AQA A level Psychology

[eatthatfrog]

Hi

I have a quick question for anyone who teaches this. How do you define grade boundaries for assessment test? Do you use 2019 AQA grade boundaries? Asking as DD had a recent test and scored 58% and was awarded a D but 2019 grade boundaries has 53% as a B. Is a D, right for 58%?

[PastaAndPizzaPlease]

Every school will likely have a slightly different approach.

[PineappleUpsideDownCake]

The grade boundaries vary year to year depending on the exam paper and the cohort.

[MarchingFrogs]

If it's an actual AQA paper (have the June 2019 ones been made public now? They usually are, about a year after the exam, with only restricted access prior to this to allow them to be used as mocks, but last time I looked for a paper, it wasn't yet available), then you can see the mark scheme, the examinets' report etc on the AQA website. The grade boundaries were published on the same day as the results in August 2019. Some schools apparently mark mock exams a bit more harshly than the official mark scheme suggests, though, or set their boundaries higher. You / your DD need to ask the teacher exactly how they grades the exam.

[MarchingFrogs]

graded...

[SeasonFinale]

Was an entire paper used or part paper for an end of topic test? I would expect higher grade boundaries than for actual exams if just end of topic test as (a) recent and (b) smaller amount of material to cover. Also different papers have different weighting. Have you factored in weighting? Also schools may increase boundaries so students don't rest on their laurels.

There is no set rule on grade boundaries even within schools themselves so I would ask the teacher themselves how they calculated the boundaries.

[Ellewoods20]

Some colleges grade it 50% D, 60% C, 70% B, 80% A, 90% A*