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A-level Media Studies

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As and a level media studies nea.

This guidance relates to AS and A Level Media Studies (H009, H409).

What’s on this page

Carrying out the assessment.

The AS and A Level Media non-exam assessment (NEA) briefs are published in the Assessment > Pre-release materials section of the qualification page

• A Level – published on 1 March for submission the following year 
• AS Level – published on 1 September in the year of submission 

The NEA briefs are also available on Teach Cambridge .

All NEA work must be completed and marks submitted by 15 May of the year of submission. Once you have submitted your marks to OCR, you will receive a moderation sample request. For each candidate in the sample request you need to submit: 

• Cover sheet – A Level and AS Level  
• Teacher assessed media production
• Non-assessed research notes and planning materials
• Statement of intent – A Level and AS Level

Authentication

Each candidate should sign a declaration to confirm the work is their own. Teachers must complete a centre authentication form (CCS160) . These forms should be kept in your centre until the end of the post-results period. 

Submission methods

Entry options.

There are two entry options for submitting work to the moderator:

• Digital upload via Submit for Assessment  – H009/02 (AS) and H409/03 (A Level)
• Postal moderation – H009/03 (AS) and H409/04 (A Level) 

If you have entered to submit by digital upload, files should be uploaded to Submit for Assessment. Files uploaded to Submit for Assessment should be clearly organised and labelled identifying the candidate number and content of the file (eg 1234_coversheet). Documents uploaded to Submit for Assessment work best in PDF format. 

You can view further details about Submit for Assessment on our website .

If you have entered for postal moderation, you can send work digitally on a password-protected USB stick or in physical format for print work. Please label the work clearly so that the moderator can identify which candidate it belongs to.

Use of online platforms

Online platforms can be used to submit work for both Submit for Assessment and postal moderation options. Online platforms, including blogs, allow candidates to include their research and planning materials as well as their final products.

Where work is submitted via online platforms it is best practice to send a link to a password-protected online centre blog hub containing links to each individual candidate portfolio. Alternatively, a PDF file containing working hyperlinks to individual candidate blogs can be submitted.

When submitting work via online blogs, centres should:

• use candidate number, rather than name, to identify the blogs
• make sure the submission for each candidate contains the statement of intent, research and planning, Product 1 and a link to the website production
• include coversheets and a document with the links needed to access candidate work – this can be uploaded to Submit for Assessment or sent postally as a PDF, depending on the entry option chosen.

Sharing work

Candidates and centres must not share NEA work with others or share work via social media. Centres must make sure that work submitted for the NEA is not publicly accessible. This is in line with JCQ requirements . Any blogs or videos uploaded to online platforms must be unlisted and links to online materials must not be shared publicly.

Accessing work after submission

Centres must make sure candidates cannot access work once the marks have been submitted to OCR.

Centres can do this by submitting audio or video products as MP3 or MP4 files, or by using a hosted online platform controlled by your centre which candidates cannot log in to (for example a dedicated YouTube channel for the centre). For candidate websites, centres can take possession of the website by changing the password so candidates can no longer access it. Alternatively, your candidates can submit screenshots of the final web pages to the teacher. These screenshots should not be submitted to the moderator, but should be retained by the centre until the end of the post-results period.

File Formats

Any work submitted as digital files must be in universal file formats. We recommend work is submitted in the following formats:

• Embedded in online blog

Retaining candidate work

Candidate work, including any work submitted via online platforms, should be kept by the centre and remain available until after the deadline for reviews of moderation or until any appeal, malpractice, or other results enquiry is complete.

Media production – individual work only

Candidates must work individually to produce responses to the briefs. Group productions are not permitted, although other people can assist the candidate as long as they follow the candidate's instructions and their contribution is indicated on the cover sheet. Examples of this include people acting or appearing in the media product or people operating lights.

Research and planning

Although not assessed, research and planning must be submitted for moderation as it supports the authentication of work and helps moderators identify a candidate's aims. It underpins effective production practices, and we recommend candidates complete sufficient research and planning to allow them to have a clear understanding of the conventions of similar professional media products.

Statement of intent

A statement of intent must be completed by every candidate to communicate their production ideas. This should be completed before candidates begin their production, although it can be edited later to reflect changes in the production process. If a statement of intent is not submitted there is a limit to the number of marks they can achieve, as follows: 

• A Level – Ten marks will be deducted from a candidate’s final mark 
• AS Level – The candidate’s maximum mark is limited to the top of Level 4 of the marking criteria. 

