Financial Services: Group Award Graded Unit 3 (HND)

Assessment Exemplar for Higher National
留學生dissertation網Graded Unit
DL16 35: Financial Services: Group Award Graded Unit 3 (HND)
1st edition: April 2004
Price: £20.00
Publication code: CB2111

Published by the Scottish Qualifications Authority, Hanover House, 24 Douglas Street, Glasgow,
G2 7NQ, and Ironmills Road, Dalkeith, Midlothian, EH22 1LE

The information in this publication may be reproduced to support SQA qualifications. If it is reproduced, SQA should be clearly acknowledged as the source. If it is to be used for any other purpose, then written permission must be obtained from the Support Materials Development Officer at SQA. It must not be reproduced for trade or commercial purposes.

© Scottish Qualifications Authority 2004
Contents

1 Introduction
2 How to generate evidence
3 Assessment exemplar
1 Introduction
This pack must be used in conjunction with a copy of the Graded Unit specification which details the standard of performance expected of the candidate. A copy of the Graded Unit specification can be obtained from SQA.

This pack supplements the instructions for designing the assessment task and assessing candidates of the Graded Unit specification. It aims to provide an example of assessment that is valid, reliable and practicable. The assessment task(s) detailed in this pack corresponds to the instructions for designing the assessment task outlined in the Graded Unit specification.

The example provided is intended for guidance only. It may be used in a variety of ways including, for example:

• to exemplify the standard of performance expected of candidates achieving the Graded Unit, ie as a benchmark
• to help you develop your own assessment for the Graded Unit
• to give you new ideas
• as a staff development tool

http://www.ttc-switch.com/Thesis_Writing/Information__knowledge_management/Please note: The subject material that is being delivered as part of this course is of a specialised nature. It is recommended that centres ensure that suitably knowledgeable and qualified staff be employed in delivering the programme. If the material is to be delivered on an open or distance learning basis, it is recommended that suitably knowledgeable and qualified staff be employed to develop the course support materials.

It is important that you make sure that the assessment exemplar is used in a context appropriate to the delivery of the Graded Unit and to the Group Award of which it forms a part. It is also very important that you note that using this assessment exemplar does not automatically guarantee successful external moderation. It is still your responsibility to make sure that all the appropriate internal quality assurance procedures are satisfactorily completed. For example, a valid, effective and approved internal moderation system must be in use at your centre.#p#分頁標題#e#

Recommended reading

Before using this material you might find it useful to look at some of our other publications, in particular:

• Guide to Assessment and Quality Assurance for Colleges of Further Education (AA0841/3, September 2003)
• Guidance on Special Assessment Arrangements (AA0645/4, September 2003)
• Quality Assurance Principles, Elements and Criteria (A0798, December 1998)

Details of these and other SQA publications are available in SQA Information, our publications catalogue which is updated and printed twice a year (telephone:
0845 279 1000). SQA Information lists all published HN assessment exemplars. You could also visit our website at www.sqa.org.uk. A free copy of this pack is available to all SQA approved centres at the time of initial distribution. Additional copies can be obtained, price £20.00, from SQA’s Customer Contact Centre, 24 Douglas Street, Glasgow, G2 7NQ (telephone: 0845 279 1000 or fax: 0141-242 2123).

Other related Units

This Graded Unit has been validated as part of the HNC/HND Financial Services at level 8 within the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) . Centres are required to develop the assessment instrument in accordance with the validated specification.

It is recommended that the candidate should have completed, or be in the process of completing, the following Units relating to these specific aims prior to undertaking this Graded Unit:

Unit code SCQF level Title
DE5N 34 7 Personal Financial Services
DE5M 34 7 Financial Sector: An Introduction
DE5P 35 8 Investment
DE5V 35 8 Financial Services Regulatory Framework

Core Skills

Where Core Skills have been embedded in a Graded Unit specification and an Assessor wishes to use an alternative method of assessment, she/he must ensure that the assessment generates the Evidence Requirements specified in the Graded Unit specification. It is recommended that the centre seek prior moderation for the alternative method to ensure that the Core Skill is still covered. The Graded Unit specification will detail the Core Skills covered within the Graded Unit.

