I think that one of the advantages of having a case study that covers wide areas of the specification is that it discourages question-spotting. A well-prepared student needs to consider the totality of the spec – rather than focus too narrowly on a small number of aspects. There will always be topics that are more significant than others (e.g. management styles, methods of organising production, nature of business objectives) – and a well constructed paper will major on these – but not to the exclusion of other areas. There have been five AQA Unit 2&3 case studies so far (I think?) – from memory they have all been of a high standard. Well written. Not too data intensive. Requiring careful reading. Comparing them to IB, OCR, Edexcel et al, AQA can probably claim to be the gold standard at this level.
Jim
From: Economics,
business, and related subjects [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Duncan Williamson
Sent: 08 June 2005 14:56
To:
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Subject: Re: ~Yesterdays AQA
Paper~
With a decent case Barney there could still be the need for back up resources but at least they wouldn’t need to pepper the entire syllabus or vast swathes of it every time for what is only worth an hour or two of examination time. Work would be much more structured, focused and logical. The examiner could also be much happier with a much richer case having been written too.
I’m happy you liked the work we did: we feel that it was our best to date!
Duncan
From: Economics,
business, and related subjects [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Barney Clarke
Sent: 08 June 2005 14:29
To:
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Subject: Re: ~Yesterdays AQA
Paper~
Duncan
I think that all pre-release resources will direct you in one direction or another. It is therefore the responsibility of the teacher to use the resources as a guide and decide which path their students should follow, if any.
I was very pleased with the resources you provided and feel that you covered every angle.
I look forward to the exam where they provide “a combination of data out of which the examiner could have drawn one or more of these topics”. But hell could freeze over first.
But then if they do that who would need to buy your resources??
I look forward to your next material.
Barney.
From: Economics, business, and related subjects [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Duncan Williamson
Sent: 08 June 2005 14:07
To:
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Subject: Re: ~Yesterdays AQA
Paper~
I haven’t checked any other resources post the exam and can’t remember what other resource providers did but speaking as an interested party I have to say that we see yet again the limited value of all support materials for pre seen case studies.
Chris and I put together a lot of materials and so did several other partnerships, companies and organisations. We are all guilty of channelling candidates’ thoughts in the directions in which we took them. We did the same to the teachers, of course; but teachers are more discriminating.
That’s the down side and Chris and I are in the throes of developing radical new materials that will help to overcome the twice yearly trawl through the syllabus trying to find something new to say.
On the other hand, a good case study will cover as wide a range of syllabus material as is felt appropriate by the examining body and it will do so in a creative, constructive and challenging way. The current AQA series, however, contain materials that turn out to be wholly irrelevant to the published case and that aspect is another part of the problem.
I don’t say that the pre seen case should be childishly transparent and the questions blindingly easy to spot but there could be, for example, a combination of data out of which the examiner could have drawn one or more of these topics:
break even analysis
budget preparation and analysis
some interpretation and
some ad hoc cost accounting calculations
The well prepared candidate would have coped well and so on.
Of course that has happened to some extent but there are questions that really have come out of the blue this time … and last time and the time before that.
I did check our materials on simultaneous engineering and anyone who studied them would have been able to answer that question fully!
Duncan Williamson
From: Economics, business, and related subjects [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Barney Clarke
Sent: 08 June 2005 09:54
To:
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Subject: Re: ~Yesterdays AQA
Paper~
To be honest I didn’t think it was that bad.
I do agree with both David and Duncan’s opinions. The question on simultaneous development was out of the blue and (in my opinion) a very small area of the course to warrant a 6 mark question. After a very short Investigation this morning I found only a very small number of the A-level text books cover simultaneous development. However as you said students who revised thoroughly should do well. The revision resources provided by Duncan did cover it!
Overall I can’t complain.
In relation to Unit 1 I was well pleased. The exam covered every area I expected it to!
Barney
From: Economics, business, and related subjects
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Graham Crewe
Sent: 08 June 2005 09:24
To:
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Subject: Re: ~Yesterdays AQA
Paper~
I thought that they were the same as ever - fair enough. They gave students who had revised thoroughly the opportunity to succeed. What I always feel with AQA BS is that questions are unambiguous - they're not trying to catch the students out.
It's always important to remember that papers are norm-referenced - i.e. if it's a hard paper and students at my school struggle, then the chances are that the whole cohort will struggle and Uniform Mark Scale scores will reflect this.
What did you think Barney, as you ask the question?
Graham
Barney Clarke <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
I was just wondering what people thought of yesterdays AQA papers?
Barney Clarke
HOD
Elizabeth College
Guernsey
Graham Crewe
Head of ICT, Sir Thomas Rich's School
Oakleaze, Longlevens
Gloucester. GL2 0LF
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