Figure 1: UCAS Points vs UH Module Grade for Traditional (T) & Vocational (V) A Level entry

1. Figure 2: Comparison of Traditional and Vocational A Levels Figure 1: UCAS Points vs UH Module Grade for Traditional (T) & Vocational (V) A Level entry SOLVING THE MAZE: Helping students to succeed at assessment - an example from one KST module Angela Hammond, Andy Gillett, Roger Dimond, Keith Pinn, IDS, UH This is a long term project to find out exactly what students have to do to succeed in H.E. This will feed into our language and skills teaching. Last year, we produced a broad typology of assessment tasks used at all levels and in all schools across the University. This used DMD data and was very general. The results are shown in Table 1. Compares performance in one module. • In this poster, we have used this typology to look in more detail at one UH module, to see how well students succeed, assuming, possibly, that if students do badly on assessment, it is because of their past experience of assessment. • METHODOLOGY: • We chose one Combined Studies module. • We examined entry qualifications of students on that module. • We compared the module grade with entry qualifications. • We distinguished between vocational and traditional A levels (Figure 1). • We used our typology to analyse what skills and knowledge were tested in the both sets of examinations. • We compared student experience with regard to assessment (Figure 2). Students with traditional A levels seem to do better than students with vocational A levels. Why? The bars match quite well with the categories in CAPITALS, don’t they? What’s the problem then? This graph shows skills needed in a sample of traditional and vocational (AVCE)A levels. According to UCAS, both vocational and traditional A levels count towards points tariff. Are they equal? Titles in CAPITALS refer to skills assessed in UH module. Shows that skills expected at UH are similar to those familiar to students.