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A* grade.

Does anyone know if the overall grade boundaries will be lowered? Or will an A* require something like 85-90%.

I know the grade boundaries for A-level English lit:

At least 320/400 for the A level as a whole.
At least 180/200 uniform marks on the A2 units.

How difficult would that be to do? The latter part, mostly :rolleyes:

Reply 1

Guinny

8

The grade boundary won't be lowered (I don't think so anyways). An A* requires A in AS modules and about 90% + on A2 - like the English Lit example you posted.

I think it'll be pretty damn hard... >__<

Reply 2

Egglet

I got over 180/200 in my biology A2... not wanting to brag or anything!

Reply 3

Noble.

17

It's not as simple as that, take this as an example (for maths, simply because I know the specific modules)

Student 1
AS
C1 - 100%
C2 - 100%
S1 - 100%

AS in Maths = A (AVG SCORE: 100%)

A2
C3 - 89%
C4 - 89%
S2 - 100%

A2 Grade - A (AVG SCORE: 93%)

Student 1 wouldn't get an A* for A-Level Maths, because you must achieve 90%+ on C3 and C4 (hardest exams of Maths A-Level)

Student 2
AS
C1 - 80%
C2 - 80%
S1 - 80%

AS in Maths = A (AVG SCORE: 80%)

A2
C3 - 91%
C4 - 91%
S2 - 80%

A2 Grade - A* (AVG SCORE: 87%)

Even though they achieved an average percentage of 87%, they'd still get an A* for getting 90%+ on the two hardest exams, it's pretty much the same for all subjects (the hardest exams that is). So it's still possible to get an A* without actually getting 90%+ in A2.

Reply 4

kiss__this_x

OP

9

Noble.

It's not as simple as that, take this as an example (for maths, simply because I know the specific modules)

Student 1
AS
C1 - 100%
C2 - 100%
S1 - 100%

AS in Maths = A (AVG SCORE: 100%)

A2
C3 - 89%
C4 - 89%
S2 - 100%

A2 Grade - A (AVG SCORE: 93%)

Student 1 wouldn't get an A* for A-Level Maths, because you must achieve 90%+ on C3 and C4 (hardest exams of Maths A-Level)

Student 2
AS
C1 - 80%
C2 - 80%
S1 - 80%

AS in Maths = A (AVG SCORE: 80%)

A2
C3 - 91%
C4 - 91%
S2 - 80%

A2 Grade - A* (AVG SCORE: 87%)

Even though they achieved an average percentage of 87%, they'd still get an A* for getting 90%+ on the two hardest exams, it's pretty much the same for all subjects (the hardest exams that is). So it's still possible to get an A* without actually getting 90%+ in A2.

I think that would apply mainly to Sciences where you can distinguish an ok paper from a very hard paper. With subjective papers like English literature it's harder to say whether the question is difficult or not, it depends on the overall response to it.

Reply 5

overclocked

12

Noble.

It's not as simple as that, take this as an example (for maths, simply because I know the specific modules)

Student 1
AS
C1 - 100%
C2 - 100%
S1 - 100%

AS in Maths = A (AVG SCORE: 100%)

A2
C3 - 89%
C4 - 89%
S2 - 100%

A2 Grade - A (AVG SCORE: 93%)

Student 1 wouldn't get an A* for A-Level Maths, because you must achieve 90%+ on C3 and C4 (hardest exams of Maths A-Level)

Student 2
AS
C1 - 80%
C2 - 80%
S1 - 80%

AS in Maths = A (AVG SCORE: 80%)

A2
C3 - 91%
C4 - 91%
S2 - 80%

A2 Grade - A* (AVG SCORE: 87%)

Even though they achieved an average percentage of 87%, they'd still get an A* for getting 90%+ on the two hardest exams, it's pretty much the same for all subjects (the hardest exams that is). So it's still possible to get an A* without actually getting 90%+ in A2.

I have been told that you need to get 90%+ in all of the A2 units.

So in your example, student 2 would not get the A* because they needed 90%+ in S2.

