From raw to uniform marks: a worked
example.
The reason it is necessary to have both raw marks and uniform marks
becomes clear if we think through what happens if two candidates follow a
unit of study in different years, and then go on to sit the examination for that
unit of study, also in different years.
Let us call the candidates John and Sarah. John and Sarah both studied
Government and Politics at AS level.
John studies Unit 1 in 2010/11 and sits the examination for that unit in
summer 2011.
Sarah studies Unit 1 in 2011/12, the year after John. She sits the examination
in summer 2012, the year after John.
Unit 1 is marked out of 50 raw marks
When John sits the examination in summer 2011 he scores 42 raw marks out
of the possible 50. His answer was just good enough to be considered an “a”
grade answer.*
When Sarah sits the examination in summer 2012, she scores 40 raw marks
out of the possible 50. Her answer was, similarly, just good enough to be
considered an “a” grade answer.
In this situation, John and Sarah have both produced answers that are of the
same standard – just good enough to be considered an “a” grade answer. But
Sarah has been awarded a lower raw mark than John. This is normal. The
raw mark that represents just good enough to be considered an “a” grade
answer may differ from series to series for any given unit in any given
subject.** This is because the level of difficulty in the examination questions
for a unit of study can differ slightly from year to year. In the example above,
Sarah’s examination was slightly more challenging than John’s so it was not as
easy for her to score raw marks.
Even though this situation is normal, it raises the following difficulty: John
and Sarah are taking a modular AS Government and Politics qualification.
This means that they must get as many marks as they can for each unit so that
their final total mark is as high as possible. But as things stand, Sarah has
fewer marks for Unit 1 than John to add to the marks she got in her other
Units, even though her answer in Unit 1 represents the same level of
achievement as John’s. This is clearly not fair. The Uniform Mark Scale exists
to address this situation.
In the Uniform Mark Scale, the uniform mark that represents the standard
just good enough to be considered an “a” grade answer will always be same.
In our example, John and Sarah will have received the same uniform mark
even though their raw marks were different. This is shown in Table 1 below.
In Table 1 above, the raw and uniform marks that represent the standard just
good enough to be considered an “a” grade answer are called the “a” grade
boundary marks.
The table shows that the maximum uniform mark for AS 1 Government and
Politics is 80. The “a” grade uniform mark boundary for AS 1 Government
and Politics will always be 80% of this maximum uniform mark, that is, 64.
Applying this to our example, we see that both John and Sarah get 64 uniform
marks to add to the uniform marks they got in their other unit, even though
they got different raw marks. This is fair, because, for AS 1, John and Sarah
produced answers representing the same level of achievement.
Qualification Level Uniform Mark Boundaries
The aim of each candidate is to achieve as many uniform marks as s/he can for
each unit of study. The marks for each unit are then added together to give a
total uniform mark. This total uniform mark is then mapped onto the
qualification level uniform mark scale to determine each candidate’s final,
overall grade. The most common uniform mark scale used in CCEA’s revised
AS levels is based on a maximum uniform mark of 200 and is shown below:
Maximum Uniform
Mark
Grade A boundary
Grade B boundary
Grade C boundary
Grade D boundary
Grade E boundary
200
160
140
120
100
80
Whatever maximum uniform mark is used for a subject, the uniform mark
grade boundaries will always be:
A
B
C
D
E
80% of the maximum uniform mark
70% of the maximum uniform mark
60% of the maximum uniform mark
50% of the maximum uniform mark
40% of the maximum uniform mark
NOTE
What is given above is intended to illustrate in broad terms the reason for
using uniform marks, and to indicate how they are used in determining
qualification level grades. It does not cover all the technical aspects associated
with their use.
* By convention, unit level “grades” are given in lower case. Qualification
level AS and A level grades are given in upper case.
** This does not usually apply to internally assessed (coursework) units. In
internally assessed units the number of raw marks that represents just good
enough to be considered an “a” grade answer is normally fixed from one
examination series to the next.