Information After Exams

Results Day always comes around faster than you might think – and the results that you get will at least in the short term shape what you can and can’t do.

 It is vital that you know what you’re doing on results day, as you don’t want the excitement to take over. This brief guide will tell you everything that you need to know to make the most of the big day itself.

 Pearson EDEXCEL have also created a really helpful guide for students, parents and carers which can be found - HERE

Grade Boundaries explained

What is a grade boundary?

A grade boundary is simply the minimum number of marks that you need in order to reach each grade.  These are set by the exam boards.

Examples:-

•A LEVEL’s

You may need to get at least 135 to get a grade C but getting 136 marks will still give you a grade C,

Or 145 marks to get a grade B, so if you received 143 marks you are “2” marks away from a grade B

•GCSE’s

You may need to get at least 114 marks to get a grade 4 but getting 115 marks will still give you a grade 4,

Or 125 marks to get a grade 5, so if you receive 123 marks you are “2” marks away from a grade 5.

More information about Grade Boundaries

How are grade boundaries set?

In order to create the grade boundaries, the exams boards must consider lots of different data.

 Even before students take the exam, certain questions are set at different levels, such as one being made to be accessible to all and others being to challenge even the top students. After the exam is written, it is reviewed to give an estimate of grade boundaries.

After students take the exam, this is compared to the estimates, and they are altered to make sure that the grade boundaries are an accurate reflection of the performance of students. Other influences on both the estimated and final grade boundaries are previous years, Principal Examiner or Moderator recommendations and other exam boards.

Are grade boundaries different for each exam board?

YES! As each exam board offers slightly different courses and their own exams for each GCSE / A Level that they offer, the grade boundaries will be different for each exam board.

However, as mentioned previously, one influence on how the grade boundaries are set is other exam boards. This means that while they won’t be the same, different exam boards compare their grade boundaries for the same GCSEs / A Level’s.

Do grade boundaries change every year?

Grade boundaries do change every year in order to make them fair. This is because one year’s paper may be harder than a previous year’s and so the grade boundaries will need to be adapted accordingly.

This is to give students the grades that they deserve based on the exam that they have taken. To learn more about this, look HERE by JCQ.

 Are grade boundaries different for every subject?

As already mentioned, grade boundaries are calculated for each exam and assessment. This also means that the grade boundaries for each subject are different as students take different exams and assessments for these.

How different they are will depend on the exam board. For some subjects, grade boundaries will also be different within the subject and the exam board’s course for it due to there being the foundation and higher tiers.

 While this doesn’t exist for every GCSE, the different tries can greatly affect the grade boundaries as students will normally need to get more marks on the foundation paper as the content is less advanced. To learn more about this, check out this Think Student article.

Grade Boundaries

Here are the grade boundaries for GCSE's.

Here are the grade boundaries for A & AS's.

Enrol for Highams Park 6th Form (internal candidates)

Highams Park School Year 11 students can enrol for the 6th form as soon as they have collected their GCSE results.