Exams Administration

Download and print question papers on the day of an exam

If you’re missing question papers on the day of an exam, you’ll be able to download them from Centre Services and print them.

You must make sure that the question papers are secure at all times. Only trained staff can print and handle question papers.

How to download question papers

You’ll need to be a main administrator in Centre Services to download the question papers.

They'll be available to download 60 minutes before the exam’s published starting time.

To download question papers, you’ll need to:

• log in to Centre Services with multi-factor authentication (MFA)
• select 'Exams'
• select 'Day of exam material'
• click on 'View day of exam resources'
• select the question paper or resource you need to download
• a pop-up will appear that says ‘send me a code’
  • make sure you have pop-ups enabled
  • select a reason for the download
• an email will be sent to your Centre Services email address with the code, and the main Centre Services administrator will also be notified of this action by email (this will come from aqa_noreply@aqa.org.uk – please add this email address to your safe sender’s list)
• enter the code into Centre Services to access all the paper(s) you need – you’ll only need to enter this download code once for the session it applies to access all available papers, and you won't need to use this when using literacy support tools
• the paper will appear in your ‘downloads’ folder, ready to use. Download folders work differently on each computer, some appear in the top right-hand corner of the browsers, some download directly into the 'download’ folder. If you’re not sure where the files are saved, please speak to the IT Technicians in your centre.

When you request a question paper, this will also trigger an email to any other Centre Services administrators at your school or college to tell them about this download request. If you do not already have a nominated second Centre Services administrator, we recommend that you set one up; you can find instructions on how to do this on our website. If you get an email to let you know a question paper has been requested, and your centre did not request it, please report this as soon as possible by calling us on 0800 197 7162.

Please remember that if you’re moving an exam because of a clash, you’ll need to download the question paper during the timetabled session for that paper, as it will not be available on Centre Services before or after. If you’re unable to do this, please contact our Exams Officer Support Team who will be able to help you.

If you have difficulty downloading question papers 

If you have problems downloading the question paper from Centre Services, please contact us and we can help, but we’ll need your Head of Centre to verify your request. If your Head of Centre is not available, we may not be able to share the question paper. Please make sure they know about this additional security measure and they’re aware they may be called upon in the 60 minutes before the morning and afternoon exams to support with this.

Take a look at this helpful guidance from the JCQ to see how to manage downloading question papers on the day of the exam.

How to print question papers

You’ll need to set up a colour printer in your secure area to print your question papers.

Check if the paper contains colour images and check the resolution on your printer.

To make sure the papers are the correct standard, you must print them:

• at 600dpi.
• in colour.
• on A4 or A3 80 gsm paper.

You must make sure that you:

• print the paper at the correct scale – ie ‘actual size’ or to ‘100% custom scaling'. Please check 'paper size' (in page setup), and make sure it is set to A4, or A3 if printing at that size. This will make sure that the paper is printed as intended and is a true representation of the PDF. If printed with settings set to ‘Fit’ or ‘shrink oversized pages’, content such as graphs and items to measure will not be at the correct size and learners will not be able to calculate the correct answer.
• select ‘print on both sides of paper’ and ‘flip on long edge’ in the settings.
• print every page of the question papers.
• don’t photocopy any question papers.
• compare the printed paper with the electronic PDF version to check that it has printed correctly – you should pay particular attention to sizing, shading, colour, graphs, diagrams and images.