GCSE grade boundaries

[Notcontent]

DD is only in year 10 but I was trying to get an idea of what grades might be realistic based on her current test results. (Her school doesn’t do predictions - or if they do, they are not being shared.)

Anyway, I know it varies from year to year, and the exam board, but it seems to me that the standard required for an 8 or 9 is not as difficult to attain as I thought. Or am I missing something?

The million dollar question.
If you go onto exam board websites and dig around you can find the grade boundaries for previous years.
it will vary

• year by year
• exam board by exam board
• subject by subject

Your best bet of knowing what she might get is which set she is in and where she is placed in the set, and the usual grade distribution of the school.

ie
Top of top set and school usually gets 10% grade 9s - probably on for a 9
In a middle set and average grade is usually a 5 - probably on for a 4-6.

You cannot tell just from test percentages because you have no idea what level they have been pitched at, whether they are 'real' questions or not, and whether they are on 'easier' topics or not.

It depends on the subject, the year/exam set and the board. You simply cannot generalise.

For context, I teach Music. In 2018, you needed c75% for a 9 on the Appraising paper for my exam board, the examined component. In 2019, you needed c70% for the same component as it was a more challenging paper. We don't yet have the information for the 2020 paper.

Thank you - that’s helpful.

What subjects were you specifically looking at? Because they can vary. By a huge amount.

Yes, I did notice there is a bit of variation. My dd’s best subjects are sciences and maths, and they are the ones that it seems you can do quite well without getting over 90%, while English seems to have much higher requirements.

Maths you can pass with a very low percentage.

Kids are regularly outraged that 75% in science will get you a 9 but 75% in drama can be a 5.

Variation is enormous.

I am going to keep this information to myself as I think it might be better if dd thinks she has to get in the 90s to get any 9s!!!!

@Jenifirtree

Maths you can pass with a very low percentage.

That's only true if you take the higher paper though - where the questions will be that much harder, to challenge the more able student. There won't be any of the very easiest questions. The same is true of MFL.

@Notcontent

Yes, I did notice there is a bit of variation. My dd’s best subjects are sciences and maths, and they are the ones that it seems you can do quite well without getting over 90%, while English seems to have much higher requirements.

Again, that is in part to do with the tiers. Some of the questions in Eng Lang for example are very straightforward, as it is a paper that will be sat by candidates gaining a grade 1as well as those who will achieve grade 9.

Those weaker students are unlikely to be doing higher tier maths and sciences.

Clary I would dispute that - a lot of pupils can't access the amount of reading on the English papers due to low literacy skills - question one and five are straightforward the others aren't.

Yes I agree there is an issue, and IMO it's a massive problem with Eng Lit, starting right there with the level of difficulty of the texts.

But I didn't say all the questions were easy, they can't be can't they, just some; some are medium, some harder. Whereas in MFL higher tier, the easiest question is the hardest questions in the foundation tier (literally) - so targeted at a grade 4/5 - who then wouldn't be able to answer a great deal more.

I think English papers should have tiers again FWIW.

Going with the tangent, I don't think the English Language GCSE is 'fit for purpose' as a 'can this person read, understand and write English effectively for use in general life and a workplace' way, which is ultimately how employers looking for a 'pass' use it as.

I personally feel that for lower achievers the Eng language paper should have a foundation tier with only have the 20th C text, not the 19C, and should have the writing for meaning not the creative writing.

Teen I agree there should be F English lit paper without the Victorian novel. I mean Jekyll and Hyde? Schools do it bc it's short but I think it's a really impenetrable text for some DC.

Or it should be possible for schools to enter weaker students just for Eng Lang and a foundation version at that - more reading comprehension and practical language.

I mean there is Functional Skills but schools don't usually offer that bc it doesn't count grrrr we are losing sight of who is at the heart of this, aren't we? that is, the students! I honestly cannot see the point of putting a student with perhaps SEN in for an exam where they will achieve at best a 1/2 and be unable to access the majority of the content. A targeted exam exists which would be much more suitable.

Rant over.

As has been said it massively depends on the subject. When DD1 did her GCSEs (first year of the new harder ones graded 1-9), it was just a shade over 50% to get a 5. Higher Maths is just hard.

When DD2 did her GCSEs in 2019, she got a 9 in English lang and got full marks on both writing papers. Getting the 9 really meant you could make very few mistakes.

On the whole grade boundaries are lower in maths and the sciences, higher in MFL, English and Humanities. Getting an 8 in GCSE French isn't easy.

Getting an 8 in any subject isn’t easy.
A good starting point can be looking at your DDs school’s results if they’re published in a coherent manner. Then at where your DD places in the cohort. For example, If over the last few years 50% of each cohort get 7 or above in maths and your DD is in the top half of her cohort for maths then a 7 is likely. Getting 40% in a test maybe because the test that day was hard and everyone got below 50%. Similarly if she gets 80%.
Your school will probably start predicting when she’s yr11. Our school don’t predict until yr11 mocks.

I remember after mocks last year DS was amazed to find he had the same grade in biology and chemistry (or may be physics) but there was a 20% difference in his marks.