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Original poster

80% for a grade 9 on Cambridge iGCSE Maths

32 replies

noblegiraffe · 11/08/2017 01:15

Grade boundaries have been released for one of the first 9-1 maths exams.

I have no idea how the iGCSE paper compares to other exam boards, but their grade 9 threshold % is actually lower than their A* percentage from last year.

I'm slightly horrified by the foundation grade boundaries so for these I'm going to assume that the paper was very different to Edexcel.

Still, it seems that getting a 9 might not require as high marks as people were thinking.

80% for a grade 9 on Cambridge iGCSE Maths
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marcopront · 16/08/2017 14:04

Honey by sea. CIE do more than one IGCSE. From memory

0626 - the one we are talking about which is only for the UK and gives 1 to 9 as grades

0607 - International Maths which this is similar to and gives letter grades

0580 - Maths which gives letter grades

And one just for the US.

Plus Additional Maths

homebythesea · 16/08/2017 13:33

I'm confused...

DD did IGCSE Foundation maths and has been told she will get a letter not a number this year - can anyone shed some light (I know I should know this stuff Blush)

Do these figures mean you had to get over 50% to pass the Foundation (ie avoid retake?). If so, DD is doomed :(

sashh · 16/08/2017 10:15

but their grade 9 threshold % is actually lower than their A percentage from last year*

but with much more content. Yes 191/240 = 80% but so does 95/120. If there are only 120 marks to be had then you only need to get a score of 95, to get the same percentage this you you need to score 191.

Blueemeraldagain · 14/08/2017 14:39

Or they might be for another syallbus. Sorry Blush

Blueemeraldagain · 14/08/2017 14:31

I think paper two and four are on this website.

here

LittleHo · 14/08/2017 12:08

Thanks noblegiraffe. I'll tell ds to ignore any predictions that he sees online. It explains why they are all so wildly different.

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 14/08/2017 12:05

Don't know where that rogue apostrophe came from by the way.

Even when Edexcel did a massive national mock last November they refused to release grade boundaries for it because they said they wouldn't be accurate.

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Original poster
noblegiraffe · 14/08/2017 12:04

Complete unknown. School's have done their own calculations based on mock scores and so on, but from discussions on here have come up with pretty different values. Certain assumptions have needed to be made to come up with grade boundaries within schools, and as we have been told by Ofqual to expect more volatility than usual in results this year, those assumptions may not be valid.

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LittleHo · 14/08/2017 11:47

I hope so too tiggy. It was just that the newspapers are saying that only a few hundred students will get the top grade so I thought it would be higher than 191 out of 240.

Have any maths teachers been given any feedback about roughly where grade boundaries might lie or is it a complete unknown?

AlexanderHamilton · 13/08/2017 23:26

Ds has just left a selective private school that does igcse.

The letter we got about maths sets stated that all students in the school would be entered for the higher paper. In a meeting just before he left we were told that for the first time next year the school were introducing a foundation paper in response to the new GCSE's. (this years cohort did A-C but next years will do 9-1) so it's entirely possible that what tiggy said has happened.

tiggytape · 13/08/2017 23:18

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tiggytape · 13/08/2017 23:17

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LittleHo · 13/08/2017 18:15

How likely is it that these boundaries will be similar to the Edexcel GCSE boundaries?

They seem quite low at the upper end considering it is out of 240.

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 13/08/2017 18:01

Is there a way of ironing that out tiggy?

I didn't think it was possible under the old system, which was why there were occasionally odd discrepancies I.e. the fiasco with the English coursework a few years ago and possibly between modular and linear maths papers.

tiggytape · 13/08/2017 16:08

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 13/08/2017 14:02

Yes, the higher boundaries look reasonable, foundation look 😱

We'll see!

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Laniakea · 13/08/2017 12:08

this are pretty similar to the boundaries that dd's school chose for their year 11 mocks (they do AQA) - for the higher paper anyway. Think dd got 53% & they said that was a solid 6.

portico · 12/08/2017 10:29

Apologies for typos

portico · 12/08/2017 10:28

Hi Noble. I hope you're having a nice summer. I scanned the CIE igcse papers. There are 6 papers called components. Papers 1,3 and 5 are essentially Foundation. Papers 2,4 and 6 are Higher. Comparing specimen papers from 9-1 Ed Excel Higher vs CIE Igcse Higher, I thought EDExcel was slightly harder.

Ps, I gave a good nugget for you. I spoke with maths lead at Ed Excel. He stated Ed Excel igcse Sowc B are good practise for about 90% of content fir Ed Excel 9-1 gcse. Lots of papers to practise from.

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 11/08/2017 23:53

The iGCSE is accredited by Ofqual but doesn't count in the league tables so I can't imagine they had a huge number of takers in the UK - private schools who wanted to do 9-1 instead of A*-G but not actual GCSE.

Private school kids don't usually do SATs so god knows how they decided the boundaries for this.

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errorofjudgement · 11/08/2017 22:19

Thankyou, that's very helpful, I will check out the links Smile

relaxitllbeok · 11/08/2017 22:15

ah sorry - you meant easier as in old syllabus easier than new one, and I read it as IGCSE easier than GCSE (which I had the impression was maybe true for one IGCSE but not the other).

The Cambridge 0626 syllabus noble's post refers to is new this year, and at a glance, doesn't look easier than the first current GCSE syllabus I google up (AQA's 8300) - I spotted a few things in the IGCSE but not the GCSE, but nothing the other way round. Caveat: I only glanced and I don't have experience of weak students at this level so maybe there is something that makes the new IGCSE easier than the new GCSE and I just don't recognise it.

www.cie.org.uk/programmes-and-qualifications/cambridge-igcse-mathematics-9-1-ukonly-0626/

www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/mathematics/gcse/mathematics-8300

errorofjudgement · 11/08/2017 21:43

Thanks relaxitllbeok the GCSE syllabi have been revised so comparison needs to be with the current exams taken in June, that's why I was wondering if the iGCSEs have also been revised so they are still comparable.

relaxitllbeok · 11/08/2017 20:25

When I looked (admittedly a few years ago now) Cambridge IGCSE seemed as hard as any GCSE syllabus I could find, while Edexcel IGCSE seemed a lot easier.

errorofjudgement · 11/08/2017 18:53

Have the iGCSE maths papers been changed to correspond to the new GCSE maths syllabus? Or is it the previous, easier syllabus but grade given in numbers not letters?

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