2. Techniques for Graded Unit Preparation
Welcome to this presentation on Techniques for Graded Unit Preparation. The presentation will cover exam and project based graded units for Business and Financial Services.

3. Workshop Objectives By the end of the session you should
Understand the preparation for Graded Unit examination
Understand the stages of a Graded Unit Project
Be able to support students at each stage of the Graded Unit Project
Use teaching contact time effectively
Support the less able student
The different types of graded unit demand different techniques to be used by the lecturer to support the student and by the end of the presentation you should be able to understand the preparation for Graded Unit examinations, understand the stages of a graded unit project.
We will also cover the support which can be given to students at each stage of the graded unit project with suggestions as to how to use the teaching contact time effectively. This will support the less able student.

4. Examination Preparation
Graded Unit examinations are based on certain units
Check Unit Specification for units contributing to Graded Unit examinations
Ensure that those units are delivered in the same year that the Graded Unit examination is being delivered
All graded unit examinations are based on the knowledge and skills in certain units within the qualification framework. The Graded Unit specification will detail the units which contribute to the examination and this should be checked before the delivery of the graded unit examination preparation is started.
It is important that the units which contribute to the graded unit examination are delivered in the same year that the graded unit will be undertaken by the students eg there is no point in delivering second year units in first year – the knowledge and skills will not be tested until second year and students will have forgotten more than they remember! The graded unit specification and the units contributing to the examination should be taken into account in your planning for the academic year to ensure that the units are delivered in time to allow the students to consolidate the knowledge.

5. Examination Preparation
Revise a topic each session
Students should be asked to bring their notes for that topic
Students should be asked to extract main points from topic
You can provide them with practice questions/discussion topics/case studies
It is important to remember that examination preparation is essentially a revision of the knowledge and skills that students have already gathered from the unit itself. Your role in exam preparation is to help the students revise the topics and support them. The exam preparation is student centred learning. One method is to indicate to the students which topic will be covered for revision in the next class. The students should bring their notes for that topic. During the class, the students should be asked to extract the main points from the topic. To help students prepare for the exam you can provide them with practice questions, discussion topics and case studies. The discussion topics should extract the main points from the topic. The case studies can be used to apply the practice to a context and the practice questions can provide students with experience in breaking the question down and answering it methodically to gain marks.

6. Examination Preparation
Create practice questions – ask students to complete one question as a practice (use self assessment questions in Student Learning Guides)
Explain what the command word means in the question – evaluate, explain etc and what they need to do to meet the command word
To help students with their exam practice, you can create practice questions. You can create 3 or 4 practice questions which you can help the students break down and understand in order that they can answer it methodically. You can use the self assessment questions in Student Learning Guides as a basis for creating your practice questions. Encourage students to choose one question and answer it as they would answer it in an examination. You can provide feedback to them on their answer indicating what they have done well and what has been omitted or what could be done better. It is recommended that the students only complete one question as a practice – your workload will be too much otherwise!
You must explain what the command word means in the question – evaluate, explain, describe etc. You must explain to the students what they need to do to meet the command word eg evaluate – this means that they must give advantages and they must also give disadvantages to a theory or concept. It is acceptable to explain to students what the command words mean.

7. Examination preparation
Explain timings to students
3 hour exam questions
180 / 5 = 36
Read all questions – 10 minutes
30 minutes to answer one question
10 minutes to read at end OR
100 mark assessment = 180 minutes
Allow 1.5 minutes per mark
When you are preparing students for an examination, you can explain the timings to them………….

8. Remind students to decide the order they are going to answer questions – best questions first
During an examination, students do not have to answer the questions in chronological order. Advise students to attempt the questions in the order that suits them best – in the order that they know they can gain marks. So one student may answer the questions in the order of 2, 4, 6, 5 and another 3, 1, 6, 2.

