[Colin Drummond]

15/04/2016 at 12:48 pm

I am looking at the band descriptors for the second aspect of the project – “Producing a requirements specification and test plan”

In the information for assessors section the guideline states:

“A requirements specification with no evidence of research and analysis cannot gain more than 4 marks”

Does this mean that they can score a maximum of 4 out of 10 for this aspect? This sentence only refers to the requirements specification but this aspect also covers the test plan.

For example, if a pupil completed a comprehensive and detailed test plan and did a strong requirements specification but with no evidence of research and analysis, could they score of maximum of 4 out of 10?

I did consider that the marks for this aspect could effectively be split into 2 sections with 5 marks for Requirements Specification and 5 marks for Test Plan?

Any thoughts?

[Jeremy Scott]

11/05/2016 at 10:10 pm

I agree that the marking scheme isn’t clear here.  However, SQA states that you must arrive at an overall band for each major section, then adjust the mark within that band. So whilst it only refers to requirements spec, I assumed it had to mean that, even if everything else was perfect, that section could still only attract a maximum of 4 marks if there was no research or analysis.