Key Stage 4 and 5 Controlled Assessments are a form of assessment that may include examinations, assignments, practical activities and projects. Each subject will have their own requirements.
Most tasks are marked internally by centres and externally moderated by the examination boards.
Teachers and pupils will be required to verify that the work submitted is their own.
If you receive help and guidance from someone other than your teacher, you must tell your teacher who will then record the nature of the assistance given to you.
Take care of your work and keep it safe. Do not leave it lying around where your classmates can find it. You must always keep your work secure and confidential whilst you are preparing it. If your work is stored on the computer network, keep your password secure. Collect all copies from the printer and destroy those you do not need. Do not share your work with your classmates. Should a classmate be found to have copied work that you lent them, you will have enabled them to cheat and you will also receive a penalty.
Do not be tempted to use essays from on-line essay banks — this is cheating. Electronic tools used by the examination boards can detect this sort of copying.
You must not write inappropriate, offensive or obscene material.
Controlled Assessment Policy
Research and Preparation
Controlled assessment may provide you with an opportunity to do some independent research into a topic. The research you do may involve looking for information in published sources such as textbooks, encyclopedias, journals, TV, radio and on the internet.
When producing a piece of work, if you use the same wording as a published source you must place quotation marks around the passage and state where it came from. This is called “referencing”.
You must make sure that you give detailed references for everything in your work which is not in your own words. A reference from a printed book or journal should show the name of the author, the year of publication and the page number, for example: Morrison, 2000, pg.29.
For all material taken from the internet, your reference should show the date when the material was downloaded and must show the precise web page, not the search engine used to locate it. This can be copied from the address line.
Using information from published sources (including the internet) as the basis for your assignment is a good way to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of a subject. You must take care how you use this material though – you cannot copy it and claim it as your own work.
Deadlines
The examination boards set the date for submitting marks and evidence.
However, you must meet the deadlines that your teacher gives you so we can meet the regulations.
Remember, your teachers are there to guide you. Although they cannot give you direct assistance, they can help you to sort out any problems before it is too late.
Group Work
If you worked as part of a group on an assignment, for example undertaking field research, you must each write up your own individual assignment. Even if the data you have is the same, you must describe in your own words how that data was obtained and you must independently draw your own conclusions from the data.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism involves taking someone else’s words, thoughts or ideas and trying to pass them off as your own. It is a form of cheating which is taken very seriously.
Do not think you will not be caught; there are many ways to detect plagiarism.
- Markers can spot changes in the style of writing and use of external material.
- Markers are highly experienced subject specialists who are very familiar with work on the topic concerned — they may have read the source you are using or even marked the essay you have copied from.
- Internet search engines and specialised computer software can be used to match phrases or pieces of text with original sources and to detect changes in the grammar and style of writing or punctuation.
If your work is submitted and it is discovered that you have broken the regulations, one of the following penalties will be applied:
- The piece of work will be awarded zero marks.
- You will be disqualified from that unit for the examination series in question.
- You will be disqualified from the whole subject for that examination series.
- You will be disqualified from all subjects and barred from entering again.
In terms of malpractice, the awarding body will decide which penalty is appropriate.
AI and Assessments
Internal Appeals
Bloomfield Collegiate School is committed to ensuring the marking of candidates’ work is done fairly, consistently and in accordance with the demands of the subject specifications. Candidates are able to request a review of marks before they are submitted to the awarding bodies.
If you believe the proper procedures were not followed in relation to the marking of your work, or that the assessor has not properly applied the marking standards to the response, then you may make use of the appeals procedure to request a review of marks.