[sims] Points For BTEC Grades in SIMS

[chrisateen]

I'm currently setting up assessment manager 7 in SIMS from scratch. I wanted to ask how do you allocate points for the BTEC and DIDA columns. Should I have it for example the full DIDA a Pass being 160 points as its equivalent to 4 GCSE's or do it that it is 40 points and times the column by 4 when I am doing the analysis marksheets.

 

Also in my current school BTEC exam results are not downloaded into SIMS by the exam officer. Is there a way you can download it in exam organiser as this summer I would like to do the exam results analysis in SIMS

[PhilNeal]

Pretty sure the points data can be drawn from the base data so you don't have to type it in.

[chrisateen]

Pretty sure the points data can be drawn from the base data so you don't have to type it in.

 

I don't think I made much sense in my previous post. What I meant was that I am currently creating marksheets for the DIDA course. I have so far created a column where teachers can fill in a current and predicted grade for the AIDA, CIDA, CIDA+ and the DIDA. Since the DIDA course is worth 4 GCSE's should I create a gradeset where a Pass is worth 160 points (4x 40 points) or even if the course is worth 4 GCSE'S should I use a gradeset where a Pass is worth 40 points

[vikpaw]

I'm not sure, but i think it's better to use normal points systems, then in summary sheets, add the weighting. I think this is what was done for things like double / triple science awards.

This way, the comparison across subjects say comparing dida to another subject was easier to deal with.

Wait and see what others do, but i'm sure there were other good reasons for adding a weighting, but the case of the sciences may be different as they were actually earning 2 GCSES, not sure if DIDA is the same or it's just an equivalence.

[john]

I don't think I made much sense in my previous post. What I meant was that I am currently creating marksheets for the DIDA course. I have so far created a column where teachers can fill in a current and predicted grade for the AIDA, CIDA, CIDA+ and the DIDA. Since the DIDA course is worth 4 GCSE's should I create a gradeset where a Pass is worth 160 points (4x 40 points) or even if the course is worth 4 GCSE'S should I use a gradeset where a Pass is worth 40 points

 

Sorry to be slightly off but didn't DIDA finish at the end of last Academic Year? I know we dropped it for GCSE ICT as it was finishing and final submissions had to be December I thought as we stopped it in summer and moved onto GCSE computing going forward from September.

[CAM]

If memory serves me right, our exams officer had to contact the exam boards to download something now and have the BTEC results included in the exam results download come summer.

[john]

If memory serves me right, our exams officer had to contact the exam boards to download something now and have the BTEC results included in the exam results download come summer.

 

I know that EdExcel you have to enter them on a special basedata avaliable from EdExcel online, you enter them on this special code and then magically the results fairies send you the results via EDI which is magical and makes life 1000x easier.... well when they do as you ask -_-

[blc]

For all non GCSE grades we used to have one grade per possible entry but it got too messy when you want to combine diplomas and certificates into one column. Also, when you want to break it down into 'best 8' alongside other results it's very hard to separate a results with a point score of say 160 when analysing with GCSE's. So from last year I reverted it all back to L1 or L2 Pass, Merit, Distinction or Distinction Plus which at Level 2 usually relates to A*-C - we have a separate entry column for number of GCSE equivalents which means we can now easily compare GCSE to non-GCSE subjects and also work out our likely best 8 score.

[MattMitchell]

it's worth getting the results into Exams Organiser if you can, as it will calculate CPS, APS, A*-A, A*-C and A*-G count, etc for you!

 

For Edexcel BTECs, you have to download (or sometimes request to download) the basedata, then you have to submit the registrations by EDI, in order to receive the results by EDI. It's not an instant process, and you may be too late for some (or all) of this year's cohort, I'm not sure off the top of my head.

 

You can add all and any other results manually through the edit PI data option in Exams, although if you have hundreds of results to put in it's going to take a while! There are some seriously helpful improvements to all this scheduled to be included in the Summer release, although whether you want to chance it working or not right on top of results day is another matter.

 

 

For assessment aspects, I always "normalise" the grade scores to one qualification equivalent (GCSE at KS4 or A2 at KS5) so that, as @vikpaw says, the arithmetic for target and grade comparisons is consistent. "One grade below target" is always a difference of 6 points at KS4 or KS3 and 30 points at KS5 that way. all you have to do then is multiply by the equivalency, so 0.5 for an AS level, 4 for a BTEC L2 diploma (this year at least!) and so-on. Depends on how you like to do your analysis, but I'd strongly recommend setting things up this way, as it makes a lot of stuff simpler.