Specifications that use this resource:

Using our assessment tools to plan and teach

We understand that, before you can address your students’ learning gaps, you’ll need to find out what they are.

Our support programme gives you access to the resources and tools you need in order to identify those gaps and guide your students where necessary.

I need to identify gaps in my students’ learning and encourage self-assessment

Try topic tests on Exampro

Exampro topic tests have been created by subject-specialists to support your assessment of student knowledge in a range of different areas. Each topic test includes a student and teacher feedback form and the mark scheme can be shared separately.

Your students can complete an assessment, evaluate their confidence on each question then use the mark scheme to check their work.

The feedback form enables students to identify what they know and what they need to do next. You can then use the teacher feedback form to review your students’ work and comments to plan their next steps.

You can do this for:

I need to assess the impact of my interventions

Try building your own tests on Exampro

Exampro has question banks for 30 qualifications with thousands of questions from past AQA exams, which can be used to create bespoke mini-tests, targeted at certain topics, skills, levels of demand or question type.

Exampro enables you to create personalised assessments that meet the needs of every student.

These assessments can be used pre and post teaching to inform your planning. They can also be used to consolidate learning and as part of revision resources. All Exampro documents can be edited in Word and exported to PDF for printing. Once saved, they can be shared with your students via URL too.

You can do this for:

I need quick starters to assess my students’ knowledge and skills

Try filtering question banks on Exampro

The Exampro question bank has thousands of questions from past AQA exams. These can be filtered by topics, skills, levels of demand or question type, and edited to meet the learning objectives of your lesson.

The flexibility to select questions, based on a range of criteria, can help you to create quick starter activities easily.

These questions can help you to effectively gauge the level of understanding of each student in a particular area at the beginning of a lesson. You can then adapt your teaching to address the needs of the individuals in that lesson, saving you time by allowing you to focus your teaching at areas of weakness, rather than strength.

You can do this for:

I need peer and group assessment activities

Try our example responses

We have a range of example responses for most GCSE and A-level subjects. These are available on our website under each subject, or on Centre Services under the Teaching Support Materials for each subject. For Maths we have an archive of Mock Exam Analysers containing a model answer and commentary, written by an examiner, available on All About Maths.

Allowing students to see exemplars is a great way to demonstrate what they need to do in the exam.

An example response, along with a mark scheme, can be given to pairs or groups of students so that they can assess them against the different Assessment Objectives (AOs). Mixed ability pairs and groups can help to scaffold the learning of those working at lower levels. This activity can help students to better understand assessment by working together to identify strengths, which they can then apply to their own responses.

Don’t forget, we also have a range of exemplars for GCSE sciences, languages and English Literature and Language available on Exampro Highlights.

You can do this for:

I need student exemplars to share with colleagues and students

Try Exampro Highlights

Exampro Highlights is an interactive exemplification tool with hundreds of real student responses to questions that have been marked and annotated by chief examiners.

Use these exemplars with your colleagues as part of CPD prior to mock exams to support marking and moderation. You can rank the responses and compare your marks with those of the chief examiners then add the annotations to address any areas of confusion or inconsistency.

Enter your classes’ mock marks into MERiT to identify their strengths and weaknesses then share the exemplars with your students to improve their understanding of the exam requirements and how to maximise their progress. Choose the levels of response that are most appropriate for them and select or deselect the annotations to focus on particular skills.

Don’t forget, we also have exemplars for a range of subjects on Centre Services.

You can do this for:

I need to identify my students’ strengths and weaknesses

Try MERiT on Exampro

MERiT is a mock reporting tool that analyses individual and whole class performance. All you have to do is input your students’ mock marks.

MERiT saves you time by generating individual, class and cohort reports on your students’ performance, helping you to identify your students’ strengths and weaknesses.

Your students may have gaps in their knowledge (their understanding of the course content), in their skills (how they apply this knowledge to meet the AOs), or both. The detailed reports can help you identify specific areas where students didn’t perform as well, so you can plan teaching and interventions accordingly.

The tool allows you to focus on a specific individual, compare performance across your class and even compare your class data to the wider population.

You can do this for:

I need to give my students more exam practice

Try our past papers and mark schemes

We store our past papers on Centre Services.

Past exam papers are ideal for use as mock exams once students have covered enough of the course, have done some revision and practised the skills associated with the course.

Using our past papers can be a great way to help give students the experience of a timed, balanced exam paper which mimics the real thing. Mark schemes can be used by teachers, or by students to help support self-assessment.

For GCSE Science, English, Maths, French, German and Spanish you can also use MERiT to analyse the data that comes from these mocks. This can help you to plan interventions to support specific groups of students, including those that need to develop specific exam techniques.

You can do this for:

  • Any GCSE and A-level subject with a written component

Events

You can find resources from a range of previous events on Centre Services, under the Teacher Support Materials for each subject.

These include resources and ideas to support assessment in your class. For example, our feedback events highlight common areas in which students performed well or less well in our past exams. Our effective exam preparation courses explore activities to reinforce specific exam skills. Both events also include example responses with examiner annotations and commentaries.

You can also find out more about upcoming professional development events on our website.

Specifications that use this resource: