V Cert assessment support
[Updated on 22 April 2025]
On this page, you’ll find reminders of everything we have in place to support you and your learners throughout V Cert assessments. Please ensure to share this with your colleagues, especially your exams contacts.
Upcoming key dates for Model 5 V Certs
| Date | Action |
|
30 April |
Deadline for:
|
|
1 May |
Sampling plan generated (for cohorts of 16 or more learners). |
|
6 May |
Deadline for uploading evidence for learners on sampling plan. |
|
May-June |
|
|
18 August |
Embargoed results released to centres. |
|
21 August |
|
|
29 August |
Deadline for priority access to scripts. |
|
19 September |
Deadline for enquiries about results. |
|
19 September |
Deadline for review of moderation. |
|
3 October |
Deadline for non-priority access to scripts. |
You should also ensure to check our External Assessment Timetable for assessment dates, as paper modification requests need to be made within the below timescales:
- Requests for Braile and enlarged papers must be submitted 30 working days before the published date of assessment or the start of the assessment window.
- Requests for coloured paper must be submitted 15 working days before the published date of assessment or the start of the assessment window.
Reasonable adjustments should be put in place before the assessment takes place to reduce the effect of a disability or difficulty that places students at a substantial disadvantage during an assessment. They should be declared at the point of registration but can be added to the Portal up to the date of the assessment.
Special considerations are intended to support students who face an unexpected disadvantage at the time of an assessment for reasons outside of their control. Requests should be applied for within 5 days of the date of assessment, and no later than 7 days after the last exam of the V Cert series.
- Please note that for paper-based assessments, papers will arrive at centres no more than 3 working days before the date of the assessment.
- Please return papers using the Yellow Label service. Papers must be returned after each assessment.
- There is no need to return unused assessment papers.
Please open SecureClient on the devices that will be used during the assessments to allow updates to run prior to the first assessment. We recommend that this is done at least one day before the assessment, not on the same day as any scheduled assessments.
Supporting your delivery of qualification content and assessments
Please ensure you:
- access our frequently asked questions (FAQs)
- read the tutor guidance to support your delivery of each NEA – find this in the ‘support materials’ section on the qualification page on our website
- download the sample NEAs and exemplar NEA responses which will support you to understand how marking grids should be applied, and can be useful for internal standardisation activities (these are found in the ‘assessment materials’ section on the qualification page on our website)*
- watch our prepare to assess video, to develop your understanding of grading criteria ahead of assessing your learners’ responses to the internally assessed, externally moderated assessments
- watch our bitesize videos which can be accessed on our V Cert YouTube playlist, with more videos being added regularly
- take a look at our Portal User Guide and special considerations policy
- sign up to our delivery support events or our new V Cert assessor and IQA training events.
V Cert Non-Examined Assessments (NEA)
Please ensure that everyone at your centre who needs access to the assessment materials has log-in details for the NCFE Portal. If you need to create an additional account, you can do this by following the instructions in the Portal User Guide.
Once in the Portal, you can access the NEA assessment materials by clicking on ‘bookings’ then ‘view assessments’. Further support on uploading and downloading assessment materials can be found on our accessing assessment support webpage.
Submitting learner marks
Marks must be uploaded before Wednesday 30 April, and you can edit submitted marks up until this date Your learner marks must be assessed and internally quality assured before entering them in the NCFE Portal. Here’s a short video on how to submit marks for moderation.
If you don’t submit marks for all of your learners on time, this will result in delays to the sampling plan being generated and in turn delay results for all of your learners.
If you have small cohorts of learners (15 or less), you can upload evidence at any time during the assessment window (1 September - 30 April). As you’ll need to provide evidence for all learners, you don’t need to wait until the sampling plan is generated on 1 May. If you have cohorts of 16 or more learners, you’ll need to refer to your sampling plan to see which learners’ evidence we need.
See the drop downs below for more information on how to upload learner evidence.
If you’ve submitted NEA marks for all your learners, a sampling plan will be available on the Portal on at 00:01 on Thursday 1 May. You’ll then need to upload evidence for all learners on the sampling plan within three working days (by 23:59 on Tuesday 6 May). If you don’t submit evidence for all of your learners on time, this will result in delays to the moderation process and the issuing of results for all your learners.
