AQA v Edexcel for GCSE

[WhenIsTheGeneralElection]

Hi,

I wondered if I might ask whether there are any striking differences between the content of AQA and Pearson Edexcel for GCSEs? Or a hint on how I could find out?

Subjects are Economics, Geography, French.

I am home schooling just now and likely to be on an EOTAS plan, still home edding at some point. I'm trying to choose the right exam boards asap so we can be on the same ones right through GCSE (currently year 9).

DC and I have an eye for beautiful typesetting and nicely produced textbooks. Everything goes much better if we are working with materials that are pleasing to the eye.

In some subjects the AQA books are nicest, but the Pearson Edexcel exam papers are nicer looking than the AQA ones.

I just wondered if there are any other major differences in the content? For example, could we work from AQA books and sit Edexcel exams?

We're doing Computer science from an OCR book, which is the most correct text book that we can find. Again I'd be interested to know if the content of OCR computer science is the same as Pearson Edexcel exam, which has the prettiest paper.

I've not been able to find really clear documentation online specifying what the differences are and I would be really grateful to know how I can find that information.

Thanks!

The wait for appeals is long so you should be concerned about the delay. For those out of school the hearing can be expedited, but the wait is still long. You will potentially have to appeal twice before you have a comprehensive EOTAS package. In the current climate, most do have to appeal at least the content to get a comprehensive package, and even if you only have to appeal once you need all the time you can get if the intention is for DS to sit exams in Y11.

Also, DC whose parents know the system, can advocate and enforce their rights get better support. If the LA sees they can get away with acting unlawfully they will continue to do so and take more and more liberties.

Thanks, that's good to know. I think I'm going to keep researching the private exam centres and make a plan that can work even if the EHCP never comes to anything. The public services really seem to be so stretched right now, and I need to get things moving for my DS.

I think I might phone the local tutoring companies and ask if they would be able to facilitate sitting the practical parts of the exams.

Rather than just approaching tutors you need to speak to the exam centre you plan to use because it is pointless finding a tutor who can do the practicals etc. if the exam centre doesn’t have a relationship with them/wont accept that. T&E has information about their partners on their website.

You also need to consider access arrangements. Some exam centres book up more than a year in advance for more resource intensive access arrangements e.g. home invigilation, separate room, scribe, reader. Even the need for a word processor can book up quickly.

Hi, Thanks, that's good to know. I know one tutor company that is recently set up near us has just done the admin to get a relationship with T&E. I have written to the owner to ask if she would be willing to do this kind of thing.

My friend replied to say that they are just working out their business model so they are going to mull this idea over for a bit and get back to me. Fingers crossed.

Hi,

I wondered if I could ask a further quesiton about this?

All the home ed folks say they do iGCSE because there are no required practicals, but I just printed the Pearson Edexcel iGCSE syllabus and it says it does have required practicals, and that the school has to send documentary evidence that they have been done in class. I just wondered if I am missing something?

Thanks!

What subject? The sciences, for example, don’t have practicals that need signing off for the Edexcel IGCSE. Instead the practical knowledge is examined in the exam papers. So the student doesn’t necessarily need to have physically done the practicals and the exam centre doesn’t need to sign to say they have been done/send anything to the exam board to say they have been done. Cambridge international has an additional paper that can be taken instead of practicals.

Sorry, I forgot to say that it was chemistry. I figured out the problem just now when I tried to go and get the details to answer your question.

It turns out that the printer had printed the first page of the pearson iGCSE chemistry syllabus, and then the GCSE syllabus directly after that. I had turned over the first two pages together. So I thought I was reading the iGCSE syllabus, when I was actually reading the GCSE.

I can see that this is going to be a complicated process. :-)

Re: marking practice papers, you don't necessarily need a tutor for that. For example, you can submit a practice paper to Markmypapers, who will mark it and give suggestions on where additional points might be picked up easily.

My home educated child, who was self-studying English Language, used that service to see whether they were on track to get the grade they wanted, since neither of us felt confident about applying the mark scheme in that subject. I thought it was great value for money. I imagine it might be more informative than feedback from a tutor, unless the tutor also has plenty of experience marking GCSE papers.

That sounds like a good service, especially if you or your child are not confident about the technicalities of marking.

I will put a word in for tutors tho and say that any decent tutor who is actually tutoring KS4 should have plenty of experience marking (I mean marking students' papers rather than as a paid AQA marker) and assessing GCSE papers. Otherwise how can they teach it?

If beautiful typesetting is important then I would recommend giving AQA a swerve - all their textbooks are written in comic sans

Thank you very much for pointing out https://www.markmypapers.com/.

That really looks great.

I am getting much more to grips with what I need to do here.

I figured out that the content of iGCSE physics and chemistry is extremely similar to the content of the AQA GCSE books which we like very much, and has no required validation of practicals.

Tutors and exams can do the computer science practical, so that's taken care of.

They can also do the French and Eng Lang practicals.

So it's all looking much more feasible now.

I also had a very reassuring phone call with the lady at school who is looking at our situation, and that has taken a lot of pressure off, which is great.

I have found a tutoring company who can validate the practicals for the science papers if we needed it, and I have signed up to have tutors in all ds's subjects. so I think we are getting somewhere now.

Thank you very much.

Have you got a plan for doing the practical requirements for the science GCSEs? My understanding is that this has to be offered by the centre where the student sits the exams, even if the student doesn't actually do all the activities.

This could make it tricky to change centres down the line.