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Psychology aqa a A2 marking!!!

How are our essays going to be marked?

in PYA4 for example will it be like this...
if you have 12 A01 points you get 12 marks?
if you have 12 A02 points you get 12 marks? .. =24

or do they read it and see how good they think it is and judge it like that?

Reply 1

Sazarina88

I think for each GOOD point or RELEVANT point you would get a mark?

Reply 2

Em444

I just copied this from the June 2005 markscheme on the aqa website:

Reply 3

3.14159265

the markschemes dont say u need 24 good points for 24 marks.

the just have a short description next the the marking category.

one of my teachers marks it by counting a01 and a02 points but im not sure if thats wat examiners would do.

Reply 4

Em444

Yeah - I know what you mean. I think in the past my teacher has marked it by counting A01 and A02 points but shes also marked essays by not counting A01 and A02 points. I think in general they go by the comments in the markscheme - because I went to a revision conference a few weeks ago by the examiners and they kept going on about the markschemes and they kept showing us those tables and emphasising on the criteria in the markscheme. I guess some examiners might count A01 and A02 points to help them? - I really dont know. Its a bit unfair if they all mark it differently though, which is why im sure theres only one method.

If your really unsure perhaps phone the exam board and ask them? I phoned them last week and asked them a question about the specification and they were really helpful. I read somewhere on here that a guy phoned them to ask what was in the January exams and they told him - so I assume you can ask anything!

Em xxxx

Reply 5

3.14159265

ok i will, but i dont want then to tell me that they wont count a01 and a02 points cos then i'll be stuck and i will know i i'll fail!

Reply 6

3.14159265

I phoned aqa up, they were very kind etc but couldnt really answer my question.

They said to ask you teacher about it. i told them my teacher said 12 ao1 and 12 ao2 would get u top marks but they said that they mark it according to bands(in the mark scheme).

but they generally said if you have 12 a01 and 12 a02 points that are all relevant then you should get all the marks. but they seemed very unsure.

Reply 7

zoea85

Wow, looking at em's link, an A boundary for PYA4 has been in the 40s before! Like 49 and 45 - which would make 15/24 - an A. They were a few years back though so maybe they were being lenient but still, that is good!

In regards to the AO1/AO2 marking thing, my teacher does mark my work by writing ao1, ao2 down the margin but I don't think you necessarily need to include 12 individual points to get full marks, elaboration of one point probably would count as another point. I don't think they just read it and kind of guess a mark, the AO's are there for them to mark you with so they definitely 'count' your points in some sort of way but probably not as rigidly as 12 points = 12 marks.
They also have guidelines like what Em posted, where they have a table to check if you have sufficient bredth/depth and enough detail.
I usually work by writing everything possible for that question that will fit into 15 mins (for pya4) for A01 and A02, I try to write a page and a bit of A01 and a page and a bit of A02 and usually I have everything covered that way. It would probably be confusing and difficult to be counting your points, for me it would disrupt my train of thought anyway. I just keep going till I know 15 mins is up and then do the same on A02 and start evaulating...I wouldn't worry too much about the marking, keep doing it the way you do it, if you change the way you do it now, it might confuse you.

Reply 8

8owman

The Unit 6 exam is marked with the "notional 18 year old" in mind (i.e. constantly hungover ;D). Plus you only need 16 out of 30 per question (on average) for an A. Woo!

Reply 9

beach surf babe

Really...didn't know that....If you want a copy of the marking criteria check either the AQA website or your textbook...

Reply 10

jacko!

from what my teacher has told me it is not simply 12points= 12 marks. Especially for A02, apparently essays now have to be much more discussion based, e.g. talking about 4-5 studies in more detail, discussing there implications and then linking it back to wether it does or doesnt support your argument.

could be wrong but thats just what my teacher has said, pisses me off to be honest, bit too much effort! prefer to just reel off the findings of studies but ahh well.

Reply 11

Clarence

8owman

The Unit 6 exam is marked with the "notional 18 year old" in mind (i.e. constantly hungover ;D). Plus you only need 16 out of 30 per question (on average) for an A. Woo!

Wahey!!!!!!!!

Reply 12

kdv

8owman

The Unit 6 exam is marked with the "notional 18 year old" in mind (i.e. constantly hungover ;D). Plus you only need 16 out of 30 per question (on average) for an A. Woo!

For some reason i don't think so. I wish it were... but It is around 21 or more to get an A. BUT lets all hope that you are right. :biggrin:

In Unit 4, its not about the number of points but the value of them and the development of the answer on a whole, and full evaluation of each theory or study.