A level assignment marks.

[Flyhigher]

DD just got two grades back from college lower 6th.

She got 75 out of 100.
Is that an A?

Also the same in Media.

136 was the beginning of A last year. So is 68 the A grade boundary?

Is 85 an A star?

It's not as simple as that. Boundaries shift. It can be a bit silly to think of it in terms of grades as they are not marked towards a grade. The criteria in mark schemes relate to bands. The grades are put in later.
I might discuss with a student what grade I think they're working at but an individual piece of work (particularly this early) would only get a numerical mark.
My previous HoD used to refuse to let us give higher than 26/30 on an essay at this stage even if piece was really good for example.

Entirely depends on the subject and the syllabus and having sat that exact exam with that exact cohort.

its only a broad guideline at best

My son is doing French and I think 75% is a B. I am sure all subjects vary.

So is 75 / 100 a good mark or not?

Surely the mark should relate in some way to a final grade? Umm. Seems a bit confusing and unclear.

No parents evening till Feb either. And it's all online. Hate online parents evenings. F2f so much better.

Wish I'd sent her somewhere smaller!

I thought 75 was fairly good?

Were they actual old exam papers or just a test the college has made up?

If the former, you can look at grade boundaries. If the latter, there is no way of knowing, without asking the college.

Has your daughter not been given guidance about how to improve (which is the key part, not what grade anyone thinks the mark might translate to).

Who knows. It depends on the subject the exam board and the year of the paper

We can't know without seeing the paper, how the other pupils have done and lots of other things.

In the same way in year 8 I came 3rd in the year in Geography with 52%. That would have been an A*
I came 18th in my form in year 9 in Geography with 74%, which would have been a D.
That's because grade boundaries vary as to how well people have done, the difficulty of the paper etc.

The paper may have been one that the teacher wrote and would have expected everyone to get 80%+. In which case she may not have done very well.
Or it could have been a full AS paper of which over 25% they haven't done yet, in which case she's done very well.

The only person who can tell you is the teacher, although she may be able to get an idea by how well others have done. Not totally definitive, but an idea.

I work in a very large sixth form. My advice would be to email her teacher and ask him/her to explain the grade. Or better still your DD could have a chat with them after her next lesson.

As previous posters have said it's impossible to calculate a grade without context.

At our sixth form teachers are always extremely happy help with any concerns via email. No need to wait until Parents evening surely?

I understand it's just a guide but surely it has to relate to something tangible.

You literally won’t tell us the subject the exam board and the year of the paper. Nobody can tell you.

if everyone else got 95% its poor. If everyone else got 20% she’s doing very well.

We aren't allowed to email teachers directly.
It's a large college.
About 1200 in each year?
DD unlikely to ask the teacher.
I do hate the state education system now.
It's too big. Too impersonal.

At least my DD's schools have been.

Tbf just as she left her school changed to an academy.

Still couldn't email any teachers though.

I don't think at big colleges you can email teachers.

It's history and aqa. A level.
Media wjec a level.

Which papers? Which years?

Media wjec and history aqa a levels.

According to those grade boundaries it's an A.

But no idea if a past paper or not.

I think it is a section in a past paper.

If it’s just a section and not under exam conditions and you don’t know the year then it’s anyone’s guess. Could be great could be below average - depends on the rest of the marks awarded to her classmates

You would need to ask the teacher.

Depends what year and if it was a past paper or not and what exam board.

DD got 90% in her chemistry A level test so A but Biology at 88% was not one as 90% was an A.

I find it extraordinary that you can't directly contact the teachers. Our college is considerably larger than the one your DD attends and our parents can easily contact the staff.

Sorry - not very helpful I appreciate but that is really poor support for students and staff!
Does your DD have a personal tutor you can contact, or a faculty head or similar?

Can't comment on media, but IMO it's unusual for even the very strongest students to be getting an A (graded in A Level terms) in history at such an early stage of the course. The difference in expectation between answering questions from GCSE to A Level is huge and it takes time to develop the new skills required.

I can email the pastoral lead.
But my DD will go nuts if I do.
I think maybe it's a B/ Borderlline A.

I wish they would say the grade working at.

I'm a uni lecturer and our grading is so much more straightforward.

We always mark numerically. And it fits into a grade. 60 is a 2.1. And so on.

I take the point that it's a jump up from gcse.
But really we are just floundering until parents evening.

Send your kids to a good smaller school where you get actually clear information.

Our big college we have to wait until Feb to get any parental feedback.

With the greatest of respect, back off. DD is in college, not primary school. Calm down, she's clearly doing well. Of course 75 is a good mark. You sound like a helicopter parent here, counting down to parents evening to analyse every piece of work with her tutors.

Sixth form is where students are treated like adults. If she's going to succeed, she needs to be treated like an adult as well as at home.

OP, your DD needs to ask the teacher (if she cares; as opposed to just you caring).
Sixth form is about the young people taking responsibility for themselves.
It's more important she knows how to improve than it is what grade it is.

Hi OP as others have said, there is no way we can answer this question in any meaningful way tbh.

It depends on so much. Was it an actual A level exam question? Was it sat under exam conditions and marked according to the mark scheme? At this stage of year 12 I would be surprised if it was tbh as 75% on an A level question would be pretty impressive after just half a term.

In 2024 for AQA history a mark of 75%, 150 out of 200, would have gained you an A. But you can see that for yourself I am sure. That figure will vary year by year (though not that much tbf, as long as the Covid years are mainly discounted). Was it really half the A level exams in total tho? Seems unlikely. If it was a single question then the figure is much less signiicant.

If I set a candidate in early year 12 an A level exam question and got them to do it in class in exam conditions in my subject (MFL) I would be amazed if they achieved 75% tbh, which is why I suspect i may be an easier question, or they may have had support in class, or been set it for HW.

Either way we can’t tell you. But I imagine the college or her teacher can. Your DD needs to ask if she wants to know; but IMHO a working grade after half a term is fairly meaningless.

Just to offer another example of what I mean, DS2 had a maths test about this time in year 12; he scored IIC 45/96. Not great? But apart from a couple of maths whizz mates who got 75 and 93, his was one of the highest scores. One student scored 6. One scored 0. It all depends on context.

BTW 1200 students in a year? That's huge! The biggest sixth form college local to me has about 1800 students across two years; most school sixth forms have about 200-400 students. I cannot believe you are not allowed to email – but really it is up to your DD to chase this up if she wants to. Why is it so important to know the grade?

As I said we can email the pastoral teacher only that's it.
I personally don't think that no parental input for 6 months is reasonable.
At uni we give clear grades from the first coursework which usually within the first 6 weeks.
A levels are just 18 months, so no feedback really for a third of it isn't acceptable.

Hardly a helicopter parent asking for some clear marks before 6 months.

Your comments aren't helpful.

You say that your DD won't ask, and would 'go nuts' if you emailed the pastoral lead.

If they don't want to know then leave them to it and back off.

Of course you can email someone to ask for more details. I work at one of the largest colleges in the country with about 4500 students, and you can email the faculty staff; they forward the emails on. You can't email staff directly (to protect them from combative parents) but there is a way to you're just being awkward not wanting to find it.