Non-exam assessment (NEA) for summer 2025
NEA work samples for this subject are now submitted online using Centre Marks Submission on Centre Services. Read the guidance on submitting NEA.
Find past papers and mark schemes, and specimen papers for new courses, on our website at aqa.org.uk/pastpapers
This specification is designed to be taken over two years.
This is a linear qualification. In order to achieve the award, students must complete all assessments at the end of the course and in the same series.
GCSE exams and certification for this specification are available for the first time in May/June 2018 and then every May/June for the life of the specification.
All materials are available in English only.
Our GCSE exams in Dance include questions that allow students to demonstrate their ability to:
Synoptic assessment of GCSE Dance should require students to:
Courses based on this specification should encourage students to:
GCSE specifications in dance must enable students to engage as choreographers through the:
GCSE specifications in dance must reflect the learning outcomes in the content.
GCSE courses based on this specification should encourage students to be inspired, moved and changed by following a broad, coherent, satisfying and worthwhile course of study. They should prepare students to make informed decisions about further learning opportunities and career choices.
A single overall mark out of 4 (in total) is also available for demonstration of each student’s mental skills and attributes shown during the performances.
The mark for mental skills and attributes can only be awarded to each student if they provide creditable evidence for both solo and duet/trio performances. A mark for mental skills cannot be awarded to a student if they produce evidence worthy of credit for only one performance.
Each student must perform the two selected phrases as a soloist in a live performance setting (approximately one minute) .
If the student’s performance does not contain an attempt to reproduce both set phrases, it will not be accepted as assessment evidence. Teachers must check the final performance for assessment of each student’s work, to ensure it meets these requirements.
Each student must perform in a duet/trio, in a live performance setting for at least three minutes in a single performance that is no longer than five minutes in duration. The duet/trio must include the specific choreographic requirements detailed in Duet/trio performance .
If a student’s performance does not meet the required duration a penalty is applied to the mark (the size of the penalty depends on the severity of the timing infringement). It may also result in schools or colleges being investigated for maladministration. If the duet/trio performance uses the same set phrases as the solo performance, it will not be accepted as assessment evidence. Teachers must check the final performance for assessment of each student’s work, to ensure it meets these requirements.
For each student, teachers must also ensure the following requirements are met in administering the final performance s for assessment:The performance s must address the content requirements specified in Performance and address the requirements of AO1.
The solo performance is marked out of 12. The duet/trio is marked out of 24. A single overall mark out of 4 is also available for mental skills and attributes during the performances.
The final performance for assessment must be supervised by a teacher and must be performed in the academic year of certification.
The following evidence must be submitted for assessment with the teacher’s mark sheet and the signed Candidate record form . See Supervising and authenticating .
Programme note for the duet/trio performance
Teachers must provide a Programme note (approximately 150 words) to support the assessment of the duet/trio. This must be submitted to AQA with the audio visual recording. The Programme note must include the following information:
Audio visual recording of the performances
For each student, the final presentation of the solo and duet/trio performance s for assessment must be recorded with a single camera from an audience perspective, from start to finish and be unedited. The student being assessed must be identified on screen by name and candidate number . In the solo performance, students must name the set phrases they are performing at the start of the recording of their performance.
Teachers must ensure they have followed the AQA guidance for audio visual recording - Component 1 assessment evidence , available on the AQA website.
Teachers must check the recording of the final performance for assessment of each student’s work, to ensure it meets the minimum content requirements.
The audio visual recording of the live performance for assessment must be submitted to AQA for moderation by the specified deadline.
Please note: If a Programme note is not submitted for assessment, the audio visual recording of the duet/trio performance will still be accepted as assessment evidence. However, this will compromise how clearly the evidence supports the mark awarded by the centre, meaning centre marks are more likely to be adjusted at moderation.
or
If a student’s choreography does not meet the required duration a penalty is applied to the mark (the size of the penalty depends on the severity of the timing infringement). It may also result in schools or colleges being investigated for maladministration.
Teachers must check the final performance for assessment of each student’s work, to ensure it meets the minimum and maximum duration requirements.
The externally set task list is published by the 15 September of the academic year of certification. Please visit e-AQA to view the externally set task list for the year of study.
Each student is required to select a single stimulus, from one of five options from the paper for which they have been entered. Students must be given the paper in its entirety; it must not be edited, changed or abridged in any way.
Each year, the tasks will relate to the following types of stimuli:
The choreography must address the content requirements specified in Choreography and address the assessment objectives AO2.
Each student must be marked individually within the piece performed using the criteria; please see Choreography assessment grid (40 marks) . This task is marked out of 40.
The teacher must assess the student’s live performance of the choreography.
For each student, teachers must ensure the following requirements are met in presenting the final performance of the choreography for assessment:
The student is not required to perform in their choreographed dance but may do so if they wish. Dancers chosen to perform in their choreographed dance must be under 19 years of age at the time of the assessment.
