114 replies to this topic

[johnwayne]

You should really have heard back from the moderator almost by return of post. You need to contact OCR and impress on the 'Customer Care Operative' you speak to (who probably won't have the faintest idea what you're on about) that it's a matter of urgency.

thanks mark - have tried ringing OCR but have been left hanging on for ages!!! ridiculous!!

[johnwayne]

hi all - have just had an email from our exams officer that he has the 'labels' but no correspondence as to what to send off - all of them or a sample?

[Mark H.]

If you have 10 or fewer candidates you send them all off, if more you wait for the Moderator to select a sample. The appalling nature of OCR support for their A-Level Specs, together with their erratic marking, is the main reason we are abandoning them for AQA as of September.

[johnwayne]

hi mark - and again thank you. yes we have more than 10, so I should wait? I thought so, but just wanted confirmation from other colleagues. so frustrating all this!!!

[Mr Reynolds]

hi mark - and again thank you. yes we have more than 10, so I should wait? I thought so, but just wanted confirmation from other colleagues. so frustrating all this!!!

Dear John - I would agree that waiting is your best option. I believe the samples that are required are sent out automatically by the OCR computer system - certainly our cluster of schools received their sample requests on different dates.

[CD McKie]

The tasks for next academic year are now available from the website: here

Only half the tasks have been slightly altered so, like me, you may find that your coursework for 2011 is identical to that of 2010.

[andria]

can i ask does anyone have a sow for cold war f965 i could have a look at, and/or good ideas of how to teach this topic and make it interesting, between teaching the skills and knowledge

[Ed Podesta]

I've just been handed a notice from OCR that demands (amongst other things) that students include a 'cumulative numbers of words on each page'. Ignoring the logical impossibility of having a cumulative number of words on a page, I think what they mean is that they require the students to put a running total of words at the bottom of each page.

This sounds like an enormous pain in the wotsits to me. Does anyone know of a technical fix?

[johnwayne]

hi - no, we haven't recieved anything back yet. have they changed the goal posts? this wasn't, to my knowledge in the original specs - it is usually a word count at the end of the essay.

Edited by johnwayne, 18 July 2010 - 09:06 AM.

[Ed Podesta]

hi - no, we haven't recieved anything back yet. have they changed the goal posts? this wasn't, to my knowledge in the original specs - it is usually a word count at the end of the essay.

I think its an additional requirement - they say that it's required for scrips from Jan 2011 onwards.

[johnwayne]

thanks Ed. Is this in print any where? thanks

[Ed Podesta]

thanks Ed. Is this in print any where? thanks

It is, and here it is!  OCR Notice.PDF   450.5K   535 downloads

[johnwayne]

thanks again!!!

[Mark H.]

OCR are completely neurotic about word limits. They have always claimed that they are acting in accordance with QCA instructions on this, but curiously AQA and Edexcel don't have such draconian guidelines and they also claim to be QCA compliant.

[SiobhanT]

Just to reopen this - has anyone any idea about the cumulative word counts? My poor students are now considering doing each page of their essays as separate documents just to fit in with this ridiculous demand. There must be an easier way?