Exam data nerdery

It's just a figure of speech. I'm not assuming everybody here is fully conversant with the marking schemes and modalities of different subjects.

https://filestore.aqa.org.uk/sample-papers-and-mark-schemes/2018/june/AQA-87001-W-MS-JUN18.PDF

I also think there's an element of Psychology in the English Grades - examiners know that a five is what kids really need rather than a four, so they look really hard for anything they can give an 'ah, benefit of the doubt on that' mark to, which means they're more likely to creep over the boundary if they're borderline, compared to a low one, where it's clear it's a three - so it's a behavioural/social artefact on a subject that does not have cut and dry Correct/Incorrect answers.

Except we don't mark by grades...

I wonder if it is because Maths marks are cut and dried. An answer is right or wrong with very little examiner's discretion or wriggle room. English is more subjective. What one examiner might percieve to be a high grade answer, another examiner may not see that in the answer at all.

Controversial, but I think this makes it easier for a Maths teacher to teach to the paper. They can ensure that all of the required Maths skills are taught. In English, and in several other Humanities subject this is more difficult. Yes, there are mark schemes, but there is still the human examiner and their opinion and perception which cannot be predicted.

The use of 'seeds' should pick up on this, but they still only sample a % of the papers marked. I have seen experienced Humanities teachers give a huge range of marks to the same piece of work many times.

Do you get on well with your Data Manager, @noblegiraffe ? 😁

OCR tends to be used by a lot of independent schools. I think there's a bit of history there from it being the Cambridge board, so was seen as the exam to guide knowledge and ability towards successful Cambridge entries.

I also think there's an element of Psychology in the English Grades - examiners know that a five is what kids really need rather than a four, so they look really hard for anything they can give an 'ah, benefit of the doubt on that' mark to, which means they're more likely to creep over the boundary if they're borderline, compared to a low one, where it's clear it's a three - so it's a behavioural/social artefact on a subject that does not have cut and dry Correct/Incorrect answers.

I agree that the distribution for English Language grades is strange.
The number of grade 3s is much higher than I would have expected.
Perhaps it's related to the fact that Maths has Higher and Foundation tier papers, so there is a way to reach a grade 4/5 on both tiers.
English Language on the other hand no longer has tiers, so I wonder if this is affected students who are average / below average more.

I think the links A level grades to GCSE grades should be compulsory reading for anyone trying to push their grade 4/5 kids into doing A levels.

Yes, I love that Ofqual site. My family think I'm weird 😀
Quite struck by, but weirdly enjoying, the 'listen to the chart' feature.

That 3/4 data for English is indeed strange.

As for the top grades, it's really very difficult to access the top bands of the English mark schemes, much less the top marks ... but that should be resolved by the placing of the grade boundaries.