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Exam insights

Insights from the 2019 AQA GCSE Combined Science Trilogy exams

November 22, 2019March 20, 2020Oxford Science Team
what-can-we-learn-from-the-2019-aqa-a-level-history-examiner-reports

Examiners’ reports are a wealth of information, giving data about how many students tried each question as well as breaking down misconceptions for every section.  Are there any key messages that we can draw from the examiners reports to improve the performance of our students?  Sam Holyman has looked through the reports to give you […]

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What can be learned from the 2018/19 GCSE PE examination series?

November 19, 2019March 26, 2020Oxford Education

By Matthew Hunter Like all Heads of Department and GCSE teachers, I was quick to run my analysis on results day. How had the students performed versus school targets, their aspirations and our expectations? Like many, I’m sure, we were pleased with how some of our top-end students performed. However, like most, our eyes were […]

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What can we learn from the 2019 AQA A Level History examiner reports?

November 15, 2019March 26, 2020Oxford History Team 1 Comment
what-can-we-learn-from-the-2019-aqa-a-level-history-examiner-reports

AQA has released its examiner reports for the 2019 AQA A Level History exams. Overall students are generally performing well. We have summarised the key issues that the examiners found students needed to improve, and collated some free content that addresses these issues to help your students avoid these mistakes in the future and give […]

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Exam Insights: GCSE Maths

November 1, 2019March 26, 2020Oxford Maths

What can we learn from the 2019 GCSE Mathematics papers? By Jemma Sherwood We have now seen the third year of the new GCSE in Mathematics and we are starting to get a feel for the question types, the mix of procedure and application, and the complexity of the problems. It is clearly a different […]

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Exam insights: OCR A Level Religious Studies 2019

November 1, 2019March 26, 2020Oxford RE Team
what-can-we-learn-from-the-2019-aqa-a-level-history-examiner-reports

The examiner reports from OCR have now been published, highlighting some of the features of the best answers from the summer exams of 2019. There were several key characteristics that helped essays to score higher marks; the examiners’ reports should help current students to see where they can improve as they develop their own writing. […]

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Exam Insights: AQA AS/A Level Literature NEA

October 29, 2019March 26, 2020Oxford English Team
MFL GCSE exam insight

Author: Gwen Nelson The literature NEAs involve a comparison of different texts, linked via a theme, form, or authorial method with application of literary criticism.  It is a demanding piece of work which is worth 20% of the A-Level as a whole. There are varying approaches across Centres, with some choosing to use one common […]

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AQA English Language Exam Insights 2019, by Beverley Emm

October 14, 2019March 26, 2020Oxford English Team
examiners reports

We’re now three years into what is still being referred to as the ‘new spec’, and students, teachers and examiners have settled into a pattern of expectation: most students know what to do in the exam, teachers teach it and examiners examine it. Something is obviously working because results continue to get better year on […]

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Insights from the AQA AS and A level English Language exams, by Dan Clayton

October 8, 2019March 26, 2020Oxford English Team
English Language

It’s now the third time through the A levels for the new (ish) reformed A level specifications, or the fourth time round if you count the AS exams (which are now sat by just a quarter of those who took them 2 years ago). That usually means that teachers and students are getting more used […]

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Exam Insights 2019: first impressions of the GCSE Geography Edexcel B exam

July 15, 2019July 16, 2019Oxford Geography Team

So, just like that, another exam season is over and the GCSE Geography exams of 2019 are completed. With this being the second cohort of Year 11s to sit the reformed Geography specifications, I think that many Geography teachers were intrigued to see another set of live papers – what would be tested this year? […]

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