What do gcse points mean

Although there will be inquiries into what happened, including by the Office for Statistics Regulation , the consequences will rumble on for years to come. There will be plenty of time to look into this in future. We set out some of this in this blogpost. In particular, the adjustments for prior attainment did not make much sense to many of the school data managers who we were in touch with. And they know their data inside out. Some schools were expecting higher results because they noticed that the GCSE average point score of their cohort had increased.

Some had even used the Department for Education value added ready reckoner and transition matrices to get a feel for how much their results might improve by. The average point score is simply the average grade in reformed GCSEs. The majority of the cohort of A-Level entrants would have reached the end of Key Stage 4 in , and others the previous year. By that stage, many, though by no means all, subjects had been put onto the scale.

The table below shows the data at selected percentiles. In general, particularly at the upper end of the distribution where proportionately more A-Level students are found, GCSE average point scores were around 0.

Ofqual said this year's results would be just as generous, given that Covid has continued to disrupt education. The numerical grading scheme is part of a curriculum introduced in England's schools in by then Education Secretary Michael Gove. GCSE courses now include much less coursework than before, with grades in almost all subjects depending on exams.

This has not been the case in and , when the end-of-year exams were cancelled. Courses are designed to be more challenging, with exams taken after two years of study rather than in modules with exams along the way. But students may also get results with grades if they take exams set by English boards. The most significant changes were in English language, Welsh language and mathematics. Log In. Contact us Sign up for newsletters. Log In Register now My account.

What do 4, 5 or 6 GCSE grades mean? As the infographic below reveals, there is no direct read-across from the old to the new grades.

Grades 5 and 4 range from B to C and 3, 2 and 1 range from D to G. As before, a U means ungraded. The definition of a pass has become more complicated. A grade 4 is considered a standard pass; a grade 5 is a strong pass.

Schools are judged on the percentage of grade 5s achieved and many sixth forms and colleges will ask for a grade 5 or above in the subjects applied for at A level.