Controlled Assessments

[inthesticks]

Do the school decide when they take place or is it the exam board?

I am puzzled because DS1 in Year 10 was given Mice and Men to read over half term and was told on Friday that they have the GCSE controlled assessment on this book at the end of November. This doesn't seem long to prepare? If the school knew about it I'd have thought they'd have made a start in September.
Are they likely to have more CA on the same book does anyone know? It's AQA and a new course I believe.

Spoken to DS again aqnd it has changed again. Apparently the english department keep changing their minds.

DS has now been told that he can use a film of his choice to write about, but they will still be studying The Others in class

That'll be so they can mark one beforehand. You're not allowed to mark a draft of the actual CA, but you are allowed to mark a draft of a very similar task. (Wide open for rule-bending, that, IMO, but that's a whole different discussion ).

I understand why his school have done that actually. English teachers are used to taking in a first draft and giving loads of suggestions about how to improve it. First drafts are generally DIRE and the throught of having to submit them is terrifying so they're going to want to give the kids the best chance possible of doing well. They're probably also hoping that choosing a film will mean the students will actually know what they're talking about!

PS Make sure your DS knows to write the film title in inverted commas EVERY time!

thought

So, isn't it now just like having a lot of internal exams throughout the two years?

I can understand why there was a move from coursework from the angle of it being the childs work - although actually writing and re-drafting something better is a real life skill. It is what happens in reality! Surely they would have been better keeping coursework as it was but less of a % credit or just going back to the old system of testing everyone in a couple of papers at the end (when you have had the full amount of time to study, write essays - possibly dire - and be put right on them? )

Sounds to me like a money making exercise on behalf of the exam boards - more to mark/moderate therefore more ££££$$$$££££

DS confirmed they are using The Others for practise and their own film for the real thing. DS is using Back To The Future.

My Year 10 DD has just done her first Controlled Assessment on Purple Hibiscus. She started reading the book in September with the CA taking place in Term 1. I did question with the English teacher whether students would be adequately prepared for the CA's and was assured that they would be OK. However on research I found that some schools have been teaching the method of writing up CA's in Year 9, albeit presumably with a different book. These students, when they get to Year 10 will already have had a distinct advantage over those who have not been given that opportunity as they will have been taught exactly what is expected and over a period of 1 school year, not just 6 weeks. I believe I am right in saying that the CA's for Combined Eng. Lang and Lit are 25% of the mark. What do others think?

Well I feel my DS has been let down by his school as far as English is concerned. He has never done any written piece of work as long as the 2000 words expected in the CA. He is doing well in every other subject.

The school has had poor results lately and a bad OFSTED so I saw this coming.
I have managed to arrange for a tutor for English and have asked him to do some work with DS on M&M.

The new exam specs are very flexible (and very, very complicated) so there really isn't a lot of point comparing what different schools are doing. the course is modular, so they can study the units in whatever order they see fit, and there are different 'routes' through - so child A may be studying a Shakespeare play in preparation for an exam, whilst child B studies it in preparation for a controlled assessment.

Schools are given task 'headings' or themes, but schools can come up with their own questions according to the needs of the students. And CA is worth far more than 25% now - although interestingly, although teachers now have to do the lion's share of the marking, the exam entries still cost the same.

My dd in yr 10 had CA for Pride & Prejudice a few weeks ago, started book in September but hadn't finished reading it before CA! They were given question a week or so before to prepare. They're allowed to take in a very brief plan but nothing else, and given a clean book for the test. She wrote it in rough at home then tried to memorise - no feedback yet so I've no idea how it went.