AQA exam marking - some changes

Students taking AQA exams this month will find that there are some adjustments to the way in which marks are awarded. AQA have sent a letter with details of this to all exam centres; however, to date I cannot find the information on their website. Therefore, in case the information has not reached you, the essence of it is given below. These apply to exams taken in the January 2011 session, starting with unit 1 tomorrow.

1. It is important to note that there is NO CHANGE to the specification or the style of questions. These changes only make some adjustment to the way in which some data response marks are awarded.

2. At AS level, in ECON 1 and 2, on the data response questions 3 and 7 (that is the 12-mark questions) there are two adjustments:
- correct definitions will now earn one mark each, to a maximum of 2 marks (previously 2 marks each)
- correct diagrams will now earn a maximum of 4 marks instead of 6

3. At both AS and A2 level, for all 25-mark questions, marks for level 1 have changed so that now it can only be awarded a maximum of 3 marks. The maximum mark for other levels has not changed.

4. At both AS and A2 level the way in which the Levels Mark Scheme is set out is altered, to emphasise the four skills being examined (Knowledge, Application, Analysis and Evaluation) and what a student needs to demonstrate in each of those to achieve each of levels 1 to 5. Having looked through and discussed this, my students feel that it is now easier to see how each of the four skills contributes to the decision of which level they have achieved with their answer, in particular the need to set their answer in the context of ‘real’ economics (Application) and to explain fully and precisely each point that they make (Analysis).

If your school has not received a copy of this letter, with the new levels mark scheme, I suggest you ring the AQA subject office and ask for a copy.