Can someone please help me work out my GCSE results?

Hi everyone!

I hope you're all happy with you results! I'm having trouble working out what mark I got for my science GCSEs....so I was wondering if anyone else was in the same boat or knows how to help me.

The GCSE results I picked up this morning were Physics, Chemistry and Biology (I took all my other ones in Year 10). My results letter says I got the following grades:

Biology: A
Chemistry: A
Physics: B

However, on the 'Mark' column, when I calculate the mark I got out of 60 it seems to me that I've actually got higher than these grades. This seems difficult to explain but I will try to put it in the most simple way possible... For instance:

For PH1HP Physics Unit 1 Tier H, in the 'Mark' column I have 79 (which I'm assuming is a percentage as the maximum scaled mark for the science units are 60 so it can't be 79/60 and must mean 79%?) so I did the calculation 79 divided by 100 x 60 = 47.4 (so 47/60). I did this for the second and third units and if I'm doing this correctly I have 47/60 again for Unit 2 and then 53/60 for Unit 3. In my Physics Unit 4 controlled assessment I got 37/50. Altogether this makes 319 marks. How can this be a B grade overall if the grade boundaries for A* Physics are about 43/45 out of 60? Am I working out incorrectly?

I keep thinking that I must be doing something seriously wrong with my calculations because this just doesn't make sense to me and exam boards are never wrong! (Are there any maths wizards out there that can please help me with this?) I don't know why the exam boards can't just tell you in more simpler terms on the results letter, this is so annoying!

((Please note: I am not saying I think I have higher than the grades I've been given. I know exam boards are never wrong, I'm just unsure of how to work them out properly and am in desperate need of help!))

Thanks to whoever helps
Maddie x

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Reply 1

thomasthomas

http://www.aqa.org.uk/exams-administration/about-results/uniform-mark-scale/convert-marks-to-ums

Reply 2

username1046019

The mark that you're seeing is most likely the UMS. If it's out of 100 then 80 is normally an A, by the looks of it you were just off an A grade in the first and second units. Just to be clear, UMS does not equal the percentage of raw marks that you obtained.

You can use a UMS converter to figure out your raw marks.

Reply 3

JSLockwood

Hello there,

What exam board did you take Physics with? I'll then be able to explain further...

:smile:

Reply 4

JSLockwood

Claros is correct.

The mark you get in an exam is a RAW MARK. This is then converted to a UMS mark. This is done by complex calculation that takes into account the difficulty of the exam (based on student performance). Example:

60 mark paper (RAW) = 100 UMS

A mark of 48 in 2013 may not necessarily convert to the same UMS as a mark of 48 in 2014.

I will work it all out for ya and let you know how close to the next grade you are, because you may wish to reconsider a remark. :smile:

Reply 5

idektbh

Thank you so much! I really appreciate it! Honestly I had no idea about UMS (no teachers have ever explained this to me but I have just googled it and it seems to be making some sense!)

Can someone please help me work out my GCSE results?

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