Exam boards explained (2026): AQA, Edexcel, OCR, Eduqas/WJEC, CCEA and SQA

Students often discover, sometimes mid-revision, that "their GCSE" or "their A-level" is actually a specific board's version of the subject, with its own papers, its own specification, and its own past papers, and that they have been revising from the wrong board's resources. This guide explains who the UK exam boards are, who sets what, how their specifications differ, and the question everyone asks: does it actually matter which board you sit?

What an exam board actually is

An exam board (or "awarding body") writes the specification for a subject, sets and marks the exam papers, and issues the grades. A GCSE or A-level in, say, History is not one single national exam; it is a qualification that several boards each offer their own version of, all regulated to a common standard.

Crucially, your school chooses the board for each subject, not you. Different subjects at the same school can be with different boards (History with OCR, Biology with AQA, Maths with Edexcel). The first practical task of any student is to find out, for each subject, which board they are entered with, because that determines the specification and past papers you should be using.

The five main boards (England, Wales, Northern Ireland)

AQA

The largest board in England by entries. AQA (the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance) offers a full range of GCSEs and A-levels and is a registered charity. It has a reputation for clearly structured specifications and is widely used across English schools.

Pearson Edexcel

Owned by Pearson, the multinational education company, Edexcel is the only major UK exam board that is privately owned (the others are charities or not-for-profit bodies). It offers GCSEs and A-levels across England and is also a very large provider of BTEC vocational qualifications. Pearson also runs International GCSEs and International A-levels used in many schools abroad.

OCR

OCR (Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations) is part of Cambridge University Press & Assessment, a department of the University of Cambridge. It offers GCSEs and A-levels and is known for certain subject specifications (for example, some of its science and computing courses) that schools choose deliberately.

WJEC and Eduqas

This pairing causes the most confusion, so be precise:

• WJEC is the main exam board in Wales. It offers qualifications regulated by Qualifications Wales for Welsh schools.
• Eduqas is WJEC's brand for qualifications it offers in England, regulated by Ofqual. When an English school uses "Eduqas" GCSEs or A-levels, they are sitting WJEC-developed qualifications under the Eduqas name, built to the English specification rules.

In short: same organisation, two brands, because England and Wales have diverged on qualification rules (for example, Wales kept A*-G letter grades for many GCSEs while England moved to 9-1).

CCEA

CCEA (the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment) is the board for Northern Ireland. Unusually, it is both the exam board and the regulator for Northern Ireland, and it uses its own grading conventions (including a C* grade at GCSE).

Scotland is a different system: SQA

Scotland does not use GCSEs or A-levels at all. The SQA (Scottish Qualifications Authority) runs an entirely separate system:

• National 5 (broadly comparable to GCSE level),
• Higher (the main university-entrance qualification, typically taken in S5),
• Advanced Higher (taken in S6, comparable in demand to A-level).

If you are in Scotland, the boards above do not apply to you; your qualifications, grading and university-entry conventions all run through the SQA. (UCAS points do still apply to Scottish Highers and Advanced Highers.)

How specifications differ

Within the same subject, boards differ in ways that affect how you revise and which resources fit:

• Content emphasis and options. Two History A-levels might both be "History", but one board's specification may centre on different periods, set texts, or case studies, and offer different optional topics that your school selects.
• Paper structure. Boards split assessment differently: the number of papers, their length, the balance of short-answer versus extended essay, the mark tariffs, and the command words used.
• Non-exam assessment (NEA) / coursework. Where a subject has coursework or practical assessment (sciences, art, design and technology, English language investigations), the requirements and weightings are set per board.
• Mark schemes and assessment objectives. Each board weights its assessment objectives (e.g. knowledge versus analysis versus evaluation) in its own way, which shapes what markers reward.

Are some boards easier? The regulation answer

This is the question students most want answered, and the honest answer is no, not in any way you can exploit.

All boards in England are regulated by Ofqual (Wales by Qualifications Wales, Northern Ireland by CCEA as regulator). Regulation exists precisely to keep standards comparable across boards: grade boundaries are set each year so that the same grade represents the same standard, and the regulator monitors outcomes across boards. If one board's papers were genuinely easier in a given year, its grade boundaries would be set higher to compensate.

What people perceive as "an easier board" usually reflects something else: a particular specification that happens to suit a particular cohort, a paper format students find more comfortable, or simply that a school teaches one board's course especially well. None of that is a loophole you can choose, because you do not pick the board, your school does.

Does the board matter for university?

For your university application, the board is irrelevant. Universities make offers in grades (or points); a grade A in A-level Chemistry is a grade A whether it came from AQA, Edexcel, OCR or Eduqas. No university prefers or penalises a board, and your UCAS application does not turn on which board you sat.

Where the board matters is practically, during the course:

• Use your board's specification as the definitive list of what you must know.
• Practise your board's past papers and read its examiner reports and mark schemes.
• Buy textbooks and revision guides endorsed for your board where possible, because cross-board guides can include content you do not need or omit content you do.

A quick reference

• AQA: largest English board, charity, broad subject range.
• Pearson Edexcel: privately owned (Pearson), strong in BTECs and international qualifications.
• OCR: part of Cambridge University Press & Assessment.
• WJEC: Welsh board (regulated by Qualifications Wales); Eduqas is its England brand (regulated by Ofqual).
• CCEA: Northern Ireland's board and regulator.
• SQA: Scotland's entirely separate system (National 5, Higher, Advanced Higher).

In summary

Five main boards (AQA, Pearson Edexcel, OCR, WJEC/Eduqas, CCEA) serve England, Wales and Northern Ireland, while Scotland runs its own SQA system. Your school picks the board per subject; it sets your specification, papers and past papers. Boards differ in content emphasis and assessment style, but regulation keeps standards comparable, so no board is easier overall and universities treat them all equally. The only board fact that changes your daily life is this: revise from your own board's specification and past papers, not someone else's.