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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.
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For the teacher
How this page runs in the lesson
- The lesson · The whole question: (a) (b) (c) (d) · part (d). Podcast E03 parts 1 to 4 and part 6, then E04 parts 2 to 4 and part 7 while students complete the Companion (Paper 2 · Q4, every amber box). One lesson, about 70 minutes. The question at a glance. Then the podcast, with the Companion filling as it plays. Then the Big Debate. Then the twelve-marker at two levels side by side, and your turn. Homework: all four parts of the mirror mock on this page. Coach Owl marks each one. Links:
#build-ladder-d(Level 2 → 3 group) ·#summit-ladder-d(Level 3 → 4 group) · homework#mock-d.
The system
- The ladder is one mirror question answered four times, at Grades 3, 5, 7 and 9, with numbered examiner's notes. Choose the class's tier (Build shows 5 against 7), ask for three differences, then open the notes. See the whole ladder shows any single rung.
- The mirror mock is Paper 1 Q2 re-worded: same parts, topics and command words as the department's mock, not the mock itself. Answers are kept in this browser only; on a shared computer students should press Save my mock and then Clear my answers before they log off.
- Coach Owl marks the SHAPE of your answer, not whether the content is right. It looks for the (d) steps (Point, then Develop, then Example, twice on each side), named groups, named sources, the judgement lines (strong, then weak, then weighing the two) and a conclusion that judges the statement instead of voting. A pasted model scores 0: any run of 12 words, or 30% of an answer, that matches a ladder rung or a drill model. The marks on the ladder are the department's estimate, not Pearson's.
- Placement (the tiers) is by the level of the last two timed answers: Bridge (Grades 2–3 → 4/5), Build (4/5 → 6/7), Summit (7 → 9). The four moves per tier are for the six weeks after the mock.
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For the teacher
How the system works
- Placement is by the level reached on the last two timed answers, marked to the levels of the course (paraphrased on this page, so check the current mark scheme). Grade boundaries move each year. The 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, in a Bridge, Build or Summit edition. It carries the same moves, drills, ladder and planning frames on paper.