If you are looking for somewhere to sit a GCSE or A Level as a private candidate in or around Birmingham, the difficult part is not finding a centre. It is finding one that will take your particular entry, at a price that means what it says, without an hour's travel on the morning of the exam.

This post is about how to judge a centre, including ours. If you are in Sandwell, Birmingham or the Black Country, it should save you a fortnight of phone calls.

Key Takeaways

• Ask about coursework and practicals first. It is the thing most likely to get your entry refused.

• "From £X per subject" usually is not the figure you will pay. Ask what is excluded.

• Check the board. A centre that does not enter for your board means learning a different specification.

• Travel matters more than people expect — several papers, several mornings, at a fixed time.

• We are in West Bromwich, enter with AQA and OCR, and charge £200 per subject at GCSE and £350 at A Level, all in.

Five questions to ask any exam centre

1. Can you take my subject, including any coursework or practical?

Ask this first, before dates or money. A centre that enters you for written papers must also handle any non-exam assessment in your specification — supervising it, authenticating it and marking it. Many will not, which is why entries get turned down.

The sciences are the hardest case, because A Level Biology, Chemistry and Physics carry a practical endorsement that needs laboratory facilities. Most private centres cannot offer it. We can, which is unusual and worth knowing if that is what you need.

2. Which exam boards do you enter for?

Boards set different papers on different content. If you were taught one board and the centre only enters for another, you are not just changing venue — you are changing what you have to learn.

We enter with AQA and OCR. If you were taught something else, say so at the first conversation and we will talk through what it means rather than discover it in February.

3. What is the total cost, and what is not included?

This is where published prices mislead. A fee quoted "from" a figure is the cheapest possible case, and the additions can be substantial: administration charges, invigilation, access arrangements, late entry fees, coursework handling, sometimes a separate registration fee per series.

Around half of any private candidate fee is the exam board's own entry charge, which every centre pays. The rest is the centre's, and that is the part that varies. Ask for the total for your specific subjects, in writing.

4. How far is it, really?

A GCSE is not one morning. It is several papers across several weeks, each starting at a fixed time you cannot negotiate. A centre forty minutes away in traffic is a different proposition from one twenty minutes away, repeated six or eight times, and the day you hit roadworks is the day you are sitting Paper 2.

Work it out for the morning rush hour, not for a quiet Sunday on a maps app.

5. Can I be taught there too?

Not essential, but it removes a whole category of problem. If your tuition and your entry are in the same building, nobody has to coordinate between a tutor who does not know the centre's deadlines and a centre that has never met you.

What we charge, plainly

• GCSE — £200 per subject, all in, for English Language, Maths and Science. The same price whether you are resitting or sitting for the first time.

• A Level — £350 per subject, all in.

• Access arrangements — quoted separately, because they depend on what you need. Raise them at the first conversation and we will give you a figure.

No entry fee on top, no invigilation charge, no administration fee. Published national estimates for private candidate entries range from roughly £120 to £350 per subject at GCSE and higher in some accounts, so it is worth comparing the total rather than the headline.

Where we are, and who we are near

We are on Lodge Road in West Bromwich, in Sandwell, just outside Birmingham. In practice that puts us within a reasonable drive of most of the Black Country and the western side of Birmingham: West Bromwich, Oldbury, Smethwick, Handsworth, Wednesbury, Tipton, Great Barr, Walsall and Dudley.

If you are coming from central or south Birmingham there are centres closer to you, and we will say so if that is the case. What we can offer that most cannot is the science practical endorsement, and being taught and examined in the same place.

Who sits exams with us

• Home-educated students taking GCSEs at their own pace, sometimes a subject at a time.

• Adults needing maths or English for an access course, a nursing or teaching application, or a job that has started asking for a grade 4.

• Resitters who missed a grade and do not want to go back to a school that has moved on.

• A Level candidates, including sciences needing the practical endorsement.

Deadlines worth knowing now

The board deadlines are the ones that get published, but the centre deadline is the one that will actually stop you, and it is earlier. Places are limited by room and staff, and the entries needing supervision fill first.

For the November GCSE series — English Language and Maths only — the national entry deadline is 4 October. For summer entries, the board deadline falls in February, but centre places are taken through the preceding autumn.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where can I sit GCSE exams as a private candidate near Birmingham?

There are several centres across Birmingham and the Black Country, including ours in West Bromwich. Compare them on whether they can take your specific subject, which boards they enter for, and the total cost rather than the headline price.

Can I sit just one GCSE?

Yes. Entries are per subject, so a single maths entry is perfectly normal and is what a lot of adults need.

Do I need to be a student at the centre to sit exams there?

No. Private candidates sit with us whether or not they are taught by us, and a good many teach themselves and only need the entry.

How much does it cost to sit a GCSE privately?

With us, £200 per subject, all in. Nationally the figure varies widely because every centre sets its own fee on top of the board's charge.

Can I sit A Level sciences as a private candidate?

Only at a centre that can deliver the practical endorsement, and most cannot. We can. If you have sat the subject before and already passed the endorsement, you may be able to carry it forward instead.

When should I contact you?

For November, before 4 October. For summer, the preceding autumn — places, not deadlines, are the constraint.

Getting started

Send us the subject, the exam board, the series you want to sit, and whether there is any coursework or practical involved. We will tell you whether we can take it and what the total is, and if another centre suits you better we will tell you that instead.

Our post on how to sit GCSEs privately covers the process end to end, and what it costs to sit a GCSE privately breaks down where the money goes.

Sources

• Joint Council for Qualifications, Private candidates, retrieved 2026-09-11, https://www.jcq.org.uk/private-candidates/

• AQA, Private candidates: non-exam assessment, retrieved 2026-09-11, https://www.aqa.org.uk/student-and-parent-support/private-candidates/non-exam-assessment

• Joint Council for Qualifications, Entries and key dates, retrieved 2026-09-11, https://www.jcq.org.uk/exams-office/entries/