[JackJack]

I've always been told by teachers that it is 80% (or roundabout) for an A grade yet I've just seen as ICT paper and the mark for an A was 77/120, which is not even 70%. Likewise, a history paper was 68/100 and I was looking at raw mark.

Is this true or something?

[Luke Williams]

80% is just a guideline...progression from GCSE. If you strive to get 80% + throughout the year, then in exams if grade boundaries are lower, then if you achieve that 80% then your UMS will be larger, maybe 90UMS.

[Architecture-er]

No. 80% is the threshold for an A grade. However some exam boards will take the results of the entire country and apply a modification grade to them, to bring them in line with 'the normal distribution of results'. This is to counter the issues of some year's papers being easier than others, or harder. So somebody may get 70%, but because that exam was really hard and hardly anyone got the grades that the country normally gets, everyone may get 4/5 marks more.

I got 100% in my geography AS along with maybe 6 in my class, which should be almost impossible on an essay exam, but it was because our grades got bumped because the nation, as a whole, found it harder than other years.

[Data]

(Original post by Architecture-er)
However some exam boards will take the results of the entire country and apply a modification grade to them, to bring them in line with 'the normal distribution of results'.

All boards do this all the time. This is why there is a raw to UMS conversion.
Edit. All UK domestic GCSE and GCE exam boards do.

[Architecture-er]

(Original post by Data)
All boards do this all the time. This is why there is a raw to UMS conversion.

The Indian Exam Board CISCE doesn't