00
Where am I?
Use the level your last two timed answers reached — not a grade you were predicted. If your two objectives sit in different tiers, choose the lower one: the moves there are the ones costing you most.
01
Warm up: the Arena
Six short games from this unit's own key words and positions. Bronze recognises, Silver recalls against the clock, Gold makes you produce it. Ten minutes here before the ladder.
T
For the teacher
How the system works
- Placement is by the level reached on the last two timed answers, marked to the AQA levels (paraphrased on this page — check the current mark scheme). Grade boundaries move each year; levels do not.
- The ladder is one question answered four times, at D, C, B and A*, written for this department. The marks shown are the department's estimate of where each sits, not AQA's.
- The moves are what separates one level from the next, said as something a student can do. Each tier has four; one a week, with its drill, then a re-sit in week six.
- Exit: two timed answers in a row at the target level, marked blind. Otherwise repeat the weakest move — Coach Owl's first ✗ is a good guide.
- The printed edition of each tier is the Philosopher Companion — Bridge, Build or Summit — with the same moves, drills, ladder and planning frames on paper.