General criteria: understand the requirement

1. Specification focus. To be awarded a Pass, Merit or Distinction, a student must: • be audible • use spoken Standard English. • For the purposes of the spoken language assessment a student must: • be intelligible, and • generally use language appropriate to the formal setting of the presentation.
2. What success looks like. A successful response makes purposeful choices, supports them with relevant evidence or crafted detail, and explains how those choices meet the task.

General criteria: practical method

1. Translate the requirement. Turn the specification wording into an action you can demonstrate, such as select, interpret, analyse, connect or craft.
2. Use the mark information. Match time and depth to weighting. A higher-mark task needs a sustained line of thought and developed support.
3. Apply best fit carefully. Judge the response as a whole while checking the specific qualities named in the relevant level or criterion.
4. Review against the objective. Remove material that does not demonstrate the assessed skill and strengthen the weakest required element.

General criteria: apply and improve

1. Worked application. If a component carries substantial weighting, plan enough time for selection, development and checking. Do not let a low-mark retrieval task consume the time needed for extended analysis or writing.
2. Improve through diagnosis. Name the precise weakness, such as unsupported inference, thin analysis, weak organisation or inaccurate expression, then revise that feature and compare the result.