While there were already eleven examination boards offering school qualifications across the UK, all eight of those based in England were affiliated with universities and focused very much on traditional academic subjects.

Many involved with technical and vocational education felt that a new exam board was needed to offer a broader range of subjects and syllabi to cater for the new candidates the GCE would attract.

It grew rapidly, with its exams being recognised as equivalent to other boards' by several universities, including Oxford and Cambridge, by summer 1956.

The AEB moved again, this time 10 miles to a purpose-built office on the University of Surrey's campus in Guildford, in autumn 1985.

[5] The University of Oxford Delegacy of Local Examinations, a GCE board like the AEB, joined the group in 1981.

[2] As AEB/SEG and NEAB overlapped in the qualifications they offered, AQA retained two specifications for many subjects, with schools able to choose between the two.