AS/A Level GCE (for first teaching in 2008) Media Studies - H140 H540

FAQs

Please find below the most frequently asked questions for this qualification. If you have a question that is not answered here or elsewhere on the website please contact the OCR Customer Contact Centre.

Your regional Customer Support Manager is on hand to provide continued support, advice and guidance on what is happening with A Levels from an OCR prospective. This can include, an overview of our assessment approach or signposting to support and training to help you progress with our new A levels. To arrange a support call or visit, please email 14-19alevels@ocr.org.uk.

A. This specification will essentially remain the same apart from the changes stipulated by QCA. We have taken the opportunity to modernise the specification and have developed a new Unit 4 which addresses the stretch and challenge components. The amount of coursework is now set at 50%.

There is now also a choice of units at AS. Centres can choose either the TV Drama alternative or a Radio Drama alternative. The Section B for this paper remains consistent.

A. The amount of coursework has increased to 50% and covers two units. The briefs available are video, print, web-based, audio and game software.

A. Customer feedback has shown that some centres experienced difficulties in delivering this unit. However, some elements of this unit have been included in the new unit 4, looking at production performance in a critical and evaluative way.

A. OCR will be looking to produce a list of the minimum equipment needed to run this course effectively. Once this list has been produced it will be communicated to centres. This will be included in the new Teachers Support Booklet which will be issued shortly.

A. The new unit 4 will assess candidates' knowledge and understanding of media concepts, contexts and critical debate. Section A requires candidates to answer two compulsory questions which describe, evaluate and link their production work to a theoretical concept. In Section B, ‘Contemporary Media Issues', candidates answer one question from six topic areas. These areas include contemporary media regulation, global media, media and collective identity, and media in the online age. There are two questions for each topic area, candidates answer one.
OCR is developing support materials for this unit, including schemes of work and SAMs, to enable centres to deliver this unit effectively .

A. Yes. In response to centre demand, OCR will be publishing past papers for live specifications on the OCR website. These will be free of charge. Question papers from the June 2008 series will be available to download from OCR Interchange only. Further details are available from OCR Interchange.

A. OCR is working in partnership with individual publishers for different subject groups. Comprehensive resources are being developed by these Publishing Partners and others to support the specification and complement the support available from OCR. For details of our partners view the support page.

A. Schemes of work and lesson plans can be downloaded from the OCR website. The materials are available in fixed PDF format, for reference purposes, and also in Word format, so that teachers can adapt the materials for their own use.