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German Grade Boundaries and content - AQA

12 replies

Lightsabre · 21/09/2020 16:58

I've seen it mentioned on here but can't find it now. I understand that grade boundaries have dropped by 20% and also that some content is being taken out (due to the pandemic or altogether)?

Can't get hold of ds teacher yet so can anyone shed any light on this please?

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Lightsabre · 21/09/2020 16:59

Forgot to say - for GCSE.

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SabrinaThwaite · 21/09/2020 18:18

DS came home today and said that the spoken exam may be a teacher assessment instead.

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clary · 21/09/2020 19:16

Yes spoken exam will not count towards GCSE, it will be teacher assessed and given as a separate grade eg German 7, speaking grade 6. No need to report it on your GCSE grades list. This is for this year only.

AQA was supposed to be lowering grade boundaries for German and French against Spanish for 2020 exams so I presume they will for next year. Not by 20 %tho, more like, a high 7 will now be a low 8. Only for the higher grades I think too.

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Lightsabre · 22/09/2020 10:28

Thank you and bumping!

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clary · 22/09/2020 11:39

I meant to say that the reason for lowering grade boundaries was that the marks for Fr and G were lower than Sp. So they deduced that the exam/language were more difficult! Bit tough on those who sat it in 2018/2019 but hey.

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franden99 · 22/09/2020 12:35

Clary, "spoken exam will not count towards GCSE, it will be teacher assessed and given as a separate grade" - do you know if the same applies for A level this summer, also AQA?

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clary · 22/09/2020 12:43

No it does not, No change at all to A level, all components still going ahead. However there has been a suggestion of change to grade boundaries or difficulty - you may not be aware but there has been a massive disparity between a level French and German. A mark that would have got a C in French last year would have got a B in German. I don't know detail if what they plan though.

Btw I should add this is what AQA published earlier this summer as its changes. I presume it is going ahead on that basis, but as some of you may know, there have been amendments,or rather clarifications, to AQA Eng lit.

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franden99 · 23/09/2020 08:27

Thanks clary

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SeasonFinale · 23/09/2020 18:28

Its the other way round - German was being marked more harshly so it was being brought into line with the easier Spanish and French exams.

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clary · 23/09/2020 20:02

SeasonFinale as I understand it:

GCSE French and German were marked more harshly/were harder so AQA have pledged to slightly lower grade bouvdaries.

But at A level the same mark has gained a higher grade in German for the last three years - so (eg) 186 would have been a B in German but just a C in French. I believe AQA are looking at this but I don't know much more.

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SeasonFinale · 24/09/2020 17:33

French gcse was in the same category as Spanish hence why the guidance for CAGS asked teachers not to make the adjustment for German as they would do this to bring it in line with French and Spanish. That was because German was considered harder

At A levels it is different and done much more on a curve so the grade boundary really shouldn't matter.

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clary · 24/09/2020 19:17

Ok my bad I thought they said they were going to adjust French and German GCSEs. Fair enough then.

Re A level, I don't know what you mean about the grade boundary not mattering, I think they do if you are sitting the exam!

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