Pearson Edexcel A-Level Music: Unlocking Success

ABOUT THIS COURSE

Led by Alex Aitken, this course will look at each component of the Edexcel A-level Music course in turn, focusing entirely on unlocking success and boosting marks. Discussions will be from an examiner’s perspective, and will highlight patterns in results, common misconceptions, hidden considerations in the mark schemes, and general patterns across both the exam papers and examiner reports. The course will provide valuable insights into student performance at a national level, highlight key areas of concern, and offer practical strategies to refine your teaching approach. The day will also explore ways to better prepare students for future exams, strategies to improve their essays and coursework, and teaching approaches that ensure they meet the demands of Edexcel’s A-level Music course.  

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BENEFITS OF ATTENDING

• A thorough day of CPD on all things A-level Music led by an examiner.
• Gain a detailed understanding of key lessons from the 2025 exams, and identify patterns in student performance across listening, analysis, and composition components.
• Expert guidance from one of the UK’s leading educationalists, who is also an Edexcel A-level examiner, former Head of Music, and the author of one of the top A-level resources in the UK: www.masteringalevelmusic.co.uk.
• Take away proven strategies, approaches and monitoring processes for Edexcel A-level Music.
• Gain valuable understanding of how examiners think, what they look for, and how level descriptors are applied to essays, compositions and recitals.
• Raise academic standards through curriculum design and teaching approach, and be challenged with new ideas and philosophies, regardless of your experience.
• Gain more confidence in teaching Edexcel A-level Music; particularly if you had a bad experience with A-level Music yourself
• Improve understanding of assessment criteria and how to use them effectively to achieve outstanding results.
• The chance to discuss A-level Music teaching with colleagues, and with Alex.

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PROGRAMME

 1000 – 1130: Performance

•  Starting at the end: unpacking the assessment grids. Common misconceptions, important detail, and common issues.
• Principal Examiner Reports since 2018: patterns, considerations, solutions and priorities for 2025/26.
• Problems with summative marking criteria for the final product vs. formative criteria needed for the course.
• Repertoire choice, process and opportunities for success in 2026.

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1130 – 1145: Coffee Break

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1145 – 1315: Composition

• Principal Examiner Reports since 2018: patterns, considerations, solutions and priorities for 2025/26.
• Expanding to a national overview of Composition at A-level.
• Composition Assessment Grids – requirements, ingredients and important detail.
• Problems with summative marking criteria for the final product vs. formative criteria needed for the composition process.
• Revisiting A-level Composition at a national level.
• Research, harnessing AI, and tackling common problems with composition.
• Next steps for 2025/26.

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1315 – 1400: Lunch

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1400 – 1515: Appraising 

• Using paper profiles to shape teaching approaches. Unlocking the paper.
• Grade boundaries and cumulative grade outputs: issues and trends.
• Key issues with Section A in 2025. Principal Examiner feedback since 2018 summarised.
• 2025’s Section A reviewed and analysed.
• Tackling common teaching errors and shaping exam preparation.
• Question 4: Dictation. Comparison of past exam examples and building student’s skills.

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1515 – 1530 Coffee Break

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1530 – 1730: Essays

• Unpacking the mark scheme for Q6. Issues, common patterns in student responses, and examining teaching approaches.
• AO3 and AO4 explored: common issues, alternative perspectives and helping students to impress.
• Sentence structure – features of L1 to L5 essays.
• Embedding context successfully.
• Reviewing 2025’s Question 6s.
• Applying Question 6 techniques to Question 5: overlaps, teaching approaches and building skills.
• Unpacking the mark scheme for Q5. Issues, common patterns in student responses, and examining teaching approaches.
• Marking example essays.

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