The Student Room Group

2013 AQA GCSE ISA grade boundaries?

does anybody know what the boundaries are? i was told 39/50 is very likely to be the minimum for an A*. also, that 45+ was 100 ums and 44 was 98

if anybody does know, what ums would 39/50, 44/50 and 46/50 be

Scroll to see replies

Original post by JPL9457
does anybody know what the boundaries are? i was told 39/50 is very likely to be the minimum for an A*. also, that 45+ was 100 ums and 44 was 98

if anybody does know, what ums would 39/50, 44/50 and 46/50 be


The grade boundaries haven't been published yet so people can only make estimates. Our chemistry teacher thought that the A* boundary would be 41/50. Regardless, 44 and 46 will both be A*s, the 46 may or may not be full UMS (although it would surprise me if it were). I wouldn't bet on the 39 being an A*.
Reply 2
Original post by Chlorophile
The grade boundaries haven't been published yet so people can only make estimates. Our chemistry teacher thought that the A* boundary would be 41/50. Regardless, 44 and 46 will both be A*s, the 46 may or may not be full UMS (although it would surprise me if it were). I wouldn't bet on the 39 being an A*.


thanks, but why do you think 39 wouldnt be an A*
Original post by JPL9457
thanks, but why do you think 39 wouldnt be an A*


39 strikes me as very low. Whilst it might be an A*, I personally like to be cautiously pessimistic and I'd agree more with my chemistry teacher's guess of 41.
Reply 4
Original post by Chlorophile
39 strikes me as very low. Whilst it might be an A*, I personally like to be cautiously pessimistic and I'd agree more with my chemistry teacher's guess of 41.


not just my chemistry teacher thinks 39 was an A*, the entire science department at my school reckons that 39 was an A*, i do not know why. do you know why your teacher thinks 41 is an A*
Reply 5
Hey there, my teachers have told me that 40 or above is an A* and >42 = 100 UMS. I know it sounds strange, but I guess that's the way it is (this means getting 42 is the same as 48 or even 50)

And these are last year's grade boundaries so they might change.

Personally I'd want 100 UMS to give me a bit of leeway come the exam in a month. Hope this helps :smile:
Original post by JPL9457
not just my chemistry teacher thinks 39 was an A*, the entire science department at my school reckons that 39 was an A*, i do not know why. do you know why your teacher thinks 41 is an A*


Let's not have a science department war here. Regardless of what the actual grade boundary is, I think it's a bit silly to tell students that it's going to be 39. The absolute lowest the A* boundary will be is 39, so it's either correct or an understatement. This means that a lot of students could in theory be left with an inflated view of their actual position, which could lead to a lot of disappointment come August. It's irrelevant which guess is more likely to be correct, it's tactically more intelligent to take an estimate such as 41 as the grade boundary for caution's sake.
Reply 7
Original post by Chlorophile
Let's not have a science department war here. Regardless of what the actual grade boundary is, I think it's a bit silly to tell students that it's going to be 39. The absolute lowest the A* boundary will be is 39, so it's either correct or an understatement. This means that a lot of students could in theory be left with an inflated view of their actual position, which could lead to a lot of disappointment come August. It's irrelevant which guess is more likely to be correct, it's tactically more intelligent to take an estimate such as 41 as the grade boundary for caution's sake.


how do you know the 'absolute lowest' is 39?
Original post by JPL9457
how do you know the 'absolute lowest' is 39?


I've seen several estimates of the A* boundary and 39 is the lowest. Besides, 39/50 is 78%, which isn't really that great. Most exam boards would change an exam if even A* caliber students were only getting scores in the 70% region. I'd be genuinely extremely surprised if the grade boundary was lower than 39, especially since practically everyone I know got scores in the high 40s and I'm at a comprehensive.

That said, I don't know that the absolute lowest is 39. It's an educated, reasonable guess.
Reply 9
Original post by Chlorophile
I've seen several estimates of the A* boundary and 39 is the lowest. Besides, 39/50 is 78%, which isn't really that great. Most exam boards would change an exam if even A* caliber students were only getting scores in the 70% region. I'd be genuinely extremely surprised if the grade boundary was lower than 39, especially since practically everyone I know got scores in the high 40s and I'm at a comprehensive.

That said, I don't know that the absolute lowest is 39. It's an educated, reasonable guess.


your comprehensive is much better than mine if everyone got high 40s, in my chemistry class, only one person got more than 40 because our teacher cannot teach, we are not stupid by the way, everyone got high 40s in the physics isa

anyways, where are these estimates?
Original post by JPL9457
your comprehensive is much better than mine if everyone got high 40s, in my chemistry class, only one person got more than 40 because our teacher cannot teach, we are not stupid by the way, everyone got high 40s in the physics isa

anyways, where are these estimates?


The reason why people did so well in my class is that they realised that exam technique was more important than knowledge and we did a practice ISA. There is a lot of speculation on the B1/C1/P1 thread.
Reply 11
I think it's because last years grade boundary for an A* was 39 I think
My teacher said the isa grade boundary was 45/50 for an A* and 40/50 for an A.
Reply 13
what would 31/50 be?
Reply 14
I think I got around 41/50. What grade boundary would that approximately be? :smile:
what are the odds that 46 will be 100 UMS?
Reply 16
Original post by Blake-inator
what are the odds that 46 will be 100 UMS?


47 will definitely be 100
46 is highly likely if not then at least 95+
Original post by AndyChow
47 will definitely be 100
46 is highly likely if not then at least 95+

Okay, thanks... kinda regret not getting 47 instead of 46 in Biology and Physics...
Chemsitry is fine at 49 tho :tongue:
My school says they think that 40 and above will be an A* . Fingeres crossed because i only got 40 on the physics
Reply 19
My Teachers told us to base our estimates for what it will be by just multiplying our raw score by 2, I think that's best to be on the incredibly cautious side.

Quick Reply