There is no automatic certification of Core Skills or a Core Skill component as part of this Graded Unit. However, there may be opportunities to develop the Core Skill of Problem Solving.

2 How to generate evidence

Introduction

The Scottish Qualifications Authority’s system of assessment measures the evidence of a candidate’s attainment of knowledge, understanding and skills against defined criteria. The assessment process must allow for evidence of each candidate’s performance to be generated and collected. This evidence must then be judged against the standards set out in the Graded Unit Assessment specification. To achieve the Graded Unit the candidate must successfully meet the standards and there must be evidence to prove this.

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The Graded Unit specification defines the criteria you need to use to judge whether or not the candidate has met the standards. All Graded Units have the following:

Instructions for designing the task

These tell you what the candidate actually has to do.

Recommended prior knowledge and/or skills

This section details the recommended knowledge and skills which the candidate should have completed or be in the process of completing prior to undertaking the Graded Unit.

Assessment guidelines

This section should give guidance on how best to conduct the assessment to generate the evidence required.

It is important to realise that it is up to the Assessor to judge when and if the candidate has satisfactorily met the standards. This decision should be based on the quality and correct quantity of evidence collected, set against the standards in the Graded Unit.

The assessment instrument in this pack should not create any unnecessary barriers to achievement for open/distance learning delivery or candidates with special needs. However, you may need to adapt it so that you can assess candidates with special needs or candidates who are undertaking the Graded Unit on an open/distance learning basis. Obviously, whilst taking into account the needs of the candidate concerned, the methods of assessment you choose must still be valid, reliable and practicable. If you have any questions or problems, or if you are in any doubt as to whether or not the alternative assessment you have chosen is still valid, please contact the Customer Contact Centre on telephone: 0845 279 1000.

External Moderation — Guidance on Best Practice

In order to increase the likelihood of successful external moderation it is strongly recommended that:

• Centres have their project and its contents with marking instructions prior moderated by SQA. Staff are advised to put the materials through an internal moderation process before submission to SQA. Staff are advised to submit these materials to SQA not less than eight weeks before their intended use to Assessment Moderation Unit, Scottish Qualifications Authority, Hanover House, 24 Douglas Street, Glasgow G2 7NQ.

• Marking instructions are sufficiently detailed to indicate clearly how many marks are to be awarded for each response. Where appropriate, ‘or any other suitable response’ should be included if there is a wide range of possible answers. This will avoid penalising candidates for omissions in the marking instructions. If examples are to be provided by a candidate then examples should also be provided in the marking scheme.

• Half marks should not be used since, cumulatively, they inflate candidates’ scores artificially.

• Markers write 0, 1, 2, 3, etc, on scripts to show where marks have (or have not) been awarded and these should relate directly to the marking instructions. ‘Global’ totals for questions are not useful unless it is clear how they have been derived.#p#分頁標題#e#

• Centres produce a summary list of candidates showing:

i) centre name and number
ii) candidate’s name
iii) candidate’s date of birth
iv) SQA candidate number
v) marks for all sections and total mark
vi) grade achieved

The summary list should be enclosed with the scripts, project and marking instructions submitted for moderation.

• The project is drafted in accordance with these and any other guidance notes supplied by SQA.

• Please provide clear instructions to candidates.

3 Assessment Exemplar

Assessment tasks

The table below summarises how the assessment exemplar task is to be marked and also indicates the evidence which should be retained for external moderation.

Suggested task Suggested evidence to be retained

Project
This project-based Graded Unit is in the form of a practical assignment and will be marked out of 100. Assessors will aggregate the marks achieved by the candidate for each stage (planning, developing, evaluating) to arrive at an overall mark for the project. Assessors will then assign a grade to the candidate for this Graded Unit assessment based on the following grade boundaries:

• A = 70% – 100%
• B = 60% – 69%
• C = 50% – 59%
• Fail = less than 50%

Note: If a candidate fails the planning stage with a score of less than 10 marks they will be required to re-sit this stage before going on to subsequent stages. In this event, the candidate can only achieve a maximum of 10 marks to be taken forward to the final Graded Unit mark.

