Year 12 Update on the summer examinations

Dear Year 12 students and their families,

 

I am writing to provide some more guidance about the information that Edexcel and Cambridge Assessment International Education (Cambridge International) have given us about their AS examinations. Firstly, I would like to reiterate, in case you have any uncertainty, that you have been entered for each AS subject that you would normally have taken an examination in had they been running as normal. 

 

Our students take a range of international A level (IAL) examinations with both Edexcel and Cambridge International as well as UK-based Edexcel A level (AL). For students taking BTEC qualifications, these are not affected in any way by the following information.

 

The situation for UK-based A levels is that they are either not entered for the AS qualification, or if they are entered this is to give them valuable practice and it provides a separate qualification from the A level and cannot be used towards the overall A level. For students taking Art & Design and also Design Technology, you were not entered for the AS examination and therefore there is no change and for students taking AS biology this was to provide you with a valuable qualification at the end of Year 12 and also provide you with useful examination experience. In both cases therefore you continue to have your full assessment for these at the end of Year 13, which means that there is no impact on your planned examinations in Year 13.

 

For Edexcel International AS examinations, students will be awarded grades at unit level for the May/June 2020 series, as well as an overall AS grade. They will also be assigned a notional single UMS (Uniform Mark Scale) mark. This means that this mark can be carried forward towards the total marks required to achieve the qualification grade, for this series and future series, and students can continue with their existing study, exam pattern and progression. In the same way as in normal circumstances, if you believe you can get a stronger grade, or notional single UMS, than you receive in August you are welcome to resit single units or all of them. However, this time there should be examinations in October/November as well as January, and we could encourage you to look to do this in October/November. The approach by Edexcel gives you all a good position to then decide what is best for you, with hopefully only a very small number of examinations needing to be resat. If a resit is taken for an Edexcel AS then the higher mark will be carried forward for the whole A level. 

 

For Cambridge International AS exams, students will be awarded grades for each syllabus in which they have been entered for the May/June 2020 series. They will however not be assigned a UMS mark per syllabus or component. The grade will allow students to take the A2 component/s of the A level, but if they follow this process their overall A level grade will be awarded only on their A2 components. For example, if a student obtains a grade C in their AS Level in June 2020, takes A2 components in that subject in June 2021 and performs at the level of grade B, they will be awarded an A Level at grade B. By the same principle, if a student obtains a grade B in their AS Level in June 2020, takes A2 components in that subject in June 2021 and performs at the level of grade C, they will be awarded an A Level at grade C. The reality is that A2 components are notably tougher than AS components, which is one of the reasons why Mr Sama and I held a meeting with parents at the start of this academic year to ensure that you and your families understood how important Year 12 was and how important getting the best AS grades you could in Year 12 was as this would have a big impact on the final A level grades. We are therefore looking to enter all students for their Cambridge International AS examinations in October and November, so that they can then be awarded their final A level grade at the end of Year 13 based on both their AS and A2 components. For Cambridge International the higher AS grade will stand but the mark carried forward will be the November mark. We appreciate that this means that you will all have an extra challenge for these qualifications, but your teachers will actively support you through this process. We also think there is a possibility that Cambridge International will reconsider their approach so that they match up to the more supportive approach taken by Edexcel, but there has been no indication of this from them. 

 

Please find a list of the examination boards for our Year 12 subjects

 

Edexcel UK-based AS exams.
Students studying this subject do not need to do anything else as their final grade will be based on their A level examinations at the end of Year 13.

• Biology

 

Edexcel International AS (IAS) exams.
Students studying these subjects will have an UMS mark which they can use as normal so they are not required to take the AS examinations. However, as in normal situations they are able to retake if they wish to get a better UMS to support their overall A level grade.

• Chemistry
• English Literature*
• Mathematics
• Physics

 (* English Literature is only being offered for examination in January) 

 

Cambridge International AS (IAS) exams.
Students studying these subjects should take the AS examination this coming October or November.

• Business
• Computer Science
• Geography
• History
• Media Studies
• Physical Education
• Psychology

 

 

If you or your family would like any clarity about this please contact your Year Group Leader, Mr Sama ([email protected]) either in person or by email.

 

Kind regards,

Mr Oakley