It is no longer possible to find out the grade boundaries for the GCSES and A-levels have been reformed in Wales .
The grade boundaries once told students how many marks they need overall to get each grade at A level or most GCSEs.
But the new Welsh WJEC exams have now been broken down into units rather than one paper - and the exam board says it renders grade boundaries redundant.
Grade boundaries are only given for the four GCSEs that have remained “linear”, that is, they are one paper not broken into units.
What is a grade boundary anyway?
Qualifications like GCSE and A levels have a number of different grades which indicate a student’s level of attainment.
The boundaries determine how many marks you need for each grade.
Why isn't it possible to say how many marks a candidate needs overall or at each unit for each grade any more?
Exam board the WJEC says this is not possible for GCSE, AS and A-levels where the assessment is unitised – as candidates can sit assessments at different times and the weighting for each assessment varies.
All unitised schemes use an agreed uniform mark scale (UMS) to report the result of each unit and subject awards.
The maximum uniform mark for a subject depends upon the total number of units contributing to the qualification and the maximum uniform mark for a unit depends upon the importance (weighting) of the unit within the qualification
Sounds complicated. Is that the case for all exams?
No. There are grade boundaries for GCSE mathematics, maths numeracy, English language and English literature because they are still linear.
When will we know what the grade boundaries for those exams this year are?
On results day - Thursday August 23. Follow this link
If examiners don’t look at marks for grades how do they calculate what grade a candidate has got - or why ?
Examiners mark and provide a score. They don’t grade results. Grades are calculated as part of the “awarding process” by the exam board after marking.
It still might not be fair?
The WJEC insists they make it as fair as possibke.
"Establishing the grade boundaries for each assessment takes place at an awarding meeting where, for each grade boundary, the qualification’s chair of examiners and other senior examiners review students work in the current examination series against work from previous series, to determine the marks at which performance is of a similar quality to that seen on the grade boundary in previous exam series."
Can I query a result?
Students are advised to speak to an exams officer or teacher to discuss options. If there has been an error, an application can be made.
That can include seeing the script, a re-check of the result, post-results review and post-results review of moderation.
