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  1. A Level results day!

    It’s here, the first results day for the new reformed A Level Drama and Theatre qualifications! The question that everyone is asking right now – How was it for you?

    I have watched social media on results day over the past few years and a number of questions reappear every year, so I wanted to put them together in one place to make it a little bit easier.

     

    Are you happy with the results?

    If the answer here is no, then you need to speak to your exams officer and SLT about post-result services. There are common guidelines written by JCQ that all the main exam boards must follow. This can be found here: https://www.jcq.org.uk/exams-office/post-results-services/post-results-services-june-2018-and-november-2018

     

    What are the grade boundaries?

    I have collated the overall grade boundaries for each exam board. Each component also has a notional grade boundary, but these do not work in the same way as the old specifications.

     

    A*

    A

    B

    C

    D

    E

    Total mark

    AQA

    167

    147

    126

    106

    86

    66

    200

    Eduqas

    270

    247

    216

    185

    154

    123

    300

    OCR

    257

    239

    209

    180

    151

    122

    300

    Pearson

    261

    234

    205

    176

    147

    119

    300

     

    As a percentage this works out as follows:

     

    A*

    A

    B

    C

    D

    E

    Total mark

    AQA

    83.5%

    73.5%

    63%

    53%

    43%

    33%

    200

    Eduqas

    90%

    82.3%

    72%

    61.7%

    51.3%

    41%

    300

    OCR

    85.7%

    79.7%

    69.7%

    60%

    50.3%

    40.7%

    300

    Pearson

    87%

    78%

    68.3%

    58.7%

    49%

    39.7%

    300

     

    The notional grade boundaries for each exam board can be found here:

    AQA - https://filestore.aqa.org.uk/over/stat_pdf/AQA-A-LEVEL-RL-GDE-BDY-JUN-2018.PDF

    Eduqas - http://www.wjec.co.uk/Eduqas%20GCE%20A%20Level%20Grade%20Points%20June%202018.pdf?language_id=1

    OCR - https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/500693-new-a-level-grade-boundaries-june-2018.pdf

    Pearson - https://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/Support/Grade-boundaries/A-level/1806-a-level-notional-component-grade-boundaries1.pdf

     

    How many students were entered for each exam board?

    We knew that some movement would happen at A Level and this is the first set of data which will show what that looks like.

    The total number of A Level entries for England in 2018, according to the JCQ data was: 10,159

    The exam board data is taken from the results statistics documents on each website. This may vary slightly from the total number above due to the way the data is used by each organisation.

    Exam board

    Number of Entries

    Percentage of entries

    AQA

    3669

    36.1%

    Eduqas

    1,603

    15.8%

    OCR

    777

    7.6%

    Pearson

    4474

    44%

     

    How many students got each grade?

    The document containing this information is known as results statistics and is available for each qualification for each exam board. I have collated the data for comparison by board using the percentages.

    JCQ collate the statistics and produce a number of data tables for comparison. I have included the England only statistics for comparison.

    All percentages are cumulative.

     

    A*

    A

    B

    C

    D

    E

    National (JCQ)

    4.4%

    17.8%

    50.4%

    79.6%

    94.9%

    99.3%

    AQA

    4.7%

    19.5%

    51.8%

    79.8%

    95.1%

    99.3%

    Eduqas

    4.7%

    19.2%

    51.5%

    80.3%

    95.4%

    99.6%

    OCR

    4.6%

    18.0%

    56.0%

    85.3%

    96.5%

    99.1%

    Pearson

    4.3%

    16.5%

    49.1%

    78.4%

    94.2%

    99.1%

     

    The results statistics for each exam board can be found here:

    AQA - https://filestore.aqa.org.uk/over/stat_pdf/AQA-A-LEVEL-STATS-JUN-2018.PDF

    Eduqas - http://www.eduqas.co.uk/teachers/assessing-and-awarding/A%20Level%20Eduqas%20Provisional%20Results%20June%202018.pdf

    OCR - https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/500691-as-and-a-level-cambridge-technicals-and-other-level-3-provisional-exam-statistics-june-2018.pdf

    Pearson - https://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/Support/Grade-statistics/A-level/Grade-statistics-June-2018-Provisional-A-level-Advanced-Single-Awards-including-Applied-Subjects.pdf

     

    The JCQ document can be found here: https://www.jcq.org.uk/examination-results/a-levels/2018/main-results-tables/a-level-and-as-results-summer-2018

     

    Examiner reports

    The last key piece of information you need to read is the examiner’s report. This is the report that is about the course as a whole and not individual centres. This can be found on the subject pages for each board. As this blog is posted, only Eduqas have their report publicly available. I will update this as they become available.

    18/8 - 5.00 pm update. Social media has confirmed that Edexcel, AQA and OCR have their examiner reports on their secure website. None of the other reports have been put on the public webpages as of yet. 

    AQA -

    Eduqas - http://www.eduqas.co.uk/examiners-reports/2018/as-a-level/eduqas-gce-a-level-drama-and-theatre-report-summer-2018-e.pdf?language_id=1

    OCR -

    Pearson -

     

    Your centre may also receive reports from the moderator and the visiting examiner. This varies depending on board. Your exams officer will be able to tell you where these are available on the secure area of the website.

     

    Next steps…

    I've created a new survey to capture teachers’ thoughts about delivering the A Level Drama and Theatre qualifications and the results received on 16/08/18.

    It takes about 10 minutes to complete and the results will be published on my blog. I will keep the survey open until 10th September.

    https://goo.gl/forms/yk2BF7DBVuty4fB33

     

    I’ve written a blog about teachers’ reactions to the exams which can be found here: https://goo.gl/Qzh4ex

    I’m more than happy if you want to use any of the data from the blog in your exam analysis and discussions with SLT about results.

     

    I am keen to keep teachers up to date with interesting research and useful information, without distracting adverts or expensive paywalls. Like what you read? Why not make a contribution in order to help to support my work.

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