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Comparing the new draft A-level specifications (2)

In this blog I am going to look at the assessment regimes of the four exam boards as they appear in the drafts. Usual caveat: this may change a bit! This summary applies to French, German and Spanish.

It is worth saying at the outset that there is far less variation in the pattern of assessment between boards as there is with subject content and prescribed lists of books and films. Nevertheless, if a teacher is weighing up two different boards, they may be slightly influenced by how the exams are arranged (content and timings). You'll see that, as the drafts stand, students will sit in the exam room a bit longer with OCR and Eduqas overall.

I shall look at both AS and A-level this time.

There is a little variation in nomenclature across the boards, but for ease of comparison I'll just use the terms Paper1, Paper 2 and Speaking. Note that you need to add 15 minutes prep time for the AS oral and 5 minutes for A-level.

Note also that even though weighting seem to vary somewhat from board to board, the overall Assessment Objectives (AOs) for each board are weighted identically, as dictated by Ofqual. Each board allocates marks slightly differently.

Again, apologies for the formatting. I shall really master using Blogger one day.


AQA

 AS-level

 Paper 1     Listening, reading, translation into English    1h 45     40%
Paper 2     Translation into TL, essay                              1h 15     30%
Speaking   Discussion of two themes                             12-14m  30%

 A-level
Paper 1     Listening, reading, translation both ways       2h 30     40%
Paper 2     Two essays in TL                                            2h          30%
Speaking   Discussion + pres/discussion of research      16-18m  30%

Total exam time: AS = 3h    A-level = 4h 30     Total      7h30
Eduqas

 AS-level
Paper 1     Listening, reading, translation both ways       2h 30     50%
Paper 2     Essay in TL                                                     1h 15     20%
Speaking  Arguing a point of + discussion                     12-15m  30%

 A-level
Paper 1     Listening, reading, translation both ways       2h 30     50%
Paper 2     Two essays in TL                                            2h          20%
Speaking   Research project + discussion from card      16-18m  30%

Total exam time: AS = 3h 45   A-level = 4h 30  Total     8h 15
OCR

 AS-level
Paper 1     Listening, reading, translation into English    1h 30     37%
Paper 2     Translation into TL + essay in TL                   1h 30    33%
Speaking   Discussion of two themes                              12-14m 30%

 A-level      
Paper 1     Listening, reading, translation into English     2h 30    40%      
Paper 2     Translation into TL + two essays in TL          2h 45    30%
Speaking   Research project + discussion from card      16-18m  30%

Total exam time:  AS = 3h   A-level = 5h 15    Total       8h 15
Pearson

 AS-level     
Paper 1     Listening, reading, translation into English   1h 50    40%
Paper 2    Translation into TL + essay  in TL                 1h 15    30%                  
Speaking  Discussion of two themes                             12-15m 30%

 A-level
Paper 1     Listening, reading, translation into English   1h 50    40%
Paper 2     Translation into TL + two essays in TL         2h 40    30%
Speaking   Research project + discussion                      16-18m 30%    

 Total exam time:   AS = 3h 05   A-level = 4h 30  Total    7h 35

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