Composing music courses

Guidelines for submission for formal assessment

Look at OCAs Student Support Guide Assessments and how to get qualified, available
to download from, OCAs student website: oca-student.com. This will tell you about the
assessment process. Also look out for videos and other tips on assessment that are
posted on weareoca.com. Look out for updates on these guidelines on oca-student.
com
Digital Submissions
Please note that all written work (tutor reports, learning logs and blogs do not have to be printed out, if they
are submitted digitally) submitted for assessment MUST be submitted digitally as well as printed out and
submitted on paper along with the rest of your submission. Digital work should be submitted to assessment@
oca-uk.com, clearly stating your name, student number, the course name and what the digital work attached
is (eg critical review, essay etc) This is a requirement and is to enable OCA to carry out plagiarism checks on
work, and a requirement of our validation with the University for the Creative Arts.
If you are submitting an entirely digital portfolio on CD or a USB stick, or entirely via a blog, only a sustained
piece of writing (such as an essay or critical review) needs to be sent to assessment@oca-uk.com as well as
printed out and submitted for assessment in hard copy.
If you are submitting work on a USB stick or a CD please ensure you check it thoroughly for viruses before
you send it in.

Presentation
Include a clear contents list with your assessment submission. All your work must be clearly labelled, stating
which assignment it relates to and with your name and student number on every item you submit. Where
there is a clear link between project work and your learning log, or blog, this should be clearly labelled or
cross-referenced in some way.
Each piece should be separately bound with its own programme note, and a further accompanying volume
containing sketched work and supporting projects, listening and research log, and any appropriate personal
statements and tutor reports. The professionalism of your presentation is important and you will lose marks
for poor presentation.
Students may consult with their tutor if they feel unsure about what to include in their submission based on
their strengths and weaknesses and also for guidance on presentation methods.

Requirements at each level

Level one course
The full written scores (hard copies) of all five of the course assignments selected in consultation with the
tutor, revised as appropriate.
The Sibelius files of the above compositions, on CD on a memory stick or directly via email to assessment@
oca-uk.com ensuring your name, student number and assessment date is listed on the email.
Listening, reading and research log with any with any other documents you feel are appropriate, including
original versions of the assignments.
Tutor reports.
Your url if you are submitting a blog.
Important note about Assignment one for level one courses.
Although Assignment one is not formally assessed component of the course, the assessors do want to see it,
so that they gain a comprehensive view of your development. So, if you are applying for formal assessment,
do send assignment one in with all the others.

Level two course

The full written scores (hard copies) of all five of the course Assignments selected in consultation with
the Tutor, revised as appropriate.
The Sibelius files of the above compositions, on CD on a memory stick or directly via email to assessment@
oca-uk.com ensuring your name, student number and assessment date is listed on the email.
Listening, reading and research log with any with any other documents you feel are appropriate, including
original versions of the assignments.
Tutor reports.
Your url if you are submitting a blog.
The 2,000 word critical review. This should be submitted as a sixth assignment, but you should be
working on this along side your other work

Level three course

The full score of composition which has been the focus of the study and for which there has been tutorial
support, sent in both hard copy and digitally (see below).
The Sibelius files of the above compositions, on CD on a memory stick or directly via email to assessment@
oca-uk.com ensuring your name, student number and assessment date is listed on the email.
An extended log outlining the progress of the composition from early sketch form illustrated with
appropriate musical examples, and including a short programme note.
The listening, learning and research log, to include all the tutor reports.
Your url if you are submitting a blog.
The 3,500-word critical review.
You must also submit copies of all your tutor report forms. If your tutor has annotated your written work,
then you must submit the annotated version of the written work as well as the final version.

Clarification on presentation of work when studying multiple courses

If you are studying more than one OCA course at the same time, you must ensure that your work on the
courses you are studying do not overlap in any way. You must keep separate learning logs, demonstrating that
the research you do is specifically for each of the courses. It is essential that when you present your work for
assessment that it is clear which work relates to which course. There must be a discrete set of work for each
course so that the assessors are clear what they are assessing.
Students cannot present the same piece of work for marks on two different units. However, if a students is
studying two units at the same time and doing general sketchbook work for example, to support both units,
this person can submit the sketchbooks for both units as evidence of background research.

About assessment at OCA

The assessment process involves your work being marked by one assessor and then moderated by another
assessor. The average amount of time spent reviewing each submission at assessment is 45 minutes, but this
may increase at level 3 (HE6).
The assessment process is validated by an external examiner who observes the assessment and reviews a
sample of the submissions.
The resulting marks are provisional. The marks are then confirmed by an exam board convened by the
validating university, UCA.