AQA Functional English Level 2, any advice?

[Dingle]

My DS has this next week, he is in Y9 at Grammar School. I am concerned at how early this is, is it always taken so early?

At my DCs school this is taken by children who are unlikely to achieve a C at GCSE.

If your DS is going to go on to do GCSE in English, then this qualification is pretty much redundant, so don't worry about it.

If it is to be their main English qualification, then there will be time to resit anyway as he is in Y9.

So in either case, it is not that crucial really.

Thank you, he is/was on an accelerated curriculum and started his exam options in Y9 but with the changes now made he will have 3 years doing his GCSE options. (With perhaps the exception of maths)

This seems to have sprung up from nowhere and I had never heard of it before.

LOL, I got a bit concerned with the official exam timetable, candidate number etc....FGS, he is 13 and so immature in many ways. In recent gradings he seems to be achieving C/C+/B so I will just see how he goes.

I am "trying" to get him to actually do some practice test papers!

Many FE colleges do this and it is usually for students who didn't get a C at GCSE. DS2 has just done this exam, he is at a sn school and GCSE English would not be something he or any of his peers could manage.

Thank you for your replies. x

My DD at a Comp is also doing this next weel, in year 9. I think it is to get them used to doing external exams, and to provide a safety net.

My DS did it with GCSE in year 11, and we can't remember if he passed or failed (and the Certificate has gone to be reprinted, as all the English lit grades were increased on appeal).

I teach functional skills to adults ( though don't use aqa) and, to be honest, would think if your son is at grammar school, he will have no problem passing the assessments.

There are three parts - speaking and listening, reading and writing. The reading tests things like being able to spot facts, opinions and bias as well as infer meanings and explain or give reasons for the use of different presentational features. The s and l is a group discussion and an individual presentation. The writing assessmentis usually two tasks eg a letter and an email and assesses the ability to use appropriate style, language, format etc. around 40% of the marks are for spelling, punctuation and grammar.

There is quite a lot of info/assessment material available on the net.

Hth

Yes, it does. Thank you. We have looked at old test papers online this morning but I am not going to push it...well not much!

DS2 is doing this. My other DC have not done this. It seems to be a new thing. DC2 is in the top set for all subjects, so it won't be that he won't get GCSE English. Seems a bit of a waste of time to me, though!

Today is the day for DS, had a lovely email from his school last night wishing all the boys in Y9 good luck in their first external examination and inviting them all to breakfast courtesy of the English Dept.

LOL, DS was actually quite keen to go to school this morning.

I am expecting his REport home tonight so we will at least get an indication of how he is doing.

Thank you.