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AQA Geography: 70/120 is an A?! :O

I was attempting a past paper online for geography revision and when I went to check the mark scheme and percentage grade boundaries it told me 58% was all I needed for an A.

I'd be delighted if that were true, but it seems far too low for an A level grade boundary, can anyone who did AQA AS Geography confirm or deny this?

Reply 1

DellaLouise

AQA Geography has always been low :yep:

Back when I took GEOG1 I think it was something like 57/120 for an A :rolleyes:

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 2

marcushumphrey

AQA always make them hard for some reason and there was an examiner for them on here, who may know more. Think her name was clareramos, may be worth asking her.

Reply 3

michaelhaych

Yeah that is indeed true. When I did it you needed less than 50% for an A.

Reply 4

Heyimdec

Yes this is true. My teachers say the reason it is so low is because the examiners mark you very harshly. I did GEOG1 in June 2011, it was around 59% for an A, I got 66%. :biggrin:

Reply 5

alexa3218

Sometimes the grade boundaries are really low especially if it is a hard paper!

Reply 6

Stoof

They're slowly getting higher maybe as teachers improve there teaching on what is still a relatively new specification. But yes, I think June's was low 60%'s for an A so on the surface it seems pretty easy but the boundaries do represent the paper, many people struggle on it. Nail your 15 markers and revise the **** out of your theory and it's the best way to make your A2 year that little bit more relaxing <3

Reply 7

clareramos

the chief examiner set the bar way to high, I used to mark for AQA and can say the standard we where expected to get was stupidly high and in the end this made the marks really low.

One point I will say is. make sure you know your stuff and as stoof says know your longer questions, but don't forget the shorter ones, ones with diagrams/pictures/maps as actually you can loose a fair amount of marks because you can't get to the point and spend to long on them.
From experience people will find A2 easier knowledge wise than AS and you can actually claw back some marks quite easily in A2.