GCSE Graphic Products results
for Summer 2004
This year, 53% of students met or exceeded expectations,
8 students did not reach the A* as predicted, but were
infact awarded grade A. The following students pleasingly
exceeded their predicted grade:
Sophie Cooper, Hannah Drury, Lara Seaton, Victoria Ward
and Hui Chan. These students were all given individual
guidance outside of lessons. In particular, Hui was able
to attain grade A*, yet she had no experience of D&T
before joining the school in year 10. She needed extra
tuition in order to cover the specification requirements,
this was arranged during lunchtimes and after school hours.
Disappointingly, there has been a drop in the grades awarded
for this subject over the past year, form 71% to 54% achieving
A & A*.
The coursework element of the examination contributed
favourably to most students’ grade, many achieved
over 90% for this unit alone. However, the following students
produced coursework that did not reflect their ability,
resulting in lower grades than expected:
Charlotte Coleman (C), Harriet Couchman (B), Gwennan Evans
(D), Keely Fuller (B), Stephanie Gargan (C), Emma Merrells
(C), Emily Morrison (B), Rebecca O’Brien (B), Jennifer
Owens (B), Nicola Palmer (B), Natasha Preocanin (B), Eleanor
Roberts (B), Charlotte Rowe (B), Jocelyn Stockbridge (B),
Sarah Taylor (C), Clara Thompson (B).
Possible reasons for their underachievement are:
· failure to gain access to an IT room on a regular
basis: the subject specification demands a high level
of ICT skills, both in the use of computer aided designing
(CAD) and in manufacturing (CAM), but invariably there
are no ICT rooms available for booking during year 10
lessons;
· too many students in the class: in both GCSE
classes there were 28 students, this figure is too high
for a practical subject. Added to this there were 4 new
students who had no previous experience of design &
technology and needed special attention. This difficulty
was remarked on by a large number of pupils during a post
examination evaluation session carried out last July.
The examinations proved rather difficult for some students,
in particular the second paper. Using the increased contact
time allocated for Year 10 technology lessons this year,
EWO has been planning and implementing a weekly examination
revision session to improve pupils’ abilities in
this area. It is expected that this will boost the marks
for the examinations in June 2005.
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