Getting ready for the summer 2015 exam series | Pearson qualifications

Getting ready for the summer 2015 exam series

23 February 2015

Are you submitting coursework or controlled assessment? Read our reminder of the processes for preparing your students' work, key deadlines and the materials you need to send to the moderator.

Read more

Final dates for submission of coursework and controlled assessment

For the following qualifications, the final date for submitting your marks and samples of work for the summer 2015 series is 15 May 2015:

  • GCSE English, English Language, English Literature, Digital Communication controlled assessment
  • Edexcel Certificate in English Language (submission of speaking and listening marks)
  • International GCSE English Language A (papers 3 and 4) and English Literature (paper 3)
  • A level English Language, English Literature and English Language and Literature.

By 15 May 2015, you must have submitted your coursework/controlled assessment marks to Edexcel, and have sent your sample (visible online from mid-April) to the moderator. Each student's work should be accompanied by the relevant record sheet/s attached to the front of their work using a treasury tag.

Record sheets

Please remember to include transcripts/recordings and their sources used for the Spoken Language Study if you have not used Edexcel resources.

For 5EH3A and 5EN3A, please note that one mark needs to be entered on Edexcel Online:

5EH3A GCSE English, Unit 3, Creative English
5EH3A Poetry (Reading) task and Creative Writing task /48

5EN3A GCSE English Language, Unit 3, The Spoken Language
5EN3A Spoken Language Study and Writing for the Spoken Voice /48.  

Please retain these for inspection. As you are aware, although speaking and listening is now an endorsement, it remains an integral part of the GCSE English/English Language specification.

All candidates must be entered for this component (5EH3B) and have marks submitted for their speaking and listening activity.

Please remember to fill out both forms for 5ED03.

Please remember to send an authentication sheet for every student as well as 4EA0/04 sheets for all candidates who are called for in the 4EA0/03 sample.

Reminder: International GCSEs (4EA0, 4EB0 and 4ET0) do not count in school performance measures. Edexcel Certificates (KEA0 and KET0) will count in school performance measures in 2015 and 2016. Please make sure that you have entered your students for the correct qualifications.

Frequently asked questions

For each English qualification, several examples of marked work are available to help exemplify the mark scheme band descriptors. These can be found on the relevant qualification page under 'exemplar materials'.

Enhanced Principal Moderators' Reports also contain lots of useful guidance, together with several examples of controlled assessment and coursework with moderator comments. These are also on the relevant qualification pages under 'examiner reports'.

Every year, some centres have their marks changed as a result of the moderation process, so please make sure you read the moderators' reports carefully.

In large centres with multiple teachers, it's essential that you carry out internal moderation before you finalise the coursework or controlled assessment marks. You should sample double-mark, selecting mark points within the same band from different teaching sets. The double marking should continue until you are satisfied that you have achieved comparability.

Small schools with only one teacher need not carry out internal standardisation. It is helpful to include a covering note with your sample explaining that you are in this situation.

It's important that you annotate the coursework or controlled assessment to show the moderator how you have interpreted the mark scheme and applied it to the students' work.

Indications in the margins as to where specific assessment objective bands are perceived, together with summative comments at the end of each part of the coursework or controlled assessment, are ideal. Please ensure that the audience for your comments is clearly the moderator rather than the student.

You should mark and annotate the work in ink (rather than pencil). If you have already annotated in pencil, please make a note to use ink next year.

You should not attempt to grade the work; you should be marking the work by applying the marking criteria in a consistent manner.

The controlled assessment and coursework grades will be awarded at the end of each examination series using the standard code of practice awarding process.

Grade boundaries, which are subject to change each exam series, are published on the grade boundaries page of our website. For summer 2015, they'll be available to download from results day: 13 August 2015 for A level and 20 August 2015 for GCSE, Edexcel Certificates and International GCSE.

Please also remember that the mark you submit to us should be the total raw mark, not the UMS mark. The UMS marks are allocated by us as a result of the awarding process.

A score of zero should only be used if a candidate has submitted work that is found to meet none of the assessment criteria. An X should be used for any candidate who is absent.

Your marks should be submitted online via Edexcel Online/ EDI. You must print out a copy of the marks for the moderator and for your own records.

View our guide to submitting controlled assessment or coursework marks.

