Can't get AS certificate because exam.board have no record of entry - how common a problem?

[gingeroots]

DC not completing subject to A level and I've been in contact ( emails ,phone calls ) with school exam officer since October last year trying to get this particular AS certificate .
Eventually received a stament of results for the wrong exam and phoned exam board myself - to be told no record of entry .

Have relayed this to school ,who frankly don't seem to give a damn ,and I'm clinging to hope that it's an Admin error that can be fairly easily sorted .

It is important ,puts DC in position where can't prove that he has the UCAS points from this exam .

What I wanted to ask was how common this is and whether people think I'm being unreasonable to be upset over mistake and school's failure to even discover this in the 9months that I've been talking to them about it ?
Could kick myself for not contacting exam body myself at an earlier stage .

[peteneras]

Don't know how common this problem is but what I do know is someone somewhere along the line is criminally neligent.

What type of school is this who "don't seem to give a damn" about your DC's problem? Are they not responsible for having entered your DC for the AS exams in the first place? I would speak to the school's Board of Governors first thing Monday morning.

[MmeBlueberry]

Did he actually, physically sit the module in question?

I would say that it is fairly common for entries to be missed or for wrong modules to be entered.

However, it is always the candidate's responsibility to check and double check their statement of entries when it is issued a couple of months before the exams.

With checking, entries can easily be modified without cost if done promptly or with a late fee if done after a cut-off.

[mnistooaddictive]

To get an as grade you have to 'cash' in your modules. It sounds like this had not been done. If he sat the modules and you have the results then the exam board should be able to help.

[gingeroots]

Thank you for the replies - yes he sat the module last summer .

In the autumn he received AS certificates for the other 2 subjects he was sitting but not for the third ,so I queried why .

After months of inaction from the school and prompting from me I was sent a form which I completed .
Cue more prompting ,more silence from school ,eventually receive a statement of result from exam board ,but for an earlier module .

The exam board will only say that they have no record of entry for the exam and that the exam centre /school need to contact exam board .
Exam board say that it is only the school that can sort this not me .
Although at their request I have faxed a copy of the exam boards provisional statement of request ,showing the grade ,UMS etc to them .

It's just that the school seem so unconcerned ,and it's only my persistance that has got me this far .
I keep thinking that if it's happened to my DC then it could/might have happened to others .
I suppose with it being just an AS module perhaps people don't care whether their certificate shows the final grade achieved ?

Perhaps I'm sad to want a record /proof that DC raised his grade from an E to a B . He can't prove that he has the UCAS points with no record of him being entered .

MmeBlueberry - not sure what happened with regard to statement of entries ,DC had timetable and I think probably saw his responsibilty more to know when his exams were ( which he did ) ,I don't think either of us realised that the responsibilty for ensuring being entered correctly for a module was dependent on candidate checking a schedule .

I'm really anal about these things and I'm sure I would have made note if we'd been told that candidate needed to check entries to ensure correct .
Let other parents be aware !

[gingeroots]

aah - only just read a PM about this .
Million thank yous for showing an interest and I've replied by PM .
Yes it was AQA .

[RoseC]

The school has to take a register at the beginning of the exam, which is then sent to the exam board. Registers are divided into subjects and modules (e.g. two complete registers if all students are sitting two modules that morning). These look like they can be scanned by computer. Either the school didn't have him on the register and missed him (unlikely if they're anything like our school - we have to wander up and down with the list and tick each student off individually by comparing their named desk with the register) or the exam board has messed up. If they've already issued him with a marks statement (and they have if you say he's jumped from an E to a B - well done him!) then the fault lies with the exam board.

If he has a copy of the provisional marks you can always call the universities he is applying to in advance, explain the situation and offer a photocopy of the paper (and maybe a letter from the Head of Exams?). The only university that asked for copies of my certificates (and I didn't even get in) was Cambridge.

[gingeroots]

Thanks RoseC - it's looking like it's something to do with the school not telling the exam board that DC wanted to cash in the AS .
Tho the exam board definitely told me that they had no record of him being entered for the exam ,maybe doesn't show up on their system .
Thank you for your helpful suggestions .

[Talker2010]

There is a difference between entry for exam (cashing in the AS) and entry for modules

If he sat the exams and has the module results then he can cash them in for the AS

[gingeroots]

ah I see ,thanks Talker2010 , that makes sense .