Percentage required to pass?

[Stressed?Moi?]

I was wondering if anyone knows what percentage would be required on each of the four papers to pass? I know it's not an exact science, but an idea would be helpful as I only really know about the old VR system. Thanks.

[cazien]

I wouldn't have thought that question can be answered Being the devils advocate say there were 50 questions on a paper and nobody achieved more than 10 percent does that mean everyone would fail?? I think it will be rated as to how many answered the questions correctly and a 'cut off' point to pass enough pupils. May be wrong but I cannot see how they could do it any other way

[Amber]

Yes any of this type of exam will be 'norm-referenced' in that a notional pass mark will be set, say 120. But how many marks are needed to get that '120' won't be decided until after the exam has been taken and the marking carried out - using the top however many as reference points. Otherwise as cazien says you could end up with a situation where no one passes, or everyone does. These exams are designed to select a certain percentage of children. This is why you can't compare 'pass marks' from one year to the next - one year '120' might be 70% and the next year it might be 54%, depending on the spread of marks from the candidates.

Contrast with things like the driving theory test which is 'criterion referenced' (the other type of exam marking) - i.e. if you don't get a certain number right, you fail.

[Stressed?Moi?]

Thanks very much both; I see where you are coming from. I'd read that scores were lower in CEM than the old VR format, but was just trying to fathom out how much and I wasn't sure if it was a standard 60%+ for English, 70%+ for Maths etc, or whether it was an equal percentage for all four papers, ie, 70%+ for each paper. Cheers again.