Nota bene: Inside the IESC

Nota bene reports expert decisions, conclusions and announcements from the International Education Standards Council (IESC).

Q: Hi. In reviewing some of the grade scales that [we] use, we notice that you recently changed your grade recommendations for GCSE/IGCSE grades pretty dramatically. Now all grades below a 'C' are failing grades, a major departure from what I have used for the past 18 years. I wonder if you could explain your rationale for this change? If you could please get back to me about this, I would greatly appreciate it. 

A: The answer involves a little history so hang in there! Prior to 1989, there existed two exams for pre-'A' Level students in the UK: the GCE Ordinary ('O') Level exams and the Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE). The former of course led to the GCE 'A' Levels (and on to university) while the latter was for those students not intending (or not qualifying based on grades) to go to university. One could access university off of the CSE provided they made the highest possible grade which was a 1 on a 5 point scale. A mark of '1' on a CSE subject exam equated to a good pass on the GCE 'O' Level exams.

Then in 1988, the Government merged the two exams forming the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). Stephen Fisher, in his excellent and dated book on the UK (which is accessible through EDGE), discusses the 'O' Level and CSE exams on pages 58-59. Once the GCSEs (and their overseas version the IGCSE) were in place, the grading was set on a (then) A-E scale with grades A-C representing the equivalent of a good pass on the old GCE 'O' level exams. The grades of D and E, therefore, do NOT represent the equivalent of an 'O' Level pass. Since the 'O' Level passes were the keys to advancement to Form VI and eventually university, the IESC determined that unsatisfactory passes (grades on GCSE below C) should be considered comparable to a failure on the old GCE 'O' Level scale rather than a D. Part of the problem which resulted most likely in the original comparison scale for the GCSE was that the NCAA GUIDE TO INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC STANDARDS equates the D and E grades to US grades of C and the F and G grades to D's!

The new grading scheme for the GCSEs that has now gone into effect represented a prime opportunity for the IESC to change the prior comparison grade scale and reflect a more accurate appraisal of GCSE grading.

Thank you again for your question to EDGE.

-Nb