Assessment - Examination Board Assessment Objectives
You will be entered for AQA GCSE Art and Design (Photography) 8206/C 8206/X. Please note GCSE Photography has its own course code and therefore, where possible, this subject can be taken in conjunction with other GCSE Art and Design titles such as GCSE Art & Design.
Students must complete both Components:
Students must complete both Components:
Component 1 : Portfolio
The content of the portfolio will be determined by the particular requirements and nature of the course of study undertaken. There is no restriction on the scale of work, media or materials used. Each student must select and present a portfolio representative of their course of study. The portfolio must include both:
1 : A sustained Teacher-Led project developed in response to a subject, theme, task or brief evidencing the journey from initial engagement with an idea(s) to the realisation of intentions. This will give students the opportunity to demonstrate, through an extended creative response, their ability to draw together different areas of Photography knowledge, skills and/or understanding from across their course of study.
2 : A selection of further ‘Extended Projects’ that are increasingly independent in nature and result from activities such as trials and experiments; skills-based workshops; mini and/or foundation projects; responses to gallery, museum or site visits.
All the work submitted for this component will be marked as a whole and account for 60% of your overall mark in GCSE Photography. Students will be expected to carefully select, organise and mount their Photography Portfolio and must ensure that it provides evidence of meeting all four Assessment Objectives.
As Photography students you must identify and acknowledge sources which are not your own and provide evidence of drawing activity and written annotation. Work selected for the portfolio should be presented in an appropriate format and will include: generating a Web Site Portfolio (using Weebly.com), creating an A3 Portfolio, mounted studies & sketchbooks.
1 : A sustained Teacher-Led project developed in response to a subject, theme, task or brief evidencing the journey from initial engagement with an idea(s) to the realisation of intentions. This will give students the opportunity to demonstrate, through an extended creative response, their ability to draw together different areas of Photography knowledge, skills and/or understanding from across their course of study.
2 : A selection of further ‘Extended Projects’ that are increasingly independent in nature and result from activities such as trials and experiments; skills-based workshops; mini and/or foundation projects; responses to gallery, museum or site visits.
All the work submitted for this component will be marked as a whole and account for 60% of your overall mark in GCSE Photography. Students will be expected to carefully select, organise and mount their Photography Portfolio and must ensure that it provides evidence of meeting all four Assessment Objectives.
As Photography students you must identify and acknowledge sources which are not your own and provide evidence of drawing activity and written annotation. Work selected for the portfolio should be presented in an appropriate format and will include: generating a Web Site Portfolio (using Weebly.com), creating an A3 Portfolio, mounted studies & sketchbooks.
Component 2 : Exam NEA
AQA will provide a separate externally set Exam Paper for GCSE Photography, each with seven different starting points. This paper is issued at the start of January in Year 11. Students must select and respond to one starting point from their chosen title. The Exam is worth 40% of your overall GCSE Photography grade.
During the 4 preparatory months, your will then have the opportunity to demonstrate your Photography skills, through an extended creative response, showing your ability to draw together different areas of knowledge, skills and/or understanding in response to your selected starting point.
When the preparatory period is over, you will then spend 10 hours of unaided supervised time to complete the Practical Examination. From this point, you cannot add to your preparatory studies and internet use is strictly prohibited. All shoots must be fully ready for editing and/or presenting in this 10 hour time period. Additional shoots may be taken in the classroom if time permits.
Once again, for Component 2 you must evidence coverage of all four assessment objectives and include evidence of drawing (through editing & image manipulation) and written annotation. Students must identify and acknowledge sources which are not their own.
During the 4 preparatory months, your will then have the opportunity to demonstrate your Photography skills, through an extended creative response, showing your ability to draw together different areas of knowledge, skills and/or understanding in response to your selected starting point.
When the preparatory period is over, you will then spend 10 hours of unaided supervised time to complete the Practical Examination. From this point, you cannot add to your preparatory studies and internet use is strictly prohibited. All shoots must be fully ready for editing and/or presenting in this 10 hour time period. Additional shoots may be taken in the classroom if time permits.
Once again, for Component 2 you must evidence coverage of all four assessment objectives and include evidence of drawing (through editing & image manipulation) and written annotation. Students must identify and acknowledge sources which are not their own.
Assessment Objectives
There are four Assessment Objectives or AO's that must be present in both Component 1 & Component 2.
Assessment Matrix
Below is an example of the Assessment Matrix used to mark each Component out of a possible 96 marks. Note that your teacher will, where possible, use the direct working of the Assessment Matrix to provide detailed and specific feedback.
How do I achieve a Level 7 or above?
The key phrase in the Assessment Objectives that describes work at Level 7 or above is "highly developed". What does this mean?
- AO1: "Highly developed" ideas are those that result from detailed, thoughtful, inquisitive research. Candidates will have explored a variety of sources of information, conducting strategic research. You will have discovered appropriate websites and books. You will have visited relevant art galleries and bookshops, looking first hand at works of photography and photobooks. You will have told a convincing story about the development of your ideas over time. You will have recorded your thoughts about the research you have done in your own words, offering insights and observations of your own, rather than simply copying those of others.
- AO2: "Highly developed" experiments with materials, techniques and processes will show how creative and ambitious you have been in developing and refining your work. You will have explored a variety of ways of making photographic images, using a range of tools (cameras, scanners, photocopiers, projectors etc.) and processes (photograms, cyanotypes, photocollage, digital composites etc.) alongside 'straight' photographs. Most importantly, you will select the tools, techniques and processes that are relevant to your ideas.
- AO3: "Highly developed" documents are those that imaginatively and skilfully communicate the story of your learning in photography. You will have used a range of approaches to presenting information on your website (galleries of images, captions, embedded video, bullet point lists, mindmaps, scanned diagrams etc.) You will have carefully and effectively designed your web pages, refining and developing their visual impact (layout, menus, typography, colours, imagery etc.) Your site will look professional and represent the care and attention you have given to the design process. It will communicate your creativity, knowledge and understanding.
- AO4: "Highly developed" responses are personal and meaningful (rather than superficially attractive). They result from detailed research, imaginative ideas and thoughtful experiments. Developments will have been sustained over a long period (rather than flashy, off-the-cuff outcomes). A visitor to your website will be taken through the entire process leading up to the sharing of resolved outcomes. Evaluations will be clear, sensitive explanations of the process of reaching these conclusions. Work will be presented to its best advantage (mounted, framed, projected, installed etc.) and photographs or sketches of the work will help explain how you would like it be seen (ideally) by an audience.
Online Student Examples / GCSE Photography
Please click on the 'highly developed' student e-portfolios. Consider what quailities have been demonstrated to enable these pupils to reach the top mark bands at GCSE.
Useful Documents
aqa-art-gcse-sp-2016.pdf |