We know this can be a very busy time, so we wanted to share some hints and tips to support the reduction of time spent on uploading learner evidence.
Taking some time to consider the following could be key to uploading learner evidence in the most efficient way:
- file type
- file size
- internet speed
- file quality.
We’ve produced this guide to show how these factors can impact on upload times and speeds.
Access our short video on how to view students selected for moderation and upload evidence.
Download our guide to uploading digital evidence.
We also have resources available to support you with the moderation process, including information on how to maintain accurate assessment records, how to submit marks in the Portal and how to see which learners are selected for moderation. Visit our preparing for moderation webpage.
Please regularly check for any email communication from us and action requests as soon as possible, to ensure moderation and results are not delayed. If we need to contact you regarding your learners, we will email and provide you with details of what we need you to do.
Online assessments – what you need to know
In preparation for your learners’ assessments taking place online through our Surpass platform, its vitally important that some elements are checked by you before the assessment is due to take place.
Read more below.
Please ensure your learners have the correct booking by visiting the Portal and selecting Bookings > View external assessment and then enter your batch number(s). Once your existing bookings load, it’ll show whether they are online or paper based. If you have booked on the incorrect method, please contact our Customer Support team no later than two weeks before the date of the external assessment.
Providing you have booked for an online assessment, your booking will appear in the Surpass platform, on the Invigilation tab, 120 hours (5 days) before the assessment start date and time.
It’s important that you read through the guidance documents we have in place to support you with delivering the online assessment to your students on Surpass. Our guidance documents will take you through how to set your devices up in advance of the assessment so it runs smoothly on the day. You can also contact the Customer Support team to support you with this.
You must have installed and opened the learner interface (SecureClient) on each device ahead of the assessment; guidance on this can be found on our Online Assessment webpage. You should do this ahead of the assessment date, in case any issues arise or you need further support. Doing this well in advance will also allow for any important updates to take place on the software.
On the morning of the assessment, please have SecureClient already opened on the devices, before the learners are there, so they can be ready to just enter the key codes and start their assessment.
You may need additional time for your learners to sit their assessment, and this should have been requested at the point that they were booked in for the assessment, on our Portal.
To check and confirm that your learners have had their additional time added in Surpass, once the booking appears on Surpass 120 hours (5 days) before the assessment, you’ll need to go to the ‘Invigilate’ screen and check the duration column. The standard duration for most assessments is 120 or 150 minutes, therefore if you have requested up to 25% extra time for your student, the duration will show as either 150 or 187 minutes, or if up to 50%, the duration will show as 180 or 225 minutes.
If your additional time hasn’t been added on, you will need to add it directly into Surpass. To do this, highlight the learner’s assessment, and click the modify duration button at the bottom of the screen. This will bring up the edit exam duration box where you can apply the additional time.
If you experience any difficulties or technical issues when preparing your devices before the assessment, or during the assessment, we have troubleshooting on the above support pages, or you can contact the Customer Support team. However, you should also ensure the availability of technical support on site to respond to issues arising during online assessments, in line with our Regulations for the Conduct of Assessment.
Results and post-results services
Results will be released embargoed to centres on Monday 18 August 2025, ahead of sharing them with learners on Thursday 21 August.
On 21 August, the following will also be available:
- Chief Examiner/Moderator report where applicable
- Final moderation report – highlighting areas where your provider has performed well and areas for improvement, as well as the mark used for each moderated component
Once the post-results window opens, you’ll be able to access a range of services, if you and your learners believe the result is unreasonable. Please see a list of post results services and their relevant deadlines below:
|
Service |
Deadline for request |
|
Access to scripts |
Priority access –29 August Non-priority access – 3 October |
|
Enquiry about results |
19 September |
|
Review of moderation – this service is not available for individual learners, requests must be made by unit/component for all learners in a cohort. |
19 September – requests must be submitted within 25 working days of results release |
Further support
If you have any queries about the NEA or V Certs in general which aren’t answered by the information above, please contact our Customer Support team at [email protected] or via Live Chat on our website. You can also stay up to date with our latest updates through our service newsletter or service news webpages.