Circular
S/IF/30/07 March 2007
TO: The Principals of Post-primary Schools and Directors of Institutes of Further and Higher Education
FOR CIRCULATION TO: The Head of the English Department
AS & A2 January 2007
CCEA contacted centres by letter in October 2005 to communicate that the mark scheme for AS 2 was to be reviewed for the Spring series of 2006 in an effort to ensure that examiners would be able to award the full range of raw marks available.
The new mark scheme used in the Spring 2006 series was successful in allowing examiners to award a wider and higher range of raw marks. Given the success of the new mark scheme in extending the range of raw marks awarded for AS2, the mark schemes for all other English Literature AS and A2 externally assessed units were revised for the Summer 2006 series of examinations.
This process was continued into the Spring 2007 series. I am pleased to report that the changes to the Spring 2007 mark schemes were successful in expanding the range of raw marks awarded in the four units in comparison with those of the Summer series 2006. There was an average 18.2% rise in the mean raw mark awarded by examiners. We are confident that the raw mark levels awarded this series will continue for forthcoming series.
Centres are aware that the relationship between raw marks and uniform marks can change from one examination series to the next. This is because the raw mark grade boundaries can change year on year. The uniform mark grade boundaries do not change. Due to our success in expanding the range of raw marks awarded, the relationship between raw marks and uniform marks has changed as below.
|
Spring 07 |
Summer 06 |
|
||
Raw mark |
Raw mark |
Uniform mark |
|||
A grade boundary |
AS1 |
44 |
30 |
96 |
|
AS2 |
25 |
16 |
72 |
||
A21 |
42 |
32 |
72 |
||
A22 |
24 |
15 |
72 |
||
E grade boundary |
AS1 |
27 |
11 |
48 |
|
AS2 |
12 |
5 |
36 |
||
A21 |
18 |
10 |
36 |
||
A22 |
13 |
8 |
36 |
||
I would like to reassure you that the standards remain consistent year on year and that the requirements of the papers and the demand on the students do not change.
As a further point of information I would like also to draw your attention to a number of new support materials for GCE English Literature. A range of ‘Agenda for Study’ for prescribed texts can be found on the GCE English Literature microsite http://www.ccea.org.uk/english_literature/ in the Support materials section.
| If you have any queries about this content of this circular please contact Majella Corrigan at CCEA on 028 90261200 ext 2200 |
