AQA or assessment and qualifications alliance is actually an awarding body based in England, Northern Ireland and Wales. It holds exams at various levels like GCSE, AS and A and the students receive vocational qualifications after the course is over. The AQA remains separate from the government through its qualifications and exam syllabus get regulated by the Government of the United Kingdom.
About the board
This board emerged in 2000 and is by far the largest examination board in England. The expertise of the last so many years has been translated into bringing important changes in Education and examination patterns.
AQA-GCSE offers qualifications from 5 to 12 subjects that you are going to cover in 2-year period with English, Mathematics, Science, and literature being mandatory. Even within the subjects, there are various levels of qualifications and specifications. Core subjects like Maths, English, and science are offered along with humanities, ICT and PE and arts-related subjects. You are required to clear a minimum of five subjects with a C-grade or higher to proceed to A level. Naturally, the exam level of such type of curriculum is bound to be tough.
Experts recommend students to practise and revise previous years’ exam papers to not only get used to the pattern of questions but also utilise their time wisely while answering the questions of various sections. According to them, this strategy helps students to get the desired results in the examination.
Type of assessments
For students appearing for the AQA-GCSE, the assessments are done through exams as well as there are some non-exam assessments too. The teachers grade the students’ basis the performance they have given in their submissions to them like project reports and other items. However, it is the exams that are very tricky as it is tough to decipher what kind of questions may be brought up. The grades that are awarded are on a scale of 9-1. With adequate preparation, a student can hope of grabbing an 8 or 9 grade on his paper.
Study time
Ever since the new grading systems have been introduced it has become tough to know what kind of questions you may get. On average, a student needs to study at least 6-7 hours after he comes back from the school to score a grade that is respectable. With more and focused studies, you can get a better result even while studying for fewer hours. This, however, can be achieved only by practicing past papers for the exam.
Why past papers are important
As far as the level of difficulty of questions is concerned, it can go either way. Though the questions are challenging, one can manage them with careful planning and practice. Apart from your effort, the length of time you invest in studying and revising the subjects will determine your chances of success in the examination.
Going by the syllabus of the board, the lessons of all the subjects deal with concepts in depth. Your best bet to answer the questions in the examination hall is to revise the subjects regularly. A lot depends on how an examinee manages their time.
Going through the past papers for AQA-GCSE is going to give you a fair idea of the type of questions you can possibly get. When a fair understanding of the paper is there, you can dabble around the answers and eventually find out the solution.
In order to achieve success in the AQA-GCSE exams, it is important that the student maintains a steady study practice from the beginning of his session. By practising past papers, the students get an idea of what kind of questions would be probably asked. Trusting the best resource to get them is the surety of providing you success in this endeavour.
