GCSE Science₈₄₆₅

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 Combined Science: Synergy include questions that allow students to demonstrate:

• their knowledge and understanding of the content developed in one section or topic, including the associated mathematical and practical skills or
• the ability to apply mathematical and practical skills to areas of content they are not normally developed in or
• the ability to draw together different areas of knowledge and understanding within one answer.

A range of question types will be used, including multiple choice, short answer and those that require extended responses. Extended response questions will be of sufficient length to allow students to demonstrate their ability to construct and develop a sustained line of reasoning which is coherent, relevant, substantiated and logically structured. Extended responses may be prose, extended calculations, or a combination of both, as appropriate to the question.

5.1 Aims and learning outcomes

Science should be taught in progressively greater depth over the course of key stage 3 and key stage 4. GCSE outcomes may reflect or build upon subject content which is typically taught at key stage 3. There is no expectation that teaching of such content should be repeated during the GCSE course where it has already been covered at an earlier stage.

GCSE study in combined science provides the foundations for understanding the material world. Scientific understanding is changing our lives and is vital to the world’s future prosperity, and all students should be taught essential aspects of the knowledge, methods, processes and uses of science. They should be helped to appreciate how the complex and diverse phenomena of the natural world can be described in terms of a small number of key ideas relating to the sciences which are both inter-linked, and are of universal application. These key ideas include:

• the use of conceptual models and theories to make sense of the observed diversity of natural phenomena
• the assumption that every effect has one or more cause
• that change is driven by differences between different objects and systems when they interact
• that many such interactions occur over a distance and over time without direct contact
• that science progresses through a cycle of hypothesis, practical experimentation, observation, theory development and review
• that quantitative analysis is a central element both of many theories and of scientific methods of inquiry.

These key ideas are relevant in different ways and with different emphases in biology, chemistry and physics. Examples of their relevance are given below.

GCSE specifications in combined award science should enable students to:

• develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics
• develop understanding of the nature, processes and methods of science through different types of scientific enquiries that help them to answer scientific questions about the world around them
• develop and learn to apply observational, practical, modelling, enquiry and problem-solving skills, both in the laboratory, in the field and in other learning environments
• develop their ability to evaluate claims based on science through critical analysis of the methodology, evidence and conclusions, both qualitatively and quantitatively.

The sciences should be studied in ways that help students to develop curiosity about the natural world, insight into how science works, and appreciation of its relevance to their everyday lives. The scope and nature of such study should be broad, coherent, practical and satisfying, and thereby encourage students to be inspired, motivated and challenged by the subject and its achievements.

5.2 Assessment objectives

Assessment objectives (AOs) are set by Ofqual and are the same across all GCSE Combined Science: Synergy specifications and all exam boards.

The exams will measure how students have achieved the following assessment objectives.

• AO1: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of: scientific ideas; scientific techniques and procedures.
• AO2: Apply knowledge and understanding of: scientific ideas; scientific enquiry, techniques and procedures.
• AO3: Analyse information and ideas to: interpret and evaluate; make judgments and draw conclusions; develop and improve experimental procedures.

• Paper 1 and Paper 3 contain a higher proportion of marks covering knowledge and application (AO1 and AO2) than analysis and evaluation (AO3) for the topics covered.
• Paper 2 and Paper 4 contain most of the analysis and evaluation (AO3) questions for the topics covered, although there are also questions assessing knowledge and application. These papers also contain most of the questions regarding practical work, including required practicals.

The weightings of the assessment objectives in each paper are given in Assessment objective weightings for GCSE Combined Science: Synergy .

5.2.1 Assessment objective weightings for GCSE Combined Science: Synergy

5.3 Assessment weightings

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.