Controlled Assessments. Where do the questions come from?

[Daogroupie]

In dd's school different sets are doing different controlled assessment questions for English. Where do these questions come from? Is there a list that can be found on the website? Are you more likely to do well if you do a more challenging question? Thanks. Feeling exhausted already by the maze that is the GCSE journey. DG

[Guest55]

The questions are set by the exam board and are not online as they are part of the exam.

[Daogroupie]

Thank you. So do the teachers get sent a list of questions and they choose which one to use? How long before do they give the question to the students? DG

[estelle]

My DS is doing controlled assessments in History & Mandarin. He has been given the questions 2 weeks in advance to allow time for research & practising.

estelle

[copella]

At my sons school children and parents are given the controlled assessment deadlines at the beginning of y10 so although they may not know the questions they know what they should be working towards. My eldest in y11 had two weeks to prepare for his before doing it in class.

[Kingfisher]

Hi Daogroupie. The questions are available to the schools and are pre-set. Regarding the difficulty of question for English - it should not matter because the work is marked to the same mark scheme. It is possible to score top marks with a question which looks easier; of course it depends on the quality of response. You and I know that this is also the case with 11 plus - what looks 'easy' on paper may be deceptively complicated. Think of your DD's question in the same way.