9. Graded Unit 2 Project - Purpose
Further develop organisational and investigative skills
Promote the development of transferable skills in planning, organising and evaluation
Promote advanced level of entry to further academic or professional qualification
Develop underpinning knowledge
The purpose of the graded unit project is

10. Graded Unit 2 Project - Support
Step 1 - Explain the project requirements
Investigative nature
3 stages
Marks per stage
How the marks are split down
The extra marks
Submission dates
Reflective log – Get it started
GIVE OUT WRITTEN GUIDANCE AND INSTRUCTIONS
During the graded unit project, students should be provided with support
You should explain the project requirements by telling the students it is of an investigative nature
Read out

11. Business Graded Unit 2 Based on “live” organisation(s) Can be UK based
Can be China based (IF topic allows students to research and investigate)
Allows for easier primary research
The organisations that students base their graded unit 2 project on must be organisations currently trading. The organisations can be UK based or they can be based in China IF the topic chosen allows students to research and investigate. It must be remember that any legislation and tax and accounting theories must be UK based. If the organisations are based in China, this can allow for easier primary research for the student.

12. Graded Unit 2 Project - Support
Step 2 - The Title
The title must be related to one or more subjects within the course
Delegate Exercise
Devise a title relating to ONE of the following subject areas, (you have 4 minutes)
Marketing, Economics, Business Management or Accounting
The title of the project must be related to one or more subjects within the course. The contributing units are detailed in the unit specification.
As an exercise, pause the presentation here and each delegate should devise a project title relating to one of the following subject areas:

13. Graded Unit 2 Project- Support
Step 2 - The Title
Selecting a topic for the project is one of the most difficult tasks facing your students (as I suspect you have just experienced)
Examples
Promoting a product, Pricing strategy used/compared
Do supermarkets operate as an oligopoly
Motivating staff, staff incentive schemes
Outsourcing the accounting function
You will just have discovered that selecting a topic for the project is one of the most difficult tasks facing your students. They may come up with the following as ideas:

14. Graded Unit 2 Project - Support
Step 2 - The Title
Brainstorming
Past titles
A possible list of titles
Subjects the students are interested in
The Process
Identify a topic
Find an organisation
Draft a title
Redraft and narrow the title
Your role in supporting the student at this stage is to help them devise a title. They may have a broad idea of what they would like to investigate however, they will probably leave the title very “wide” and you must support them to refine the title to something that is workable for them.
You can have a list of previous titles – watch this one for plagiarism!
You can have a list of possible titles – you may need to have as many on the list as you have students, to avoid duplication
Encourage the students to choose a title they are interested in. If they are interested in the topic, they are more likely to complete the project.
Read that bit out

15. Graded Unit 2 Project - Support
Step 2 - The Title
Comparing prices
Comparing prices charged by supermarkets
Comparing prices charged by Tesco compared to Lidl
A comparison of the pricing strategies of Tesco and Lidl
Read out

16. Other title suggestions

17. Graded Unit 2 Project - Support
Step 3 - The brief/plan summary sheet
Once the students have a working title it is important that they start to flesh out their project and a summary sheet can help
You can provide students with a summary sheet asking for the following information:
This builds in to the planning stage of their project

18. Graded Unit 2 Project - Support
Step 4 – Ongoing Individual Assistance
Do’s
Set submission dates for each part
Directing towards resources
Check their reflective logs – use a template if needed
Individual progress reviews
Encouragement
Drafts – How many?
Reasonable assistance
Pass each stage before moving to the next stage
Redo
Feedback met minimum evidence requirements/how good rather than marks
Set submission dates for each part – ensure that students know the deadline dates for each stage of the project
Directing towards resources – you can provide support to students on resources but ensure that this does not extend to malpractice
Check their reflective logs – use a template if needed It is acceptable to provide students with a reflective log template. These should be checked to ensure that students are completing them on an ongoing basis – evaluation stage is very difficult for students without a reflective log to refer back to
Individual progress reviews – timetabled time should be used to conduct progress reviews for individual students
Encouragement – always encourage your students in their project
Drafts – How many? There is no set answer to this, but you should not be checking every paragraph or page that a student produces
Reasonable assistance – you can provide reasonable assistance and support to students when it is required. One easy method of doing this is to ask further questions of the student rather than give the answer
Pass each stage before moving to the next stage – all stages should be passed by the student before they are allowed to progress to the next stage
Remediation – all students should be allowed one attempt at redo of each stage. Only the part that was redo should be marked again.
Feedback met minimum evidence requirements/how good rather than marks – you should only feedback to students whether they have met the minimum evidence requirements or how good each stage of the project was – you should not feedback grades or marks at this stage. Grades should only be indicated on final completion and marking of the project.

