Hi,

Can anyone fill me in with what the 'shelf life' of IAAs are for GCSE Science?

We have been told that the original and new IAAs are valid until Summer 2008.

Sue

 I rang the help line yesterday and was told that both new and old tests are valid and that it doesn't matter if the year group do different test!  It would have been helpful to have had the new tests published earlier in the term - I am sure there are some centres that still don't know new versions exist. The web site is not clear  about which tests can/should be used.

News to me - the website is certainly not very clear.

 This community has proved useful already

 Cheers

If you havent cashed in last years Year 10 360 Science results it is possible, apparently, to use the new ones as retakes for your students now in Year 11. This information was not well received by a school I know that had cashed in. Why not let them do all 24. We can cope with all the unpaid marking cant we?

Hi All,

Have you tried the Edexcel Ask the Expert email address? Apparently, it puts you through to the senior examiners and product manager.

gcsescience@edexcelexperts.co.uk

I have also got the email for the product manager, but you'll have to email me for her email address.

After many E-mails wil 'ask the expert' i hope this helps!!

 All IAA's have a shelf life until summer 2008, even the new ones published!!  You can give any year (even year 9) any paper, but as long as the grades get submitted to Edexcel by May (they've been banked).   If you are teaching year 9 GCSE, as long as you bank the qualification in May, you (in theory) don't have to cash in their qualifications until they are in year 11.

Hope this helps.

What happens if the pupils have less curriculum time in year 9? Our pupils will only have done two topics from C1, B1 and P1 each, and so will only have done two IAAs for C1, two for B1 and two for P1. We have to bank them by the beginning of May otherwise they are meaningless.

If they then go on to get better marks in the next academic year with the new set of IAA's for that academic year, we have to pay a re-entry fee. Is that fair?

It seems like we are being asked to gamble with our pupils results - stick or twist?

I teach in a school in Saudi Arabia, so news often gets "mislaid".

I have just seen the new Assessed Activities, but I don't know if they replace the old or are they just additional?

Any advice would be welcome. I am waiting for a reply from Edexcel.

Regards,

Colin Stott

 Fascinating.  I too didn't know there were new activities.  I have signed up to get update emails from Edexcel yet I have never received any such thing. Has anyone received updates?  There have been no newsletters either - or have I missed those too?  Thank you all.

Mary 

The new IAAs, along with the pre-existing ones, are valid until Summer 2008 and new IAAs will be released around April next year.

Hope this helps.

Hi Ben,

Does this mean that I can't do the current IAA's with my Year 10, who will cash in the IAA's at the end of Year 11, June 2009?

Yahya Rawat 

This is what I understand with regards to the IAA's: 

You can use them, but they must be cashed in by something like the 5th May 2008 if they are the original or new IAAs. Which means to avoid having to pay for re-entries all of the topics must be completed before this date. For example: if they complete the B1 topics 1, 2 and 3 before 5th May, you have to lodge the marks with EdExcel before the 5th May, otherwise they will be meaningless. If they then go on to get a better mark in topic 4 (using new ones for that academic year) then you have to pay a re-entry fee to cash in that mark. You can't hang fire to see how they do in the topic 4 IAA, because by that time, the first 3 are out of date and meaningless.

The shelf-life on IAA's is not helpful for the pupils at our school, because of the way that science teaching is structured. This was one of the reasons that we chose EdExcel for our GCSE's - originally they weren't going to have a shelf-life.

Year 10s can do the current IAA’s, they just need to bank them this summer (2008).

If your centre is not planning on making any Y10 entries until Summer 2009, then you can not do the current IAAs but will need to wait until April when the new ones will be out.

With regards to the fees example quoted above, you should bank units 1, 2 and 3 in summer 2008, for which you will be charged two entry fees (unit 1 being free), and then enter unit 4 for summer 2009 for which you would be the normal unit entry fee rate, provided it's on time.

Futher guidance on submission of Edexcel devised assessments including dates can be found on the 360Science microsite in the news section, or by clicking here.