Report: GCSE Grades Run from 9 Down to 1 — Epoche A2
Report: how to read GCSE grades Prepared for: host families and exchange students 1. The question An English student's exam results are numbers: 'History 7, Maths 5'. Visitors often ask whether a 7 is good. This report explains the system. 2. The scale runs backwards from what most people guess GCSEs are the exams taken at 16 in England. They are graded from 9 down to 1 — and 9 is the highest, not the lowest. The numbers replaced the old letters A* to G between 2017 and 2019, and the top of the scale was stretched: a 9 sits above the old A*, and fewer students reach it. A 7 is about an old A — a strong result. 3. The number that matters most is 4 Grade 4 is called a 'standard pass'. A student below 4 in English or maths must keep studying that subject after 16, until they pass. So 'did you pass?' really means 'did you get at least a 4?'. 4. One exam name, three systems The numbers are England's. Wales kept the letters A* to G, and Northern Ireland kept letters too, with one extra grade, C*, in the middle. The same subject can therefore come home as a 7, an A or a B, depending on the nation — each result has to be read against its own scale.