CIE Board IGCSE Grades

Discussion and advice on GCSEs

Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators

11 Plus Mocks - Practise the real exam experience - Book Now
Kate3
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2015 4:01 pm

CIE Board IGCSE Grades

Post by Kate3 »

Hi there, I wondered if anyone had any experience of the grading system of CIE, for example, do you need at least 90% to get an A*? Does it vary by year and, I assume subject? My son picked up his IGCSE grades in English and History today and received 3 A's- whilst clearly not an issue - he is very disappointed as he will be studying these subjects at A leval was really hoping for A stars. His marks were in the 80's ( 84,85 and 86) which seems high to me not to be an A* but are A* only awarded for over 90%? He seems to think that he would have achieved A*s with these marks last year. Also he seems to have picked up the idea that these may only be provisional grades and may change as the grade boundaries settle before certificates are awarded - I am not sure about this - it seems a bit much to hope for but he is so disappointed (we had tears this morning) that I thought I should try to find out a little more while he comes to terms with it.

I have looked at the exam website but can't seem to find the answer - can anyone shed any light on this?

Many thanks
Catseye
Posts: 1824
Joined: Wed Oct 29, 2014 6:03 pm
Location: Cheshire

Re: CIE Board IGCSE Grades

Post by Catseye »

are they out already ? my son's school is not registered with the on-line result service , as far as I know , but I am happy to wait until next thursday week :?
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Re: CIE Board IGCSE Grades

Post by Guest55 »

http://www.cie.org.uk/programmes-and-qu ... ld-tables/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

June 2015 not there yet.
KB
Posts: 3030
Joined: Tue Mar 04, 2008 3:28 pm

Re: CIE Board IGCSE Grades

Post by KB »

The issue seems to be that the marks on the results statement are percentage uniform marks not raw scores.
The boundaries for percentage uniform marks are always the same -90 for A*, 80 for A etc

The grade boundaries for raw scores are calculated to even out any blips from difficult or easy papers and then each raw score is allocated a percentage uniform mark depending on where within the raw mark range for a particular grade it falls.
So a PUM of mid 80s means the raw mark is n the middle of the A grade marks.

The certificates will be issued after a delay that allows for students to request a remark etc. It's not really a question of all grades going up.

If your DS scored much lower than expected you could contact the school to see if its been a general problem. It is also possible to get copies of his scripts to see what happened.

My advice would be to try to get him to move on from the disappointment. A grades are a good base to start his A level studies from so there is no reason why he shouldn't do really well.
Catseye
Posts: 1824
Joined: Wed Oct 29, 2014 6:03 pm
Location: Cheshire

Re: CIE Board IGCSE Grades

Post by Catseye »

It may be worth challenging the UMS of 86, he is unlikely to drop below 80 UMS(i.e a grade B) and may pickup the 4 extra UMS required for an A* after a re-mark.

still a long-shot I think but worth it if he is confidence that he did better,I would not get a re-mark on the 84 UMS he may find he ends up with a B grade.

UMS v Raw Scores are explained by Hermanmonster as a sticky at the top of this section.
Kate3
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2015 4:01 pm

Re: CIE Board IGCSE Grades

Post by Kate3 »

Many thanks KB for your very helpful advice. After a good nights sleep he has calmed down and realised that, as you state, A grades are a good foundation for A level study and that it isn't the end of the world, in fact it is actually fine.

Guest 55 - I can assure you that my son and all his schoolfriends have been able to access their CIE results since 11.00am yesterday, although we will have to wait until next week for all the other exam boards. Their results procedure booklet was quite clear that students (whether taking IGCSE or A levels) would be able to do this and his school was staffed accordingly yesterday. His cannot have been the only school in the country to have been able to do this. I do somewhat resent the implication that I would waste time posting on fictitious results!!!!

Catseye - good luck to your dc for next week - to be honest I would have been happy to wait until then too. I don't know if this early access has been a blessing or a curse, I certainly wasn't prepared for yesterday, hence the slightly hysterical post. Getting all 10 results together and seeing the overall picture might have lead to a bit less hysteria and a bit more appreciatation that these (so far anyway) are good results.

Good Luck to everyone else waiting for next week too!
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Re: CIE Board IGCSE Grades

Post by Guest55 »

Sorry I think part of your post is talking to the wrong person.

I posted the link to the grade boundaries, nothing else.
KB
Posts: 3030
Joined: Tue Mar 04, 2008 3:28 pm

Re: CIE Board IGCSE Grades

Post by KB »

I think all that G55 meant was that the grade boundaries for this summer are not yet on the CIE web site. From my reading of it I don't think there was any questioning of the validity of your post.

Hope the GCSE results next week live up to expectations.
Kate3
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2015 4:01 pm

Re: CIE Board IGCSE Grades

Post by Kate3 »

Thank you KB. I apologise, I hadn't clicked on the link and misconstrued the post.
NeverGiveUp
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Feb 25, 2014 2:41 pm

Re: CIE Board IGCSE Grades

Post by NeverGiveUp »

I can also confirm that my DD's school posted yesterday's CIE results online, so all the girls know the outcome of any CIE exams they sat.
Next week, just like others, we will get the results from other examination boards.
I also do not like this partial approach, we would have preferred to have all the results at once - getting some and having to hang on for another 9 days is most certainly not fun
Post Reply
11 Plus Platform - Online Practice Makes Perfect - Try Now