Grades in the United Kingdom
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is an article about the kind of grading that is used in most of the United Kingdom.
The whole of the United Kingdom does not use the same grading (marking) scheme.
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[edit] England, Wales and Northern Ireland
England, Wales and Northern Ireland use a unified system for grading secondary school qualifications.
[edit] General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE)
General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is graded on scale of A*-A-B-C-D-E-F-G, with U as Ungraded (Fail).
Although any grade from A*-G is officially a pass, many employers accept only A*-C. The headline official school league table also measures only A*-C grades achieved. There is no consistent correlation between exam percentages and the grade awarded, which will vary depending on the subject, exam board, and year.
[edit] Advanced Level
The General Certificate of Education (GCE) Advanced Level (A level), is graded on a scale of A-E, with U as Ungraded (Fail).
As with the GCSE, there is no consistent correlation between exam percentages and the grade awarded, which will vary depending on the subject, exam board, and year. However grades generally suggest:
A = 80 - 100%
B = 70 - 80%
C = 60 - 70%
D = 50 - 60%
E = 40 - 50%
U = - 40%
[edit] Scotland
Scotland's education system uses the following structure:
[edit] Standard Grade
Credit level
- 1: best possible grade, excellent (around 70% and above)
- 2: above average grade, very good (around 60% and above)
General level
- 3: average grade, satisfactory (around 50% and above)
- 4: below average grade (around 40% and above)
Foundation level
- 5: basic understanding (around 30% and above)
- 6: limited understanding (around 20% and above)
- 7: fail (in exams, usually less than 50%)
- 8: no award (when exam candidates do not attend the exam)
It should now be noted that Scotland is moving on from the old System, and now uses the Higher Still Programme, which is Part of the National Qualifications Package. These are as follows:
[edit] National Qualifications
- A: Best Possible Grade, excellent (around 75% and above)
- B: Above Average Grade, very good (around 65% and above)
- C: Minimum Pass, improvement needed (around 50% and above)
- D: Close Fail, (between 45 and 49%)
- A: Best Possible Grade, excellent (around 75% and above)
- B: Above Average Grade, very good (around 65% and above)
- C: Minimum Pass, improvement needed (around 50% and above)
- D: Close Fail, (between 45 and 49%)
- A: Best Possible Grade, excellent (around 75% and above)
- B: Above Average Grade, very good (around 65% and above)
- C: Minimum Pass, improvement needed (around 50% and above)
- D: Close Fail, (between 45 and 49%)
- A: Best Possible Grade, excellent (around 75% and above)
- B: Above Average Grade, very good (around 65% and above)
- C: Minimum Pass, improvement needed (around 50% and above)
- D: Close Fail, (between 45 and 49%)
For each qualification grades are divided into Band 1 and Band 2, the former indicating a higher mark. These bands are not shown on certificates issued by the SQA and do not need to be stated on CVs.
The Intermediate 1 Grading is equivalent to Standard Grade General Pass, Intermediate 2 Grading is equivalent to Standard Grade Credit, Highers are equivalent to the old Highers whilst Advanced Highers are equivalent to the old CSYS.
Most Secondary Schools have moved to this new system, however there are still some schools that use the old System of Standard Grades.
[edit] National Courses
- A: best possible grade, excellent (around 75% and above)
- B: above average grade, very good (around 65% and above)
- C: below average grade, improvement needed (around 55% and above)
- D: fail (around 50% and above)
Any lower standard of work will simply result in the failing of an exam, which is not graded.
