The highest grade is 9, while 1 is the lowest, not including a U (no grade). Three numerical grades - 9, 8 and 7 - correspond to the previous two upper grades of A* and A. The exam watchdog Ofqual says that grades 9 are awarded fewer than A*, and that anyone who scores a 9 has performed exceptionally. Reformed GCSE grades will be awarded on a rating scale from 9 (highest grade) to 1 (lowest).
Grade 9: This is higher than the current A* rating. The new GCSEs have been designed to be more difficult, and the grade means that the highest-performing students will stand out the most. You'll also have a scoring system numbered from A* to G if you're a student at GCSE in Northern Ireland, unless your exams are set by an English examination board. It was part of a comprehensive review of the GCSE system, which was carried out to bring England closer to the line of the highest-performing educational jurisdictions around the world.
Regardless of what students get when they receive their grades, there remains one last obstacle to overcome (although it could be more of a problem for their parents): deciphering GCSE's “new numerical system of results”. While changes are being made to the GCSE curricula in Wales and NI, the old grading system will be maintained. Students who collect their GCSE results on Thursday will be eager to know if they earned the grades they expected. However, the state school my children attend is applying for fifth grade in Math and English to stay on Sixth Form.
The decision to appeal a GCSE score should always be made in conjunction with the school; they will have information on how close the results were to a grade cap. GCSEs in England have undergone radical changes in recent years as part of education reforms that began under coalition government. Last year's GCSE results were initially set to be calculated with the help of the same Ofqual algorithm that caused such anger over A-level grades. For example, the limits in grades 5 and 6 will be set based on the difference in grades between grades 4 and 7; grade 5 will be set at a third of the difference in grades and grade 6 by two-thirds of the difference in grades.
According to a previous survey by the National Education Union, nearly 89 percent of teachers believed that changes in the GCSE evaluation made more students “extremely anxious and stressed.” This year's GCSE results day falls on Thursday, August 12, and students are once again faced with the unusual prospect of earning their scores despite not taking any exams. The number system means that, while a pass used to be a simple C grade, there are now two grades considered “passed” for GCSE students.