Please note that all GCSE marks are submitted online only
OPTEMS forms are not sent out for GCSE. Marks for other English qualifications may be submitted using OPTEMS if desired.

Completed OPTEMS forms should be sent with the sample to the moderator.

If you've already submitted a mark but it needs to be amended (for example, because of an administrative error), please email the details to courseworkmarks@pearson.com

On Edexcel Online, from mid-April, you'll see a tick next to the names of those students whose work needs to be sent for moderation. You also need to send the work of the highest- and lowest-scoring candidates in addition to the requested sample. If any of the called-for candidates have been withdrawn or have incomplete submissions, please provide additional candidates' work of a comparable level, along with a covering note.

The name and address of your moderator will be available on Edexcel Online or EDI when the sample is up from mid-April.

Most GCSE controlled assessment tasks have a recommended length of up to 1,000 words. This total is for guidance only.

Please see the specification guidance at the beginning of each coursework unit for clear information on word counts.

Titles and bibliographies are not included in word counts.

Quotations are included.

It is the centre's responsibility to inform students that there is no tolerance on the prescribed word limit.

While moderating your centre's coursework or controlled assessment, the moderator will write an E9 report which will give you detailed feedback on your marking and administration. You will be able to download this report on results day. 

Find out how to access your E9 report.

If you can't access your report, please ask your examinations officer for assistance.

No, for GCSE English Literature, a student can sit for example foundation tier for Unit 1 and higher tier for Unit 2.

Please see the rules for resubmitting AS and A level coursework for English language, English literature and English language and literature.

Read AS and A level coursework resubmission guidance.

Please see section 8 ‘Controlled assessment: making a fresh attempt’ on p. 26 of this JCQ document, Instructions for Conducting Controlled Assessments 2014-2015.

Yes, we have recently uploaded exemplars and commentaries from summer 2014 for GCSE, Edexcel Certificate and International GCSE.

When are the summer exams (UK centres)?

This information is also available on our exam timetables page, which includes an exam date search function. International centres should consult the international exam timetables available on this page.

Digital Communication

5ED02

Unit 2: Developing Skills in Critical Reading

1hr 45mins

2 June 2015

am

English and English Language

5EH2F

 

Unit 2: The Writer’s Craft Foundation

2hr

2 June 2015

am

5EH2H Unit 2: The Writer’s Craft Higher 2hr 2 June 2015 am
5EN2F Unit 2: The Writer’s Voice Foundation 1hr 45mins 2 June 2015 am
5EN2H Unit 2: The Writer’s Voice Higher 1hr 45mins 2 June 2015 am

English Literature

5ET1F

Unit 1: Prose Foundation

1hr 45mins

18 May 2015

am

5ET1H Unit 1: Prose Higher 1hr 45mins 18 May 2015 am
5ET2F Unit 2: Poetry Foundation 1hr 45mins 22 May 2015 am
5ET2H Unit 2: Poetry Higher 1hr 45mins 22 May 2015 am

English Language A/ Certificate in English Language

4EA0/01 KEA0/01

Paper 1

2hr 15mins

2 June 2015

am

4EA0/02

KEA0/02

Paper 2

1hr 30mins

10 June 2015

pm

English Language B

4EB0/01

Paper 1

3hr

10 June 2015

pm

English Literature/ Certificate in English Literature

4ET0/01 KET0/01

Paper 1

1hr 45mins

18 May 2015

am

4ET0/02

KET0/02

Paper 2

1hr 30mins

22 May 2015

am

English Language

6EN01

Language Today

2hr 15mins

2 June 2015

am

6EN03

Language Diversity and Children’s Language Development

2hr 45mins

19 June 2015

am

English Language and Literature

6EL01

Exploring Voices in Speech and Writing

2hr 15mins

2 June 2015

am

6EL03

Varieties in Language and Literature

2hr 45mins

19 June 2015

am

English Literature

6ET01

Explorations in Prose and Poetry

2hr 15mins

15 May 2015

am

6ET03

Interpretations of Prose and Poetry

2hr 45mins

11 June 2015

am

I hope you've found this update useful. If you have any further questions about the submission of coursework or controlled assessment, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Best wishes,  

Clare 

×

Are you sure you want to exit this session?