exam question help - unused AA carried forward / member of pension scheme

There is no trick meant here but unfortunately the line put into the question to actually help students has in fact caused confusion - which I assure you was not their intention. You have assumed that the line "Rosie was a member of a pension scheme in tax year 2017/18" means that she was therefore NOT a member in 2015/16 and 2016/17 - you state "in the question it only says that Rosie was a member of the pension scheme in 2016/17 (it actually says 2017/18)". Your interpretation is wrong - in 2015/16 and 2016/17 you are told that contributions are made - therefore she MUST have been a member of the pension scheme in those years to have actually made contributions into it! Therefore unused AA is available. The inclusion of the line about 2017/18 was intended to remove any doubt about whether she was STILL a member in that tax year and therefore unused AA would also be available for that year - it did not mean that she was ONLY a member for that year! Hope this clarifies

No - if it says gross pension contribution the question still needs to state whether the contribution is into a personal pension scheme or into an occupational pension scheme.