All candidate evidence to be retained

All checklists to be completed and retained

Conditions of assessment

Candidates must be given a date for completion of the practical assignment. The instructions for the assessment task should be distributed to allow the candidate sufficient time to assimilate the details and carry out the assessment task. During the time between the distribution of the assessment task instructions and the completion date, Assessors may answer questions, provide clarification, guidance and reasonable assistance.

The assessment task should be marked as soon as possible after the completion date. This is especially true of the planning stage.

The final grading given should reflect the quality of the candidate’s evidence at the time of the completion date.

Re-assessment of this Graded Unit should be based on a significantly different assessment task.

At this level, candidates should work independently. It is up to centres to take necessary steps to ensure authenticity of the project and its contents. This could include questioning candidates at various stages on their knowledge and understanding of the project, the use of signatures, acknowledging and referencing sources etc. Further guidelines are contained in SQA publication ‘Guide to Assessment and Quality Assurance for Colleges of Further Education’ (AA0841/3, September 2003).#p#分頁標題#e#

Instructions for designing the assessment task and assessing candidates

The assessment task is a project-based practical assignment. It must be a complex task which involves:

• variables which are complex or unfamiliar
• relationships which need to be clarified
• a context which may be familiar or unfamiliar to the candidate

The assessment task must require the candidate to:

• analyse the task and decide on a course of action for undertaking the project
• plan and organise work and carry it through to completion
• reflect on what has been done and draw conclusions for the future
• produce evidence of meeting the aims which this Graded Unit has been designed to cover.

The project consists of three stages:

• planning
• developing
• evaluating

It should be emphasised to candidates that all three stages must be completed satisfactorily to achieve a pass. If candidates are required to undertake a re-assessment, no more than a Grade C can be awarded to the assessment.

The following information specifies the minimum evidence required to pass each stage and the maximum marks which each stage carries.

Broad level related Grade Descriptions for a project

Grade A (70% – 100%) Grade B (60% – 69%) Grade C (50% – 59%)

Is a seamless, coherent piece of work which:
Is a well co-ordinated piece of work which:
Is a co-ordinated piece of work which:

• has sufficient evidence for the three essential phases of the project, is produced to a high standard, and is quite clearly inter-related • has sufficient evidence for the three essential phases of the project, is produced to a good standard and is inter-related
• has sufficient evidence of the three essential phases of the project, is produced to an adequate standard
• demonstrates an accurate and insightful interpretation of the project brief
• demonstrates an accurate interpretation of the project brief • demonstrates an acceptable interpretation of the project brief
• is highly focused and relevant to the tasks associated with the project brief • is well focused and relevant to the tasks associated with the project brief
• is focused and relevant to the tasks associated with the project brief
• is clear and well structured throughout and language used is of a high standard in terms of level, accuracy and technical content
• is clear and well structured throughout and language used is of a good standard in terms of level, accuracy and technical content • is satisfactorily structured and language used is adequate in terms of level, accuracy and technical content
• effectively consolidates and integrates required knowledge, and skills
• satisfactorily consolidates and integrate knowledge and skills • consolidates and integrates knowledge and skills but this may lack some continuity and consistency#p#分頁標題#e#

Assessment task
Assessment task instructions

The design rules for HND programmes state that all Group Award Graded Unit assessments must have a credit value of one credit.

This Group Award Graded Unit assessment has been designed to provide evidence that the candidate has achieved a number of the principal aims of the HND Financial Services programme. The aims can be found in the Validation Document and in the Graded Unit specification.

Although the intention is to develop knowledge and skills at level 8 it is recognised that the candidate will use a range of knowledge and skills developed at an earlier stage. As a consequence, it is recommended that candidates should have completed, or be in the process of completing, two core Units that are set at level 7, Introduction to Financial Services and Personal Financial Services.

