Thank you for your help, Andrew.
One more issue on which further clarification would be greatly appreciated, relates to the 'best fit' advice on the mark scheme for AQA GCSE English A and English literature.
To mark EN1 coursework, I assume that I would firstly look at the general criteria for a best fit. If however, the candidate does not clearly fit into any band, but has some of the criteria from band G, some from band F and some from band C, do I need to put the candidate into the G band, on the basis that 'each successive grade description assumes the continued demonstration of qualities described in the lower grades', as per the mark scheme?
Then when I have decided on the G band, I would then turn to the specific criteria in order to see how well the candidate has met each criteria, and thus determining a mark from 7-12. Is this correct?
I apologise if I am asking an obvious question, but this is a new specification for me, at a new school and due to staff illness, school is not very helpful at the moment! I really want to make sure that I understand the mark scheme before I attack a huge pile of coursework over half term.
Many thanks for any help given
Sarah