Reply 6

Mask Of Sanity

14

A*s. Pfft.
Way to make things more difficult. ¬.¬
I think someone has a vendetta against our year.

Reply 7

milliondollarcorpse

16

Noble.

...

I may be wrong, but I was pretty sure you need 90% overall for A2

Reply 8

im so academic

15

milliondollarcorpse

I may be wrong, but I was pretty sure you need 90% overall for A2

No, you need to have 90%+ in each of the A2 modules. The way it works is like this:

AS = 80%+
A2 = 90%+ in each of the modules.

That's how you are eligble for the A*.

Reply 9

rapha

2

im so academic

No, you need to have 90%+ in each of the A2 modules. The way it works is like this:

AS = 80%+
A2 = 90%+ in each of the modules.

That's how you are eligble for the A*.

Where did you hear that?

Reply 10

purple-girl

17

To get the A* you need an A overall with 90%+ UMS overall at A2...not 90% in each A2 module.

The exception is maths, where only C3 and C4 count as the 3rd A2 module could be an AS module (like M1, having done S1 with C1 and C2 at AS), plus the possible added complication of Further Maths, or just random extra modules. For A* in FM I think you just need 90%+ in FP2/3 (whichever is taken), but I'm not sure.

Reply 11

Salinger

1

Noble.

It's not as simple as that, take this as an example (for maths, simply because I know the specific modules)

Student 1
AS
C1 - 100%
C2 - 100%
S1 - 100%

AS in Maths = A (AVG SCORE: 100%)

A2
C3 - 89%
C4 - 89%
S2 - 100%

A2 Grade - A (AVG SCORE: 93%)

Student 1 wouldn't get an A* for A-Level Maths, because you must achieve 90%+ on C3 and C4 (hardest exams of Maths A-Level)

Student 2
AS
C1 - 80%
C2 - 80%
S1 - 80%

AS in Maths = A (AVG SCORE: 80%)

A2
C3 - 91%
C4 - 91%
S2 - 80%

A2 Grade - A* (AVG SCORE: 87%)

Even though they achieved an average percentage of 87%, they'd still get an A* for getting 90%+ on the two hardest exams, it's pretty much the same for all subjects (the hardest exams that is). So it's still possible to get an A* without actually getting 90%+ in A2.

thats wrong i think

for A* you need:

480+/600
AND
270+/300 in A2 MODULES - can be any combination eg. 100, 90, 80 = 270.

so you could get
210 at AS, 270 at A2 and get A*

Reply 12

im so academic

15

basically we'll see in 2010 how the exam boards give out their A*s. If they do give out some that is.

Reply 13

ninety_nine

12

im so academic

No, you need to have 90%+ in each of the A2 modules. The way it works is like this:

AS = 80%+
A2 = 90%+ in each of the modules.

That's how you are eligble for the A*.

That's exactly what I'd heard.

Reply 14

Robbie10538

9

To be awarded an A* in
Mathematics, candidates will need to achieve a grade A on the full
A level qualification and 90% of the maximum uniform mark on
the aggregate of MPC3 and MPC4

from http://www.aqa.org.uk/qual/pdf/AQA-6360-W-SP-10.PDF

I.E if you get
C1 80
C2 70
S1 70
C3 91
C4 89
M1 80

you would get an A* because :
i) The sum of them add to 480; an A grade AND
ii) Average of 90+% in agregate (sum of) of C3 and C4.

Purple_Girl hit it right on the nail btw :wink:

Reply 15

im so academic

15

basically, just get 90%+ in everything and you are set to have your A*. Simple as that.

Reply 16

'bob'

9

I feel sorry for them. Last year of normal A grades, yes!

Reply 17

kiss__this_x

OP

9

im so academic

basically, just get 90%+ in everything and you are set to have your A*. Simple as that.

Where did you here that you need 90% in everything? You don't :rolleyes:

Read my example.

im so academic

basically we'll see in 2010 how the exam boards give out their A*s. If they do give out some that is.

How they give out their A*s? Don't you mean how many A*s they give out?
And the people that are actually doing their A-levels will see, yes :rolleyes:

Reply 18