Although not essential, it is suggested that candidates would benefit from completing, or being in the process of completing, the core Units of Investment and Financial Services Regulatory Framework at level 8.

It is intended that this Group Award Graded Unit will assess a candidate’s knowledge and skills by means of a stand-alone investigative project. This investigative project requires the candidate to research share performance over a given period of time.

It is considered that this period should be for the duration of the academic year, finishing at the end of April, thereby allowing time for the assessment to be marked. It is recognised that some centres may wish to deliver the material over a different period. The timing and management of the assessment is entirely at the discretion of the delivering centre, although it is recommended that the minimum research period is not less than three calendar months.

Project — Investigation

Each candidate should select FOUR (or more) listed companies from those featuring in the FTSE 100 stock index for the chosen period.

Centres should prepare a list of these companies for distribution to candidates at the start of the project and allow the candidates seven days to select their portfolio.

Each candidate should then be allocated a nominal sum of £100,000 to be split equally between the chosen shares. These will now form the basis of the candidate’s portfolio.

For the purposes of establishing the portfolio it is necessary to:

• calculate the costs of investing in each company
• ascertain the number of shares (to the nearest whole 50 shares below the purchase cost)
• calculate the same for each chosen share
• record the details on a candidate’s logbook at the start of the project, and weekly thereafter
• record the details of each company’s sector index at the start of the project, and weekly thereafter
• record the details of the FTSE 100 and All Share Indices at the start of the project, and weekly thereafter
•http://www.ttc-switch.com/Thesis_Writing/Information__knowledge_management/ record the following information for each company at the start of the project, and at the end of the project:#p#分頁標題#e#
? price/earnings
? market capitalisation
? earnings per share
? dividend per share
? dividend yield

At the end of this stage the candidate will provide a brief Action Plan which:

• confirms the chosen portfolio
• provides a brief justification for the selection of each
• provides a statement explaining the likely methods that the candidate will use for researching the share price movement and company
• provides a brief summary of how the candidate will carry out his/her investigation
? this may take the form of a time plan or suggested diary of events

Once the project portfolio has been established centres should take a copy of the original logbook entries for each candidate.

Candidates will now be required to develop the portfolio by:

• maintaining records as detailed above
• obtaining information relating to the chosen companies for inclusion in the Investigation Report
• collecting evidence that relates to factors that affect:
? individual shares that form part of the portfolio
? the sector to which individual companies that form part of the portfolio belong
? the UK and world stock markets in general
• analysing the collated information with a view to later providing a formal report on the performance of the portfolio

This Investigation Report may be completed a half to two-thirds of the way through the project. Centres may prefer to have this part of the project included as part of the final report.

The candidate should:

• deliver a written report that provides:
? evidence that shows that the candidate has set objectives, including time objectives for gathering information
? confirmation of the selection of relevant, reliable and current sources for obtaining information
? confirms that appropriate areas are being researched

If centres would prefer this report to be delayed to the end it is important that the above can be readily ascertained from the candidate’s final report.

The culmination of the investigative report will be preparation of the candidate’s Evaluation Report into the performance of the companies and their shares. This will require:

• completion of the logbook with details of:
? weekly share prices
? weekly index values
? end of project figures for:
• price/earnings
• market capitalisation
• earnings per share
• dividend per share
• dividend yield
• a report that:
? discusses each company separately and in detail covering
• the main business of each company
• the movement of its shares over the chosen period
• positive and/or negative factors that have impacted on the share prices over the period
• compares the performance of each company to that of the sector in which the company operates#p#分頁標題#e#
? discusses the performance of the Stock Market in general over the chosen period, with particular emphasis on some or all of the following:
• economic factors at home and abroad
• political factors
• legal factors
• provides some discussion of the likely future performance of each company based on the research

NB Data relating to share prices and indices should be provided in graphical format.

