Controlled Assessment

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We award 25 percent of the marks for controlled assessment (Unit 3). This is a terminal unit. Students must complete a geographical investigation that is supported by a fieldwork report. The fieldwork report must be no more than 2000 words. It must be based on primary data collection and investigate two or three hypotheses with a maximum of four. We provide a list of titles and teachers must choose the most suitable for their students to investigate.

The teacher marks the controlled assessment tasks, and we moderate them.

Students are assessed on their ability to:

plan some aspects of work to be carried out in the field;
investigate using geographical skills, including enquiry skills;
collect and record data in the field;
develop a written report to present, analyse and interpret the above data;
draw and justify conclusions, and communicate outcomes appropriately; and
evaluate methods of collecting data and suggest improvements to the investigation.

Teachers should guide students in planning and data collection. They may help by clarifying the focus of the investigation and detailing the structure of the report. The analysis, interpretation, formulation of conclusions and evaluation is the responsibility of the student.

Students can carry out the investigation as a group exercise, but each individual must complete a separate report. Where fieldwork is carried out in a group to support a common topic, students must:

define their role in the group in terms of primary data collection; and
use some original data collection.

Students must complete research and data collection under limited supervision. However, they must complete all analysis and evaluation work under direct supervision by the teacher.

For more information, see the specification.