Original/found materials

All content (including all images, text, video and audio) submitted as part of the NEA production must be original and created by the candidate themselves. The exceptions to this are the use of music in audio/audio-visual production briefs and in the original audio/audio-visual content required for the website production, and the use of existing brand logos. Where candidates have used any other found materials these must not be considered for credit. 

You can view more details in the AS and A Level Media specifications.

Candidates are required to produce the homepage and one linked page for their website only. If candidates have created more than the two required pages, only the homepage and one linked page should be assessed. It must be indicated on the NEA coversheet which linked page has been assessed.

The use of templates provided by online platforms such as Wix.com is permissible. Where templates have been used this should be indicated on the NEA coversheet. Candidates should be encouraged to avoid being overly reliant on templates and make their own choices in the use of media language. Candidates must be responsible for the design of the website by editing the template to suit their branding, and all content (such as text, images and audio-visual material) should be original.

The NEA briefs require the websites to include original audio or audio-visual content. This content should be in addition to audio/audio-visual content produced for Product 1.

When securing online production work for submission, centres should take care to make sure logins provided to moderators give them read-only access.

If you have any questions about the NEA for AS and A Level Media Studies, please call our Customer Support Centre on 01223 553998 or email us at [email protected] .

Programmes & Qualifications

• November 2023
• November 2022
• November 2021

Grade threshold tables

• Cambridge International AS & A Level November 2023 exam series grade threshold tables
• Cambridge International AS & A Level June 2023 exam series grade threshold tables
• Cambridge International AS & A Level March 2023 exam series grade threshold tables
• Cambridge International AS & A Level November 2022 exam series grade threshold tables
• Cambridge International AS & A Level June 2022 exam series grade threshold tables
• Cambridge International AS & A Level March 2022 exam series grade threshold tables
• Cambridge International AS & A Level November 2021 exam series grade threshold tables
• Cambridge International AS & A Level June 2021 exam series grade threshold tables
• Cambridge International AS & A Level March 2021 exam series grade threshold tables

Grade thresholds explained

We publish grade thresholds after each exam series. A grade threshold is the minimum number of marks that a candidate needs to obtain a particular grade in a paper or in a subject. Before reading the grade threshold document, there is some important information you need to know about how we set the thresholds.

How do we set grade thresholds? 

A grade threshold is the minimum number of marks that a candidate needs to obtain a particular grade in a paper or in a subject. These thresholds are decided after each examination has been taken and marked. The aim in each year (or examination series) is to set each threshold in just the right place to ensure that it is no more difficult and no less difficult to obtain that grade than it was in the previous year. 

To fulfil that aim we have to lower the thresholds from one examination to another if we find that the questions in a paper have been more difficult than last time (or raise the thresholds if we find the questions have been easier). This is to be fair to candidates from one series to another.

How to interpret our grade threshold tables 

The table in the grade threshold document shows the thresholds taken in a particular examination series for each paper or other component that we marked (so not for teacher-marked components, for example). 

The table also shows the thresholds used for the options available. An option is a permitted combination of papers or other components that make up the overall qualification. In the simplest cases, we can just add up the component thresholds to get the option threshold. 

Sometimes it is more complicated: 

• We may have to apply a weighting factor to the thresholds before we add them together in order to match what it says in the syllabus about the weight that we give to each paper.
• Once we have set the grade thresholds for each paper, we add them together to produce grade thresholds for the syllabus (or syllabus option for syllabuses with more than one route of assessment). The sum of the threshold marks for each paper takes into account the contribution that each paper makes to the syllabus. A small reduction to the grade threshold may be made at the higher grades to allow for the fact that a candidate may not be required to achieve a particular grade on every component in order to achieve that grade at syllabus level.
• Grade A* does not exist as a component grade. The A* threshold at option level is calculated looking at the position of the A and B thresholds as a starting point.
• For AS Level components, small adjustments may be made to the marks awarded for some versions of the paper, and to the component thresholds, in order to neutralise any differences in the difficulty of the versions taken in different countries, and so make sure that all candidates face an equal demand.

Marking and grading

Assigning grades to candidates' work is a complex process. We have put together a guide and a video to show how we ensure that all candidates taking our exams receive fair and accurate results.

• Syllabus overview
• Past papers, examiner reports and specimen papers
• Published resources