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Edexcel GCSE Drama

Argh...my performance is on Thursday.
Worth 40% of the final GCSE grade.

At least it's 1 GCSE out of the way!

Despite getting full marks in my written coursework worth 20% of the final GCSE grade, I dropped quite a few marks in the practical coursework worth 40%, merging my final coursework mark as 108/120 which has just been moderated by Edexcel.

Now the grade boundaries are ridiculous...
I can only drop 5 marks (97%) overall to get an A*.
(So I can't get that!)

To get an A, I need to get 87% which lies around the 140/160 mark boundary.

The final performance is marked out of 40 so I'll need at least 32/40 to get an A. I sure hope I can deliver conviction through my character and portray Aston's role well in Pinter's 'The Caretaker'.

Who else is doing GCSE Drama?
When's your performance?
What are your thoughts on the grade boundaries?

Just making interesting topics to debate about because there's not much talk of the performing arts aspect on this forum.

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Reply 1
Hey, had my performance on march the 21st, was Kate from 'All My Sons', you needed like 28/30 for an A* i think, but its quite possible to get an A*, especially when the examiner has never seen the play before...
Reply 2
Actually wish I'd took drama now... used to love it when we did it in Year 7, 8 and 9 lol.
Reply 3
I took AQA Drama... It is a lot easier. We don't have a final practical exam.. it's a written exam - 2hours, worth 40% of the marks.
And A* is 158/200 - I have 111/120 for my coursework so i need just under 50/80 for a comfortable A* :biggrin: :biggrin: . And I tend to get 60+ when i do practice papers. heheheh
b9muslove
Hey, had my performance on march the 21st, was Kate from 'All My Sons', you needed like 28/30 for an A* i think, but its quite possible to get an A*, especially when the examiner has never seen the play before...

What board are you doing?

Oh and how did your exam go?

I'm quite excited to finally perfom my piece after so many rehearsals but I'm worried about the moderator/examiner, the camera, and perfoming in front of a live audience featuring family and friends.
Reply 5
hbk91
What board are you doing?

Oh and how did your exam go?

I'm quite excited to finally perfom my piece after so many rehearsals but I'm worried about the moderator/examiner, the camera, and perfoming in front of a live audience featuring family and friends.


I'm on AQA. The exam went very well thanks, the performance in front of the examiner was the best one we did, and I got 30/30 so the examiner can't have been that harsh!
Heya!!!

I did my drama exam on the 26th of April, on the edexcel board. For my written coursework I got 20/20 in both. And in my practical coursework I got 40/40 in the first and 38/40 in the second. So the A* still within reach.

Our final exam piece was awesome!!!!! I had a panic attack beforehand...jst the kind of realisation of omg this is it...but my teacher took me outside and calmed me down. I think it helped cos we were the first in the mrning to perform.
Our piece was sooo depressing but it was extremely original :p:

Our teacher said you could only lose four marks to get an A* hmmmm ah well!

K xxxxxx
^ I seriously hope you get an A*.

You've done incredibly well on the coursework side of things and I just hope you don't fall short of an A* by one or two marks and get an A because God knows it happens sometimes.

How was it performing in front of the examiner?
Were they friendly?
Did they uh...smile or show emotion throughout their visit?

Argh...I'm so worried just thinking about it now!

I hope they lower the grade boundaries too. 3% of the country that do GCSE Drama with Edexcel achieve A*. 3 freaking %! It's about time they did something about this issue because tbh, it's ridiculous.

Oh and do you know a rough markscheme of the final grade out of 160.
I'm getting a tad bit confused looking it all up on Edexcel's site.

x
I know that I was told that to get the lowest A I could possibly get it would be 27/40 in the final exam and I should definintely get at least an A with the performance we had. I dunno what all the grade boundaries are tbh...n i'm not in a mathsy mood having just revised chemistry and maths.

Was your piece scripted? Ours was devised:p:
Whats your title?
Ours was "The truth hurts"

The examiner i had was bald, tall and thin...youngish for an examiner (40sish)
the examiners aren't allowed to express any emotion at all...so don't get worried if they don't laugh or cry...they aren't allowed to give any indication as to how they find the pieces. Btw...look out for when any students go up to his desk...he covers what he's writing soooo quickly lol! He puts his finger in front of his mouth when he wants to laugh...cos there was a guy in my class who was dancing stupidly (in character of course) and thats what happened...nt in my group though!

There were 5 girls in my group n we had a 30 minute piece...our teacher sed i didn't drag a minute though...we were well impressed!!!

GOOD LUCK AND ENJOY YOURSELF...i'll say what my drama teacher said to me during my panic attack...you chose to do drama as an option because you love to perform...and tomorrow you're going to wow that guy if ts the last thing you do!!!!!!! I miss drama now...we're just revising in drama lessons :frown: ! I'll b thinkin of you...what time is ur exam?

K xxxxx
Oh yeh...forgot to say he's very very quick at marking :p: !
Miss sed tht usually they take about 15/20 mins between each piece but he only took about 4/5 to mark them :s-smilie:
dunno if thats a good thing...its the first time since my teachers been at the school (over 10 years) that theres been a male examiner sooo...maybe he be niiice...or not! Shall see on 23rd of August lol!

K xxxxxxx
it felt like an overwhelming piece of a performance.
so much intensity gave the night a whole different flavour!
(most plays were comical)

i was 30cm away from the bloody moderator during my monologue!
i wasn't expecting to deliver it that close!
i gave it my all and i hope it met pinter's standards haha!

i got a huge standing ovation after my 7 minute monologue too! my 'rents even saw the examiner clap, nod, and smile at me during the denouement.

so it went really well!
thanks everyone for your support!

oh and 'the caretaker' is a scripted play by harold pinter!

1 gcse done, god knows how many more to go!

x
Reply 11
My exams this fridai, n i hav 105 from 120 in coursework, which is a reasonable result i suppose, but i mean i herd they double your performance mark so its out of 80 and then the whole course is out of 200 and apparently its lyk 98 or 97 % for an A* which is ridiculous.

Im Harry Brewer in Our Countrys Good and I think ill go for a safe A but obviously aim for as high as possible, any tips for the exam?
Reply 12
Im still in Y10, is drama much harder in Y11?
jason
Reply 13
jasonw
Im still in Y10, is drama much harder in Y11?
jason


Harder? No.

Just make sure you get a good mark for coursework so the pressure is off in the exam. My coursework was pretty bad, so I need an A in the exam to get an A overall, so its not going to happen as our piece is poor.
The coursework element of GCSE Drama is absurd. I think I did more writing than acting, and it left me with two weeks to prepare for the final performance.
Reply 15
Who else is doing GCSE Drama? Me.
When's your performance? I had it last Friday. It went well.
What are your thoughts on the grade boundaries? I think the actual performance should be worth around 75%

I had my Drama exam 3 or 4 weeks ago, apparently I should of got mark band 1 :smile: I hope for an A, though the coursework may of put me down a tad!
I'm doin edeexcel drama practical exam tomorrow night at 9pm!
I got 119/120 in my cwrk, my freind in my group lauren got 115/120 and kelsey got 110/120. If it's 97% for A* am i right in thinking that I have to get at least 75/80 on tomorrow and lauren needs 79/80 for an A*. You can only drop 6 marks, right?
Reply 18
Yh ur rite, its really tough to get an A*, I would assume if you got a really high mark in the coursework than 40 from 40 is pretty easy, then they double it and I think its 190 for an A*, which is tought but I mean if you can act you can act, I think ill prob go for a safe A, as i know A* is soo out of reach
Reply 19
Just found out that i only dropped one mark on my coursework