Why can’t AQA provide grade boundaries for specimen and practice papers?

We understand the uncertainty you may be feeling about the performance standards for newly reformed qualifications without grade boundaries in place. Grade boundaries are only available once students have taken a live examination. Grade boundaries are never available for specimen or practice papers as these papers have not actually been taken by students and have not been through the necessary marking and awarding process to decide where the grade boundaries lie. This applies to all subjects and all levels.

We collected item level performance data from teachers whose students sat Practice Paper Set 3 in autumn 2016 and we’re returning data which shows where their students sat in the population, but for the following reasons we cannot use this data to set grade boundaries.

• We recommended that these papers be sat under exam conditions, but we recognise that this requires a level of logistics which are challenging to replicate outside of the exam period. Instead many teachers may have split the assessments over existing lesson slots as opposed to offering the full exam time in one sitting.
• Since taking part was elective, we could not ensure that those who took part in the data collection were a representative sample of the national cohort who will enter GCSE Mathematics.
• The papers could have been sat at any point over a few months and so it’s impossible to know how much of the specification content had been covered by each set of students at different schools.
• Although we provided marking guidance and training, this is not a replacement for our standardisation and monitoring process which takes place during the exam period following a live exam and we cannot guarantee that all teachers will have marked to the same standard consistently.
• To award grades following an exam period, experienced senior examiners meet to determine where the grade boundaries should lie. More about how we set grade boundaries can be found on our website and in our Making the grades – a guide to awarding video.

Ofqual have confirmed how grading will work when the new GCSEs are awarded for the first time. The approach in that first year will draw heavily on statistical evidence to make sure that there are clear ‘anchor points’ from the old system to the new. This will ensure students are not disadvantaged, or advantaged, because of the introduction of the new qualifications, and will provide some certainty about what to expect at this time of significant change.