AQA MFL: conduct of 2025 speaking and listening tests - important reminders

Ahead of the summer 2025 MFL Speaking and Listening exams, we have a few important reminders as outlined in the ‘AQA MFL Instructions for the conduct of the exams (ICE)’ booklets:

• GCSE MFL AQA (ICE) summer 2025
• AS French, German and Spanish AQA (ICE) summer 2025
• A-level French, German and Spanish AQA (ICE) summer 2025
• A-level Bengali, Modern Hebrew, Panjabi, Polish AQA (ICE) summer 2025 

The instructions can be found in the assessment resources area of our website for each language qualification.

These instructions are key reading for all school/college staff involved in the conduct and administration of the MFL exams.

Teacher-examiner conducted speaking tests

If a Speaking test is to be conducted by someone who is not a member of school/college teaching staff, for example, by a private tutor, the Head of Centre at the entering school or college must request permission for this before the test. Examples of potential teacher-examiners are private tutors or teachers from community schools/organisations.

We’ll need to provide information about the arrangements for preparation of the confidential exam material, and how these will need to be managed within your school or college, and the Head of Centre will need to agree to a few conditions before conducting any tests. Please email mfl@aqa.org.uk to send us your request.

Contacting us during the speaking test window

To ensure the integrity of the exam, any urgent questions about the confidential content of the speaking materials during the test window should be made by phone call only to the MFL Subject Support team on 01423 534381. For anything else, including admin-related queries, please email us at mfl@aqa.org.uk. Please do not make any reference to the confidential content of an exam when emailing us.

Confidential speaking test materials

To reduce the risk of accidental malpractice, teachers and students must not share information or ask questions relating to the confidential content of the speaking test materials by email or on any social media platform or video sharing site, including any closed groups. Please be aware that any breach of this instruction will be investigated by AQA.

Students should be made aware of the ‘Warning to candidates notice’ poster provided in Appendix A of the 2025 MFL Instructions for the conduct of exams booklet and is also included with the confidential Speaking test materials sent to schools. Students will need to understand the contents of this notice and what it means in practice. Schools will also need to display a copy of this poster in the Speaking test room(s) during the tests.

Confidential listening test materials

To help schools and colleges prepare for these exams and who wish to transfer the audio materials for the listening exams onto a secure area of the computer network or other securely stored digital devices ready for the exams, schools may have access to the confidential Listening material up to one working day before the exam.

If a listening test is on a Monday, this can be done on the previous Friday. Schools and colleges do not need prior permission from us.

The listening test audio files are available in MP3 format on Centre Services and are set to ‘Centre Administrator only’ (usually the Exams Officer). For more information, see the ‘Digitising listening tests’ section in the AQA MFL Instructions for the conduct of the exams booklet.

Languages teachers are not permitted to check the MP3 players, laptops, tablets, or other digital devices after the confidential material has been downloaded onto them.

Guidance and support

Teachers can access our free on-demand training videos for GCSE Languages and A-level languages for support with conducting the speaking tests.