A question about 2022 GCSE grade boundaries - can anyone explain?

[Notcontent]

The government said a few months ago that the grade boundaries would be somewhere between 2019 levels and the 2020/2021 levels. But what does that really mean? The reason I am confused is that usually grade boundaries are determined by how badly/well everyone does. Obviously in 2022/21 it was different as a different assessment method was used. So I am rather confused…

They'll be set so the proportion of kids getting say grade 7 will be the middle of the percentage in 2019 and 2021.

Every year the grade boundaries change - this ensures the top % get A* with most getting the middle C grade (or 9/5) whichever.

By not I’ve a set pad rate they can decide who’s cream of the crop.

80% one year will be an A* but could be a C the following year.

Unfair but it’s always been the same.

As I understand it, they are going to peg boundaries between 2019 And 2021 mid point

ao I have take A level biology and

A in 2021 Was 52%. A in 2019 was 57%. Mid point

54.5%.

thus I am concluding around 54.5% is required in the paper for an A

hope that makes sense

They'll take the approx average between the previous years grade boundaries for this year, so not as harsh as 2019 but not as generous as last year.

Were there grade boundaries last year? I thought schools all did their own thing.

There were no grade boundaries in 2021. It's the % of grades awarded that will be used, not the raw grade boundary. So if 30% got a 7 last year, and 20% in 2019, the boundary will be set to ensure that 25% get a 7 this year.

Perhaps they mean they’ll try to get the percentage of 9s, 8s, 7s etc between the the percentages from 2019 and 2021.

Yes this.

Yes what Titchy and others say.

80% one year will be an A but could be a C the following year. this isn't actually the case tho. I mean theoretically* it could be, but if you look at a decent run of actual grade boundaries (always supposing you could find such a thin, with the new specs and Covid and all) you would see the variance is more like one or two marks from one year to the next, so probably a good deal less that 1%

My bolding went a bit wappy there but hopefully YSWIM

As @titchy said it's the % at each grade that will be between 2019 and 2021 not grade boundaries which will still depend on how well everybody does.

Yes, but that’s my point - they are usually determined by students results, to ensure that e.g. 3% get a 9, etc.

So if the boundaries are more lenient than in 2019 and everyone does well, does that mean that more people might get higher grades than in 2019?

So if the boundaries are more lenient than in 2019 and everyone does well, does that mean that more people might get higher grades than in 2019?

Yes that's the point!

That would make sense - thank you. It’s all very confusing…