Understanding Standards: National 5/Higher RMPS Course Event National 5
Assignment
Key Documents (revised) Course Assessment Specification Assignment General Assessment Information Assignment Task, including Instructions for Candidates Changes are minor. Mark related criteria tightened up to support assessors and presented in grid used by markers.
Feedback on 2016 Diet - Strengths Good range of titles, with some ranging beyond course content. As in previous diets, most candidates studied moral questions. Evidence of good research, analysis and explanation. Some outstanding reports which achieved full marks.
Feedback on 2016 Diet - Issues Still some inappropriate titles. Evidence of over-direction. Inconsistent use of the Resource Sheet. Some candidates seem unaware of the requirements. Marks for relevance easier to pick up in moral questions.
Addressing the Issues Most issues were addressed in the Course Report http://www.sqa.org.uk/files_ccc/N5RMPSCourseReport2016.pdf Minor changes made to the Marking Instructions to aid assessment. Advice for centres and candidates streamlined to help clarify requirements when studying an issue.
Key Advice Use up-to-date documents. Share marking criteria with learners. Make sure titles are truly RMPS. Remind candidates to identify their sources. Advise candidates to express titles as a question, and to aim to answer it.
Look at US web page for exemplars, and encourage learners to do the same. Take care to stick to conditions for the write-up.
Question Paper
Key Documents (revised) Course Assessment Specification Unit Specifications Some changes to expression of content. Affects what we can ask about in the exam, especially in R&PQs. Religious Authority and Utilitarianism now mandatory perspectives in the Morality Unit. Knowledge and Understanding (KU) of these approaches is no longer a requirement.
Some Past Paper questions are no longer valid Some Past Paper questions are no longer valid. (Specimen will be updated to reflect changes). Challenge in questions was increased this year, by avoiding questions asking for two things, and focusing on application of KU and Skills. Question paper will have the same feel.
Feedback on 2016 Diet - Strengths Impressive KU in World Religions Section, with good linking of concepts. Good use of specialist vocabulary in all sections. Most candidates are writing well developed explanations. Many demonstrating genuine personal engagement with the issues raised in the course.
Feedback on 2016 Diet - Issues Some candidates entered inappropriately for National 5. Candidates continue to muddle up teleological and cosmological arguments, and Origins of Life and Origins of the Universe. Some marks lost where the question was misunderstood, or where candidates went beyond the terms of the question, e.g. Giving significance instead of straight KU Giving two sides when they were asked for one.
Many candidates found it difficult to compare and contrast viewpoints on issues effectively, and simply gave KU of different views.
Addressing the Issues Most issues were addressed in the Course Report http://www.sqa.org.uk/files_ccc/N5RMPSCourseReport2016.pdf Will continue to use bold text to foreground requirements in a question.
Key Advice Essential to up-to-date documents. Give candidates plenty of practice with exam-style questions. Avoid setting questions about content specific to your Centre. In the exam they will need to apply what they have learned to very open questions. Use the CAS. Support Notes give useful examples of possible content, but they are not mandatory, and do not inform setting of questions or writing of Marking Instructions.
Workshop 1 Question Paper
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