This blog post is based on our professional opinion after interpreting all the available information and is not endorsed by AQA.
On Monday 7th February the exam boards released their advanced information materials (version 1.0) to help schools plan for the upcoming exam season. Most leaders will now be asking, ‘just how helpful are these changes, how disruptive will this be and what do we do now?’
Whilst this information will be welcomed by schools across the country, it also provides some complex challenges when planning the best way to support students as they enter the examination season. With certain parts of the specification not being assessed, initial inspection suggests that whole sections of the specification no longer need to be covered, and future teaching can now focus on the major focus topics.
However, when going through the planning process it becomes obvious that whilst these changes appear to be helpful on the surface, the content that has been removed has now created areas of uncertainty. Changes are also inconsistent across all of the disciplines of science.
To plan for these changes, our fantastic team of experienced science teachers have looked through the specification and produced a spreadsheet with colour coded specification points to group them into major focus, minor focus and those that are not being assessed. This process has led to many discussions exploring whether or not the preceding specification points that are not being assessed can really be removed, as they are essential to understanding and helping students with more complex ideas.
The planning documents that have been used to plan a temporary curriculum are detailed below.
Combined Science
Separate Sciences
The science team at CENTURY have applied this analysis to our courses to create clear explainers using our topic diagnostics, that can be used by both teachers and students. These show what has explicitly been included and the implicit material that may be included in exam questions. Accompanying these, specific courses have been created and are available on CENTURY to assign to your Year 11 students today.
Combined Science - CENTURY Explainer
Separate Science - CENTURY Explainer
The major focus topics for the exam papers have been moved to the front of courses for priority focus, together with the corresponding diagnostics in the first strand of the courses.
Topics not assessed directly or through ‘linked’ content in the paper, together with unspecified required practicals, have been removed from the 2022 exam courses.
The remaining topics within the specification have been left in the course as they may appear in low tariff questions or via ‘linked’ questions. The diagnostics for these topics can be found in the second strand of the courses.
Courses to assign Combined Science Foundation tier students:
- Y2022 Science Combined GCSE: AQA Trilogy (F) – Biology
- Y2022 Science Combined GCSE: AQA Trilogy (F) – Chemistry
- Y2022 Science Combined GCSE: AQA Trilogy (F) – Physics
Courses to assign Combined Science Higher tier students:
- Y2022 Science Combined GCSE: AQA Trilogy (H) – Biology
- Y2022 Science Combined GCSE: AQA Trilogy (H) – Chemistry
- Y2022 Science Combined GCSE: AQA Trilogy (H) – Physics
Separate Science Foundation tier courses available to assign:
- Y2022 Biology GCSE: AQA (F)
- Y2022 Chemistry GCSE: AQA (F)
- Y2022 Physics GCSE: AQA (F)
Separate Science Higher tier courses available to assign:
- Y2022 Biology GCSE: AQA (H)
- Y2022 Chemistry GCSE: AQA (H)
- Y2022 Physics GCSE: AQA (H)
Find instructions on how to assign these courses to your class here.
Read our other blog posts on GCSE maths, science and English exam updates here.
Not a CENTURY user? Book a demo to find out how CENTURY can help your students to get exam ready this year.