19. Graded Unit 2 Project - Support
Step 4 – Ongoing Individual Assistance
Don’ts
Don’t accept submission of completed projects at the end
Don’t just leave them to get on with it for long periods of time
Don’t allow them to complete the reflective log at the end of the developing stage
Don’t ignore their pleas for help
Don’t allow candidates to drift off or put the project at the bottom of the ‘to do’ list
Don’t accept submission of completed projects at the end – it is very unlikely that a student can complete a graded unit project on their own without any discussion or guidance from their teacher. If this does happen, be suspicious of plagiarism.
Don’t just leave them to get on with it for long periods of time – if a student has not approached you for a discussion, it is probably because they have not done anything and are falling behind with meeting deadlines. Be pro-active and approach the student.
Don’t allow them to complete the reflective log at the end of the developing stage – encourage the students to complete the reflective log as they go. Provide a template for ease of completion and check these each time you see the student.
Don’t ignore their pleas for help – always help students when they approach you for assistance
Don’t allow candidates to drift off or put the project at the bottom of the ‘to do’ list – schedule regular meetings with each student to ensure that they are progressing with their project

20. Financial Services Graded Unit 1
Case study – customer scenario with questions
Student to research available products and report back to customer
The Financial Services Graded unit 1 is based on a case study. It is a customer scenario with questions and the student is required to research available products and report back to customer

21. Financial Services Graded Unit 1
Students to do online research on personal customer websites of organisation
Must be up to date – assessors and verifiers need to update solution each year
No primary research in this project
There is no primary research in this projects.
The students carry out online research on personal customer websites of organisations. It is important that the information is up to date – assessors and verifiers myst update solution each year to ensure that the assessment is valid.

22. Financial Services Graded Unit 1
Not a formal report
Student chooses format – suitable for customer
Support students…….
There is no requirement for Financial Services Graded Unit 1 to be a formal report. The student chooses the format of their presentation which should be suitable for a customer.
You should ensure that students are supported, in a similar way to the Graded Unit Projects already discussed.

23. Financial Services Graded Unit 3
Investigative project
Comparison of 2 financial services companies
No primary research can be done – corporations will not respond
Financial Services Graded Unit 2 is an investigative project involving the comparision of 2 financial services companies.
It is important to appreciated that no primary research can be done, mainly because corporations will not respond to students’ requests.

24. Graded Unit 3 Financial Services
Stage 1
Planning and justifying
Stage 2
Gathering the research information
Stage 3
Analysing the information, making comparisons plus conclusion of evaluation
The Financial Services Graded Unit
Stage 1
Planning and justifying
Stage 2
Gathering the research information
Stage 3
Analysing the information, making comparisons plus conclusion of evaluation
3 is split into 3 stages

25. Financial Services Graded Unit 3
Stage 2
Only about information gathering
No requirement for student to comment on data
Assessing students’ research skills
Stage 2
Only about information gathering
No requirement for student to comment on data
Assessing students’ research skills

26. Financial Services Graded Unit 3
Stage 3
Analysis
Students need to understand what analysis is……… why Company A did better than Company B
Quality not quantity
Stage 3
Analysis
Students need to understand what analysis is……… why Company A did better than Company B
Quality not quantity

27. Financial Services Graded Unit 3
No need for academic report
Final choice of presentation is for student
Provide support and guidance – keep students on track
No need for academic report
Final choice of presentation is for student
Provide support and guidance – keep students on track Students should be supported in a similar way to Business Graded Unit 2 project.

28. End of presentation
At the end of this presentation you should be aware of the requirements of the graded units and be able to support your students effectively.