Five papers, three sciences and two practical booklets
Single Award is assessed across Unit 1 Biology (60 marks, 60 minutes), Unit 2 Chemistry (60 marks, 60 minutes), Unit 3 Physics (60 marks, 60 minutes), and Unit 4 Practical Skills, split into Booklet A (30 marks, 120 minutes of hands-on task time) and Booklet B (70 marks, 75 minutes of written analysis). The three subject papers run at almost exactly a mark a minute, so a calculation worth four marks should take about four minutes. Booklet B is slightly faster at just under a mark a minute, while Booklet A's 120 minutes mostly goes on carrying out the two practical investigations themselves, not on writing.
Each of Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3 and Booklet B ends with a 6-mark extended response marked for quality of written communication, one per paper, four in total across the qualification. That is 24 marks, close to a tenth of the whole award, riding on how well you structure a piece of continuous writing rather than on any single fact.
Say exactly what the mark scheme is looking for
A recurring pattern across all three sciences is losing a mark not for wrong biology, chemistry or physics, but for imprecise wording. Collision theory answers that say more collisions instead of increased collision frequency, or that miss the word successful when describing which collisions actually react, are marked down even though the general idea is right. A hydrocarbon is defined as containing carbon and hydrogen only, and leaving out the word only turns a correct definition into an incomplete one. When a chemical equation calls for state symbols, aqueous is (aq), not (l), and both must be shown when the question specifies them.
Calculations: convert units, then calculate
Kinetic energy calculations go wrong most often because the mass is used in grams rather than converted to kilograms first, giving an answer out by a factor of a thousand. In wave and ultrasound questions that ask for a depth from an echo time, the most common slip is using the full round-trip distance instead of halving it to get the one-way distance to the surface. In both cases, do the unit conversion or the halving as part of the same calculator working, not as an afterthought once you already have a number.
Graphs and data: describe the whole trend
When a reaction produces gas and then stops, the line of best fit needs to show the plateau where the reaction has finished, not just the rising section, and a trend description needs to mention that plateau explicitly rather than stopping at the word increase. When you calculate a mean from repeated readings, state clearly which value you have excluded as anomalous and why, rather than silently leaving it out of the working. Where a question asks for one control variable, name the specific quantity, the volume of acid, not the vague amount of acid.
CCEA conventions
Quality of written communication is assessed only in the one designated 6-mark question on each of Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3 and Booklet B, and it rewards legible, well-organised writing that uses the correct scientific terms in a logical sequence, not bullet points or extra length. Where a question asks for one named answer and two are given, one correct and one incorrect, the listing rule means the mark is withheld even though a correct answer is present.
The week before
Go through three years of collision theory, hydrocarbon and equation-balancing answers and rewrite each one using the exact wording above: successful collisions, carbon and hydrogen only, correct state symbols. Redo the kinetic energy and echo depth calculations from past Physics papers with the unit conversion or halving written as a visible step, not folded into the final answer. For each of the four QWC questions, practise planning your points in order before you write, so the extended response reads as a sequence rather than a list.