish education system are allocated a Scottish Candidate Number (SCN) from Primary 1. For College and Training Providers, the SCN must be obtained from the candidate’s school. The SCN won't be activated on SQA Connect / Navigator yet. Once the SCN has been confirmed, you can request for the candidates record to be activated by completing the candidate registration form.

For candidates under 16 years of age who have never gone through the Scottish education system and want to undertake an SQA qualification at your centre, please email candidate records.

Please note, this process is only available for College and Training Providers registering candidates under the age of 16. 

You can contact candidate records for any queries regarding this process.

Once the candidate is registered, you can process entries and results in your normal way.

Private candidates – information for centres

Your centre may be approached by a private candidate, such as a home-schooled learner, or their representative with a request that you act as their presenting centre.  This would involve your centre taking on responsibility for all aspects of administering assessment for the candidate.

It is for you to decide whether to act as the candidate’s presenting centre.  If you decide to take on a private candidate and you agree to an arrangement with the candidate, he nature and extent of this arrangement would become your centre’s responsibility. However, you must ensure that you follow the steps outlined below.

Preparing, registering and entering the candidate for SQA qualifications

• You must ensure that your centre has SQA approval (including auto-approval) for all qualifications the candidate has requested they be entered for.
• You must ensure that the candidate understands the assessment requirements of their requested qualifications. We recommend that you discuss these with the candidate and/or their representative at the earliest opportunity, so they know what will be required for any exams or coursework.*
• You must discuss with the candidate, or their representative, any additional support needs they may have that will require an assessment arrangement.  You must ensure that any assessment arrangements are captured and put in place as agreed.
• You must register the candidate with SQA and, where necessary, allocate them a Scottish Candidate Number (SCN). If you are unsure about the candidate’s SCN, please email SCN allocation and our team will be able to advise you.
• You must enter the candidate for all their qualifications within SQA deadlines.

Assessing and submitting coursework

If the candidate is required to complete one or more items of internally or externally assessed coursework, you must ensure that:

• You provide the candidate with information on the rules and essential information they need to follow when completing their coursework, such as SQA’s Your National Qualifications leaflet.
• The required assessment conditions are adhered to throughout the coursework assessment.
• All assessment evidence can be authenticated as the candidate’s own work.
• You have qualified teaching staff available to assess any internally assessed coursework.
• Internal verification processes are in place for internally assessed coursework and these are applied for the private candidate. These processes must ensure their work is validly and reliably assessed.
• Make sure you submit the candidate’s internal assessment results within SQA deadlines.

Exams

In the run-up to exams, you must:

• Provide the candidate with all the information they need about the dates, times, and venues of their exams.
• If required, ensure that a ‘sitting at’ arrangement with another SQA approved centre is arranged.
• Share information about your centre’s malpractice and appeals policies with the candidate and ensure they understand that these policies also apply to them as private candidates.

*In session 2021–22, this discussion should also cover gathering evidence for estimates. This evidence will also be used to determine provisional results if the 2022 exams are cancelled. Wherever internal assessment takes place  the centre will be responsible for all aspects of the assessment.

Updating candidate details

It's important that candidate details are kept up to date as these will affect the certificate. Changes to a candidate's first name, surname or address can be made using SQA Connect Candidate Services or your MIS system. If the address the certificate is to be sent to is the centre's address, it's the centre's responsibility to amend this back to the candidate's home address once certification has taken place.

Other changes that can be made on SQA Connect Candidate Services include:

• date of birth
• gender

Adding a qualification to a candidate

Adding qualifications can be done on both SQA Connect and on college MIS systems.

All SQA qualifications are allocated a six digit code broken into the code and level (4+2) - e.g. G7F5 22. The first 4 digits identify the subject and the last 2 digits refer to the level.

When adding a group award to a candidate's record you must also include the units the candidate is doing which make up the award.

When adding qualifications you will be asked to supply a completion date. This is an estimated date of when the candidate is expected to complete. It can be extended at a later date.

The maximum completion dates are:

• units - four years
• group awards - four years
• SVQs - five years

The completion date does not affect certification or appear on the actual certificate.

Adding a lapsed or finished qualification to a candidate

Lapsed awards

This refers to Scottish Vocational Qualifications (SVQs) only.

Entries for qualifications which have lapsed cannot be made via SQA Connect or the college MIS system and you should complete an EC02 form.

Before submitting your request, please ensure the candidate has been entered for the mandatory units.

You must provide the following information in your e-mail:

• details of when the candidate started the award
• the reason why the candidate was not entered prior to lapse date

Finished awards

Any request to enter a finished qualification must be made on the EC02 form.

Before submitting your request, please ensure the candidate has been entered and resulted for every unit required to gain the qualification.

You must provide the following information in your email:

• details of when the candidate started and finished the award
• the reason why the candidate was not entered prior to the finish date
• confirmation that the college still has the candidate portfolio available for external verification

For finished SVQs we will present this information to our regulatory body and inform you of their final decision.

If you require information on the currency of SVQs please refer to http://accreditation.sqa.org.uk

Entering candidate results

Results can be submitted via SQA Connect or your college MIS system.

Valid results include:

• P - Pass
• F - Fail
• W - Withdraw
• A, B, C, D for graded units

Results are only required for the individual units, not the group award. Once all contributing units have been achieved we will evaluate the group award and issue a certificate.

Results can be submitted via SQA Connect or the college MIS system.

Amending a result

Where a result or withdrawal has been input in error and the candidate has not yet been certificated, this can be updated on the Candidate Entries page of SQA Connect.

Where a result has been processed in error and has resulted in a certificate being produced, the amendment can be requested on the Candidate Entries page of SQA Connect. An email is automatically sent to SQA Candidate Records to review and action.

Certification

Certification takes place continuously throughout the year as follows:

See the full certification timetable.

Replacement certificates

We offer a replacement certificate service.

The cost of this service is £40 (per candidate).

It is important to ensure your candidate's details are up to date. If a replacement certificate is required because the candidate's name is incorrect or address has not been updated, the centre will be invoiced the charge of £40.

There is a 15 working day turnaround time to process Replacement Certificates. Please note any orders made after 9 December may not be completed until January.

• Replacement certification (for centres)
• Replacement certification (for candidates)