3.3.2.2, 5.1, 5.2 - Authenticity, assistance and the candidate record
Learn the assistance and authentication rules in 3.3.2.2, 5.1 and 5.2, together with the current six-page 2027 candidate record form (CRF) and JCQ requirements. Rules were checked on 2 October 2026. All scenarios are original fictional training decisions; no assessed candidate proposal, draft, report or declaration is completed here.
Additional assistance
Additional assistance must be made visible so that assessment credits the candidate's own unaided achievement.
General teaching about methods, safety and ethical practice is permitted within AQA's conditions. More specific help can limit independent initiative. AQA identifies specific-title templates or model answers, targeted advice on an individual's draft, identification of particular errors or omissions, and provision of data that the candidate did not collect or independently source under the permitted arrangements as assistance that must be recorded.
Non-permitted collaboration or assistance is recorded on the CRF. Teachers annotate the work and take assistance into account when awarding marks for unaided achievement. Recording help does not make expressly prohibited conduct permissible: teachers must not provide assessed title menus or mark a draft provisionally and then allow improvement. External providers are subject to the same restrictions.
Authentication establishes that the submitted work is the candidate's own and was produced under the required conditions. An acknowledgement is necessary evidence of help; it does not transform someone else's achievement into independent achievement.
For a fictional boundary exercise, a general explanation of how a scale works teaches a method. Telling a candidate exactly which result in their assessed draft to remove and what conclusion to write replaces an independent decision. A concern about actual assistance should go to the teacher or exams officer; the platform cannot decide the centre's marking or authenticate the work.
Proposal, declaration and authentication
The candidate record follows the investigation from an approved proposal to a signed, authenticated final submission.
Under section 5.1, the candidate completes the proposal during planning. The current 2027 six-page CRF places its proposal across pages 3–4, with fields for the investigation title, specification link, questions or focus, planned collection and sampling, and whether collection is individual or group. The teacher checks suitability and approves the proposal before the NEA's primary collection. Approval is not a promise of a mark or evidence that fieldwork has happened.
The candidate signs the declaration when submitting the finished work for marking, confirming their own work and acknowledging help and sources. The teacher authenticates it with sufficient supervision and knowledge of the candidate's work. Familiarity with their progress, discussion and records helps establish authenticity; a signature without that assurance is inadequate.
A fully completed CRF, including required declarations, accompanies the investigation. Work that cannot be authenticated must not be submitted. The candidate must make help visible rather than sign a declaration they know is false.
The form does not allow this lesson or an AI system to certify the candidate's fieldwork, invent dates or observations, fill a personalised proposal, or sign on their behalf. Centre procedures govern the real record.
Sources, own work and confidentiality
Own work requires independent decisions and transparent source credit, not merely different wording from another person's text.
Acknowledge all sources, including ideas used without copying their wording. Identify quotations and give traceable references for text, data and visuals. Tell the teacher about help from anyone other than the teacher. Acknowledge word processing by a third person and other assistance; do not present another person's intellectual contribution as your own.
Do not plagiarise, copy another candidate's work, lend assessed work for copying, or share independently sourced material for others' assessed investigations. Legitimate group collection within AQA's arrangements does not authorise shared analysis, conclusions or reports. Each candidate must independently source secondary material and complete the independent duties.
The 2027 CRF says submitted assessed work must remain confidential and be shared only with the teacher or teachers; it must not be posted online. A study group, public forum or AI chat is not an authorised recipient of the assessed report. Do not upload assessed drafts or identifying fieldwork information here.
Submitted material must not contain inappropriate, offensive or obscene content. Responsible handling also avoids unnecessary identifying information and respects sources and communities. A fictional practice scenario can teach these decisions without exposing anybody's actual assessment.
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