Examiners' reports - June (PDF, 385KB) - OCR

OCR Report to Centres – June 2013
Overview
Performance in all units this summer continued to attract praise from moderators and examiners,
who have been impressed by the quality of discussion and the detailed knowledge of many of
the candidates. All four Principals have noted in their reports that the best work is characterised
by the thorough integration of AO3 and AO4 material, so that candidates’ knowledge about the
texts is thoroughly absorbed into their answers, rather than laid out in a kind of freestanding
demonstration.
In January, this report congratulated centres on an improvement in relation to observation of the
3,000 word limit for coursework submissions, and expressed a hope that the improvement would
be sustained. Unfortunately, to quote from the F664 report, this summer session has in fact
seen ‘very many essays submitted which were in breach of the word limit regulations’. Many
centres still seem surprised when over-length work is returned for re-marking: centres are asked
to ensure that they monitor word counts and follow instructions as to how to proceed if the
regulations are broken (these are available in a number of places, including on the coursework
cover sheet itself).
In the examined units, the change to new set texts is now completed; indeed, the ‘new’ texts are
now in their third session on F661. The change of texts on F663 has proceeded very smoothly
for the most part, and examiners have been pleased with the quality of work; many centres have
made excellent use of support materials provided on the OCR website in relation to both units,
and have also evidently developed impressive programmes of study themselves. Use of
performance-related material to enhance AO3 discussion continues to improve in both examined
units, and in coursework as well.
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