 

A suggested format for the candidate’s logbook follows on pages 11–13.
Share Portfolio Logbook

Candidate Name
Company Name Market Price No of Shares Purchased Consideration
Share 1
Share 2
Share 3
Share 4
P/E Market Capitalisation EPS Div PS Div Yld
Share 1
Share 2
Share 3
Share 4

Sector Index 1
Sector Index 2
Sector Index 3
Sector Index 4
FTSE 100
All Share Index

TOTAL COST
 

 

Share Prices
Share/Index Name Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10 Week 11

FTSE 100 Index
All Share Index
Share/Index Name Week 12 Week 13 Week 14 Week 15 Week 16 Week 17 Week 18 Week 19 Week 20 Week 21 Week 22


FTSE 100 Index
All Share Index

 

Share Prices
Share/Index Name Week 23 Week 24 Week 25 Week 26 Week 27 Week 28 Week 29 Week 30 Week 31 Week 32 Week 33


FTSE 100 Index
All Share Index
Share/Index Name Week 34 Week 35 Week 36 Week 37 Week 38 Week 39 Week 40 Week 41 Week 42 Week 43 Week 44


FTSE 100 Index
All Share Index

Assessment task

Suggested solution and making an assessment decision

Assessment checklists

In order to comply with the design rules, candidates must produce a report for each of the three distinct sections:

• evidence of planning
• evidence of developing
• evidence of evaluating

The balance between these sections is indicated in the table:

Graded Unit
Planning 10%
Developing 30%
Evaluating 60%

These distinctions are based on the following considerations:

Planning: The majority of the planning effort is likely to take place early on in the overall project, with only the planning directly related to implementation taking place at the implementation stage.

Developing: The development effort is likely to be ongoing throughout the project. It is possible that some of the development stage will be discussed during the evaluating stage.

Evaluating: After the implementation stage it will be possible to evaluate both the implementation itself and the tie-up between design and implementation.

It is possible that the documentation could be presented as a single report.
 

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Project Stage Minimum Evidence Requirements Suggested Mark Allocation
Stage 1 — Planning
• evidence of choosing four public company shares for investigation purposes

• justification for the selection of these shares

• identification of the methods of research and sources to be used

• development of a strategy for managing the investigation, taking account of factors including time management

Developing

• setting objectives for gathering information
• identifying appropriate issues for research
• selecting relevant methods for researching company backgrounds
• identifying and gathering appropriate information from relevant sources
• sources of research in hard or soft copy

Stage 3 — Evaluating
• appropriate analysis of information

• evaluating important and relevant issues relating to each company, sector and the market as a whole

• analysis of financial and other factors relating to each company sector and the market nationally and internationally

• suitable presentation of data in a graphical and numerical format

• relevant conclusions on the recent and likely future performance of the chosen companies

10

15

 

15

10

10

 

Report skeleton

The Project Report could take the following format:

1 Planning

1.1. Companies selected for project

1.2. Approach to the project

1.3. Justification for choices

1.4. Plan for carrying out project

1.5. Resources required

2 Developing

2.1 Project Plan: a project plan and schedule for gathering information

2.2 Issues being considered for research

2.3 Methods to be used for carrying out research

2.4 Details of information gathered to date

3 Evaluation

3.1 Criteria for Evaluation

3.2 留學生dissertation網Company share performance – there should be a separate section for each company

3.3 Sector performance

3.4 Market performance

3.5 Reasons for share price variances

3.6 Graphical presentation of share performance

3.7 The future performance of the companies

3.8 Conclusions

 

 

Assessment checklists

Unit assessment: class checklist

DL16 35 ? Financial Services: Group Award Graded Unit 3 (HND)

Class Group

Candidate
Surname Candidate
Forename Candidate
ID Stages Overall Achievement*
1 2 3
1 P F
2 P F
3 P F
4 P F
5 P F
6 P F
7 P F
8 P F
9 P F
10 P F
11 P F
12 P F
13 P F
14 P F
15 P F
16 P F
17 P F#p#分頁標題#e#
18 P F
19 P F
20 P F
21 P F
22 P F
23 P F
24 P F
25 P F

* Mark as appropriate