Commentary - 5 minute read

Dr Frances Wilson, Principal Researcher

The November 2020 Cambridge Nationals results are due to be published at the end of this month (restricted release on 27 January with results day on 28 January) and so I wanted to take the time to explain what we’ve been doing to make sure the results we issue are fair for students. 

To ensure that the grading is aligned to the summer 2020 standards and to make up for disruption to teaching, we will be applying generous grading to the November 2020 (and January 2021) results for those certificating the qualification. 

To do this, we have lowered the qualification level UMS grade boundaries for those students who completed their Cambridge Nationals qualification in the November 2020 series. We have done this at qualification level so that all students will benefit equally from the adjustment when they complete, no matter when they took units. This will also apply to students who certificate in the January 2021 series. 

What is the UMS? 

Modular, unitised qualifications are designed to be taken in chunks, or units, throughout the course. Marks (and unit grades) are accumulated along the way, and when all the required units have been taken, we issue an overall grade. Since exam papers can vary in difficulty from one series to the next, a common scale is used (called the uniform mark scale or UMS) to make sure marks gained on an easier paper do not advantage candidates compared with those who gain marks on a harder paper. There’s more information about the UMS in the Results section. 

What’s changing at qualification level? 

We have lowered the qualification level boundaries for Cambridge National Certificates by 12 UMS marks, and the Cambridge National Awards by 6 UMS marks.

Cambridge National Certificates

Cambridge National Awards

What does this mean for unit results? 

We will continue to award at unit level as normal. To work out the qualification result, we add up the UMS marks achieved in each unit to get the total UMS marks. We then compare the total UMS marks achieved against the qualification UMS boundaries. Following the changes to the qualification level UMS boundaries, students might receive a higher grade at qualification level than their unit grades. 

Example: Cambridge National Certificate in IT 

This student has achieved Distinction at Level 1 (D1) for both units at unit level. With the new qualification grade boundaries, their total UMS marks of 138 means that they achieve a Pass at Level 2 (P2). 

What about students who are not yet certificating? 

We will be able to provide details of how students will be awarded qualifications in summer 2021 when the outcomes of the latest DfE and Ofqual consultation are published.

Key 

• D*2 – Distinction* at Level 2 
• D2 – Distinction at Level 2 
• M2 – Merit at Level 2 
• P2 – Pass at Level 2 
• D1 – Distinction at Level 1 
• M1 – Merit at Level 1 
• P1 – Pass at Level 1 
• U – Ungraded

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About the author

Dr Frances Wilson, Principal Researcher

Dr Frances Wilson is the Principal Researcher for OCR’s Research and Technical Standards team, part of the Assessment Standards Team at OCR. Frances and her team carry out valuable research and technical studies to underpin the development and delivery of OCR’s qualifications. OCR is part of Cambridge Assessment which is a department of the University of Cambridge.