gcse grades

[ucannotbserious]

Does anyone know the average percentage that is needed to get an A and an A*? I know that this will vary by subject, board and year, but there must be some sort of guideline surely?

DS normally gets As for anything over 80% Y A* for anything over about 90% (which I think is a bit too generous tbh), having seen some of the questions which my hamster could probably get a C for

OK can give you specifics, ds got two bits of coursework today (English). 27/27 got him an A*, 26/27 got him an A. Exams are less stringent.

I think grade boundaries vary by subject, but I may be wrong because any questions about exams in our house result in either rolling eyes or icy looks.

I'm trying to stay calm.....

Not sure about other subjects, but in English exams and coursework are equally 'stringent' in terms of percentages; 90%+ would be the range for A. (49+/54 on coursework) You might want to check, mumblechum, depending on what exam board DS is taking - AQA writing coursework (the component marked out of 27) gives 26 and 27 an A grade. A grade is about 80%, as you say.

Can't say I care for the attitude that 'C' grades are easy to get - at the very least it devalues the work and effort put in by your own child, doesn't it?

You can google the exam board and grade boundaries to see what it was last year. Varies quite a lot between different subjects.

It does vary by subject/grade/year.

Roughly - 90% for A*, 80% for A etc.

You can look up grade boudaries on the awarding bodies' websites.

But rather than worrying about grade boundaries, just enourage the young person to do their very best.

Thank you all. I was asking so as to try and convert a coursework mark into a grade so I will look on the relevant site - didn't think of the obvious!

Surely it can't be right that you need 100% to get A* - perhaps Mumblechum could get her hamster to check if this is correct?

Hi, yes, checked his work last night. Coursework on creative writing. One piece got 26 out of 27 and was A, one was 27 out of 27 and A*. The exams, as I say are much more generous.

It varies according to subject and even according to the year.

In my subject an A* is about 95% plus and an A about 85% plus.

As other have said check the exam board.

Why do you want to know the grade for an individual module? They all get added up to give the overall mark, which is the important one.

I get infuriated when my students ask about grade boundaries for individual modules as if they are trying to get just one mark over their target and then stop trying. What they need to be doing is getting the very best mark they can on individual modules so that stronger ones can carry the weaker ones.

'creative writing' must be a different board, I'm only familiar with AQA. Exams are not more generous - you still need 90% to get an A*, although this may equate to a wider mark range as more marks are available for the exam.

Why shouldn't I want to know?

DS isn't doing modular courses anyway and certainly isn't given the opportunity to improve on coursework once submitted. I don't see the point in that or else everyone would get an A*.

Raw marks (very each year) are converted to UMS from which grade boundaries are defined.