The Student Room Group

Grade boundaries

Does each country have its own grade boundaries?

For example, grade boundaries for jan 2009 Bio. 52 for 1 test, 52 for the other for an A in both.

That must mean people didn't do that well, or it was a hard test.

But people around the world took that test. So was that grade boundary only for 1 city or even country?

Surely if people in my city or country do very poorly, the grade boundaries would be much lower than in those countries or cities where people did very well?

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Reply 1
Surely it's the same world-wide or it wouldn't be fair?
Reply 2
i have no idea.
are you sure the tests are EXACTLEY the same though?
If not then i imagine that other countries have their own sets of grade boundaries depending on how their schools coped - it would be hard to take into account everbody who did the paper and how hard they found it.
lifes not fair either i suppose...
Reply 3
LetoKynes
Surely it's the same world-wide or it wouldn't be fair?


I can't seem to see where you're coming from.

Lets say people in Great Britain performed well and an A was 60 out of 80.

And let's also say people in New Delhi, for example, performed poorly and an A was 50 out of 80. Obviously the New Delhi people would benefit if their actual grade boundary was the grade boundary, not the too high Great Britian one.
Reply 4
HopingDragron
I can't seem to see where you're coming from.

Lets say people in Great Britain performed well and an A was 60 out of 80.

And let's also say people in New Delhi, for example, performed poorly and an A was 50 out of 80. Obviously the New Delhi people would benefit if their actual grade boundary was the grade boundary, not the too high Great Britian one.


Well I don't see why they would award the same grade for lower marks :s-smilie: but then again I could be wrong..
Reply 5
For one paper the grade bounadries are set and apply to anyone who took that paper.
Reply 6
TheEd
For one paper the grade bounadries are set and apply to anyone who took that paper.


So basically, how well we do depends on how well the British do? Edexcel being a British organization.
Reply 7
HopingDragron
So basically, how well we do depends on how well the British do? Edexcel being a British organization.


Yes and no. It depends on how well everybody does, but seeing as it is a British exam board, most people taking the exams would be in this country anyway.
Reply 8
HopingDragron
So basically, how well we do depends on how well the British do? Edexcel being a British organization.


If you take exactly the same unit on the same exam board then grade boundaries are determined in part by how candidates have found the paper. So, in principal, if this is the case, the British can influence your UMS but so can other countries taking the paper.
Reply 9
But the grade boundaries are fixed, aren't they?

I'm guessing it depends more on how hard the papers are than how well the British do?

Edit: My bad, Mr. Google has effectively proven me wrong :p:
Reply 10
LetoKynes
But the grade boundaries are fixed, aren't they?

I'm guessing it depends more on how hard the papers are than how well the British do?

Edit: My bad, Mr. Google has effectively proven me wrong :p:


The UMS boundaries are fixed but the raw boundaries fluctuate depending on the diffuculty of the paper. BUT, exam boards tend to judge the difficulty of the paper by the mark spread of candidates taking the paper.
HopingDragron
I can't seem to see where you're coming from.

Lets say people in Great Britain performed well and an A was 60 out of 80.

And let's also say people in New Delhi, for example, performed poorly and an A was 50 out of 80. Obviously the New Delhi people would benefit if their actual grade boundary was the grade boundary, not the too high Great Britian one.

lol... It will be the same world-wide. If people in New Delhi perform poorly thats their problem, i dont think you understand UMS... :rolleyes:
LetoKynes
Well I don't see why they would award the same grade for lower marks :s-smilie: but then again I could be wrong..


You're correct. :yep:
Reply 13
The raw mark is by the paper and the exam board decide it's UMS marks based on the spread of marks..

Other qualifications have different grade boundaires. IB and A levels for examples, or vocational diploma's. it's up to the universities as far as I'm aware to make it as fair as possible as it's harder to get an A in A Level ICT rather than Applied A Level ICT.
Reply 14
LearningMath
lol... It will be the same world-wide. If people in New Delhi perform poorly thats their problem, i dont think you understand UMS... :rolleyes:


Who said anything about UMS? Genius.

Yeah, 80 percent UMS is always an A. But why would people who did badly have to get a high raw mark to get that 80?
HopingDragron
Who said anything about UMS? Genius.

Yeah, 80 percent UMS is always an A. But why would people who did badly have to get a high raw mark to get that 80?


Because they did badly? Isn't that how tests work :confused:
Reply 16
AS and A2 levels have this thing where an A isn't 90, but 80, and if that test is out of 80, 80 percent is 70.

But sometimes an A can be 52 out of 80. So obviously there's some tampering and adjusting going on.
Are you talking about UMS or raw marks?

If UMS, then no, the boudary for an A is ALWAYS 80%.
If you're talking about raw marks, then yes it can vary. I wouldn't call it tampering though. It's taking into account how well everybody did sitting the paper, whther in England, India, Australia, etc.

If they didn't do this, you might have some years where no one comes out with higher than a C, because the paper was difficult.
HopingDragron
Does each country have its own grade boundaries?

For example, grade boundaries for jan 2009 Bio. 52 for 1 test, 52 for the other for an A in both.

That must mean people didn't do that well, or it was a hard test.

But people around the world took that test. So was that grade boundary only for 1 city or even country?

Surely if people in my city or country do very poorly, the grade boundaries would be much lower than in those countries or cities where people did very well?


what were the tests out of?
HopingDragron
Who said anything about UMS? Genius.

Yeah, 80 percent UMS is always an A. But why would people who did badly have to get a high raw mark to get that 80?


Oh dear god :rolleyes: It has everything to do with UMS. Naturally the difficulty of papers fluctuates between years, conversion to UMS is used to try and ensure different year groups have ~even spread of marks.

If people did badly thats their concern, conversion to UMS isnt in place to subsidise poor performance.

You need educating: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=UMS+marks