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specification\nThe assessment objectives\nThe structure of an exam paper\nApplying a mark scheme\n2\nCopyright © 2025 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved.\nThe specification\n3\nCombined Science: Trilogy (8464)\nCopyright © 2025 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved.\n4\nYou can download all of our specifications from our website: www.aqa.org.uk\nDiscussion point: What is a specification used for?\n5\nCopyright © 2025 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved.\nEdit Master text styles\nSecond level\nThird level\nFourth level\nFifth level\nWorking scientifically\nCopyright © 2025 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved.\n6\nFour sections:\nDiscussion point:\nExample 1 (page 9)\nCan you identify the working scientifically (WS) areas in the question items?\nCopyright © 2025 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved.\n7\nWorking scientifically\nAssessment of maths skills\n8\nCopyright © 2025 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved.\nAssessment of practical skills\n9\nCopyright © 2025 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved.\nSpecification – at a glance\n10\nCopyright © 2025 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved.\nExam papers\nCopyright © 2025 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved.\n11\nThe assessment objectives\n12\nDiscussion point:\nHow many assessment objectives (AOs) are there are for GCSE Science?\nWhat does each AO cover?\nWhat percentage of the award is assigned to each AO?\nWhy are AOs important to teachers?\n13\nAssessment objectives in GCSE Science\nCopyright © 2025 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved.\nThe GCSE Science assessment objectives\nCopyright © 2025 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved.\n14\nCopyright © 2025 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved.\n15\nDiscussion point: Can you identify the AO?\nLook at the items (parts of questions) in Example 2 on pages 12 and 13 of the booklet. Can you identify the AO each item covers?\nAO2\nAO3\nAO1\nAO1\nAO2\nCommand words\n16\nCommand words\nDiscussion point\nWhat are the command words in these examples?\nCopyright © 2025 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved.\n17\nThe structure of an exam paper\n18\nStructure of the papers\n19\nThere are approximately seven questions on a GCSE Combined Science Trilogy paper, and ten for each separate science paper.\nQuestions are made up of several ‘items’.\nEach question covers an area of science, which is introduced in the stem of the question.\nPapers are tiered and the demand ramped through the paper.\nCommon questions make up 30% of the marks.\nDemand\nTarget grades\n% marks\nTier\nLow\n1–3\n60%\nFoundation\nStandard\n4–5\n40%\nFoundation\nStandard\n4–5\n40%\nHigher\nHigh\n6–9\n60%\nHigher\nCopyright © 2025 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved.\nDifferent question types\nMultiple-choice, link boxes, sentence completion: 1 or 2 marks\nShort-answer: 1–3 marks\n20\nTypes of questions\nCopyright © 2025 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved.\nDifferent question types\nLonger answer questions: 4–6 marks\nExtended response: 4 or 6 marks\nMarked using ‘levels of response’ mark schemes.\nWhen a student writes their answer, they can:\nwrite in paragraphs\nuse short sentences in bullet points\nuse labelled diagrams\nuse tables with headings for compare and evaluate questions.\n21\nTypes of questions\nCopyright © 2025 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved.\nDifferent question types\nCalculations: 1–4 marks\nMultistep calculations: 4–6 marks\n22\nTypes of questions\nCopyright © 2025 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved.\nDifferent question types\nGraphs: 3 or 4 marks (plots, axis, scales, line of best fit)\nStudents may be asked to:\nplot the data from a table\nlabel the axis – use the headings in the data table\ndraw the scale – use most of the graph paper given\ndraw a line of best fit. Lines of best fit can be straight or curved – look at the pattern in the data first to decide.\n23\nTypes of questions\nCopyright © 2025 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved.\nApplying a mark scheme\n24\nFeatures of a mark schem","cbCaitQ6Ec9PjYUG","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaitQ6Ec9PjYUG","pptx",8427752,47,"English","# Session overview\n## The specification\n## The assessment objectives\n## The structure of an exam paper\n## Applying a mark scheme\n## Implications for teaching","[{\"question\":\"What is a specification used for in GCSE Science assessment?\",\"answer\":\"It sets out the content and expectations for teaching and exam preparation, including how skills and knowledge are assessed through the assessment objectives.\"},{\"question\":\"How are assessment objectives (AOs) used in GCSE Science?\",\"answer\":\"AOs define what students are assessed on, each item in questions maps to an AO, and the AOs determine how much of the final award is allocated to different skills and knowledge areas.\"},{\"question\":\"How do you apply a levels of response mark scheme for extended response questions?\",\"answer\":\"Read the student answer, annotate qualities that match the descriptors, determine the appropriate level, then use the level to decide the mark, noting that each level includes performance descriptors for awarding points.\"}]","Supporting ITT - Understanding GCSE Science assessment | PPTX",1792464886,118]