Scheme of assessment

Principles
The scheme of assessment reflects the philosophy behind Nuffield chemistry which is that the course should develop imaginative thinking on the part of the student.

Teachers and examiners encourage students to interpret and explain phenomena for themselves. As with all sciences, the factual aspects are important but in this qualification they are used as a basis for speculation about possible explanations for the behaviour of matter.

The course specification supports four different assessment packages:

• a staged assessment for AS consisting of three units one of which is the internal assessment of practical skills,
• a linear assessment for AS taken at the end of the one-year course,
• a staged assessment for Advanced level consisting of six units and including the two units on the internal assessment of practical skills and the one unit on synoptic assessment,
• a linear assessment for Advanced level taken at the end of the Advanced course consisting of six units.

The six units are as follows:

AS and A-level

• Unit 1:Structured questions, 1 hour 20 minutes
• Unit 2: Structured questions, 1 hour 30 minutes
• Unit 3: Teacher assessment of practical skills

A-level

• Unit 4: Structured questions, 1 hour 30 minutes
• Unit 5A: Teacher assessment of an investigation and general practical competence
• Unit 5B: Special Study, 45 minutes
• Unit 6: Synoptic test (open book), 2 hours 20 minutes

For more information see the 'Chemistry (Nuffield)' specification available on the GCE section of the Edexcel web site.