The student's choreography must be marked using the criteria specified in the Choreography assessment grid (40 marks) .
The Choreography is marked out of 40.
The final presentation of the choreography for assessment must be under the supervision of a teacher for authentication purposes and must be performed in the academic year of certification.
The following evidence must be submitted for assessment with the teacher’s mark sheet and the signed Candidate record form ; please see Supervising and authenticating .
Programme note
The student’s Programme note of approximately 120– 150 words , which supports the assessment of the choreography must be given to the teacher/assessor at the start of the live performance assessment and submitted to AQA with the audio visual recording.
The Programme note must include the following information:Audio visual recording of the final performance of choreography
The final performance of choreography presented for assessment must be recorded with a single camera from an audience perspective, from start to finish and be unedited. The student being assessed must be identified on screen by name and candidate number at the start of the recording of the final performance for assessment.
Teachers must ensure they have followed the AQA guidance for audio visual recording - Component 1 assessment evidence , available on the AQA website.
Teachers must check the final recording of each student’s choreography before submission to AQA to ensure it meets the minimum duration requirements.
The audio-visual recording of the live performance for assessment must be submitted to AQA for moderation by the specified deadline.
Please note: If a Programme note is not submitted for assessment, the audio visual recording of the final performance of choreography will still be accepted as assessment evidence. However, this will compromise how clearly the evidence supports the mark awarded by the centre, meaning centre marks are more likely to be adjusted at moderation.
Supervising students
Teachers may provide guidance and sufficient support to students so that they are clear about the requirements of the tasks they need to undertake and the marking criteria on which the work will be assessed. Teachers may also provide guidance to students on the suitability of the response to the task, particularly if it means they will not meet the requirements of the marking criteria.
Sufficient direct supervision must be provided to students to ensure that students' work can be confidently authenticated as their own. See also Non-exam assessment administration .
This component is the written exam paper of one and a half hours, set in the summer of the year of certification. The question paper has three sections and covers the assessment objectives AO3 and AO4.
The exam will be marked out of 80.
AO3 relates to the knowledge and understanding of choreographic processes and performing skills . Questions will relate to a given stimulus for students to write a response.
AO4 relates to the critical appreciation of own work . Questions will relate to students’ own experience of performance, or choreography or both from within the course.
AO4 relates to the critical appreciation of professional works and students will answer questions relating to the GCSE Dance Anthology.
Students must be able to critically analyse, evaluate and identify similarities and differences and explain and justify their own opinions with reasoning.
Please see aqa.org.uk/dance to see the complete anthology for study.
Examiners reports and mark schemes for the question paper set for the year of entry will be available on the e-AQA secure site in the August following the examination.
Assessment objectives (AOs) are set by Ofqual and are the same across all GCSE Dance specifications and all exam boards.
The assessments will measure how students have achieved the following assessment objectives.
The marks awarded on the papers will be scaled to meet the weighting of the components. Students’ final marks will be calculated by adding together the scaled marks for each component. Grade boundaries will be set using this total scaled mark. The scaling and total scaled marks are shown in the table below.
Level of response mark schemes are broken down into mark bands, each of which has a descriptor. The descriptor indicates the quality that will be expected in the student’s evidence for that mark band.
The work must be assessed against each criterion separately. Start at the lowest mark band and see whether the evidence meets the descriptor for that mark band. If it meets the lowest mark band then go to the next one and decide if it meets this mark band, and so on, until you have a match between the mark band descriptor and the students’ evidence.
With practice and familiarity you will find that for better responses you will be able to quickly skip through the lower levels/marks of the mark scheme.
Duet/trio and choreography assessment grids have two marks within each mark band. Once you have identified the correct mark band (as above), you need to decide which mark to allocate within the band. The lower mark indicates that the student has just met the requirement described in the band, the upper mark indicates that the evidence is clear but that the student has not quite met the requirements set out in the next mark band.
The marks for each criteria need to be added up to determine the final overall mark for the individual performance/choreography. For performance, marks for solo, duet/trio and mental skills and attributes also need to be added up to derive an overall mark out of 40.
Online exemplification materials are provided on e-AQA with written commentaries which explain how the marks have been awarded.
To ensure you use the assessment criteria grids correctly and mark to the correct standard:Students must be assessed on their mental skills and attributes during the solo and the duet/trio performances.
Students must be assessed on their ability to creatively and effectively select and use the following, as relevant to their choreographic intent:
For the list of knowledge, understanding and skills to be assessed, please refer to the subject content for Performance .
For the list of knowledge, understanding and skills to be assessed, please refer to the subject content for Performance .
For the list of knowledge, understanding and skills to be assessed, please refer to the subject content for Performance .
For the list of knowledge, understanding and skills to be assessed, please refer to the subject content for Choreography .
