Subject advisors Amy Brewer, Bethan Foulkes, Sarah Millington, Vinay Thawait, Liz Bull, Sarah Ash and Nicola Heath

We are releasing results for Cambridge Advanced Nationals (AAQs) for the first time this summer, and we know that grading for new qualifications can seem confusing as it can be different to the qualifications it is replacing.

In this blog, the subject advisors who support Cambridge Advanced National qualifications answer some common queries and provide advice about the grading process for the Cambridge Advanced Nationals. They explain how grading works and how to guide students on results day.

How are Cambridge Advanced Nationals marked and graded?

The Cambridge Advanced Nationals are designed to reward students’ strengths in different areas of a qualification through both examined assessment (EA) and non-examined assessment (NEA), and our Every Mark Matters approach provides students with the best opportunity to do so. Having a combination of EA and NEA allows students’ strengths in either type of assessment to really shine through, allowing them to apply their knowledge, skills and understanding in new ways. They work towards a grade that reflects their wide range of skills and rewards them for their demonstrated abilities.

The Cambridge Advanced Nationals use a compensatory model of assessment which means that every mark a student achieves goes towards their final grade. This prevents a single minor failure from causing an entire unit failure and provides motivation. The compensatory model replaces the ‘hurdle’ approach from our Cambridge Technical qualifications, where students have to achieve at least a pass in every unit to be able to achieve an overall qualification.

The near-pass grades for EA units were introduced in Cambridge Technicals and other applied general qualifications to act as a safety net for students who narrowly missed a pass mark on an external exam. It meant that they could still pass the overall qualification, provided their other coursework and unit grades were strong enough.

How does the grading process work?

Students are taught the subject content and work through the NEA assignments and sit the exams. Each unit will be awarded a raw mark.

Teachers often ask, “Does one lower grade mean my students can’t get an overall merit or distinction?” And the answer is no, not necessarily. Whether the student achieves a pass, merit or distinction at the end of the qualification depends on the total raw marks across all units.

Stronger performance in one unit can compensate for a lower performance in another, with the overall grade reflecting a student’s total achievement rather than identical performance in every unit. The more raw marks a student receives, the higher the overall grade they achieve.

How are marks towards the final grade calculated?

When a student completes an exam or an assignment, they earn a raw mark based on their marks in the exams or assessment criteria marks achieved in the NEA. When we work out students’ overall grades, we need to be able to compare performance on the same unit in different assessments over time and between different units. We use a Uniform Mark Scale (UMS) to do this. The raw mark is converted into a uniform mark for each unit.

Grade boundaries on EA units are never decided before the papers are marked. To learn more about how grade boundaries are decided, check out our web page.

The calculation for the raw marks to the UMS, at unit and qualification level, will not change each year, but the raw mark grade boundaries will. This is to ensure that standards are maintained across different year groups, taking into account any slight differences in the difficulty of exam papers in different years. Marks between grade boundaries are converted on a pro rata basis – there is no capping in the Cambridge Advanced Nationals.

The student’s uniform marks for each unit will be aggregated to give a total uniform mark for the qualification. The student’s overall grade will be determined by the total uniform mark.

What if my student gets a U on their exam paper? Have they failed?

The Cambridge Advanced Nationals grades are pass, merit, distinction and distinction*(star). There is no need for a near-pass grade for the EA units because every mark matters – passing/grading on the EA is not necessary to pass the qualification overall. However, this may mean that an increased number of students might be receiving a U (unclassified) grade for their EA units, either in the January or June series, for the first time.

A traditional focus on whether an EA unit result is a pass, merit or distinction can cause concern when a U grade is received. While these grades can indicate how a student is progressing, receiving a U in a unit does not necessarily mean the qualification has been failed.

A U grade indicates that the performance in that particular unit did not meet the requirements for a pass. It may not have been a student’s strongest area within the subject or they find demonstrating their understanding under exam conditions challenging. However, all of the marks achieved are still converted into uniform marks (UMS) and contribute towards the overall UMS to achieve a qualification grade.

It is important to remember, and communicate, that students may perform differently across units. A student who finds one unit challenging may achieve much stronger results in other units and still achieve an overall qualification grade. While a U grade on an exam may be disappointing, the Cambridge Advanced Nationals offer great accessibility and flexibility, and the final grade for the Extended Certificate is bolstered by the heavier weighting on NEA units (contributing 60% of the final grade).

What is available to support student outcomes?

Students still have the opportunity to:

• resit examined units, or
• resubmit non-examined assessments

They always keep the highest mark achieved, without any capping.

Teachers can discuss these options with students to determine whether improving a particular unit grade is in their best interests, or whether it is better to focus on future units before making that decision.

To help teachers work out the raw to uniform marks we publish a raw to UMS converter after each series to help teachers and students see how they are progressing through the course.

Here is an example for a Cambridge Advanced National Health and Social Care student (based on January/February 2026 raw to UMS calculations):

Total UMS = 207 (Merit)

This student was awarded a U grade for their first exam, but 23 uniform marks were achieved. A good performance in their next exam, and across the mandatory and optional NEA units lead to a successful merit grade overall.

A student may not need to resit or resubmit every unit to achieve a higher overall mark. Teachers should work with their students to review their unit raw marks, and see where and how they could improve and maximise their outcomes. Taking time away from the next unit being worked on to re-attempt another may not give the best outcome overall, and re-sitting units without adequate preparation can be counterproductive.

How can I talk to students about marks and grading?

Remind students to:

• Aim for the highest grade in every unit – no mark is wasted
• Not panic after one disappointing result – it’s the total UMS that matters
• Consider how every unit contributes to the overall grade and which can be maximised
• Keep track of progress throughout the course
• Speak to teachers if they are unsure about current performance.

We hope you have found this blog useful and that it reassures you and your students about the grading and compensatory model for the Cambridge Advanced Nationals.

Stay connected

If you would like to learn more about how the grading works for individual subjects, or have any questions about the qualification, you can contact your subject advisor at support@ocr.org.uk. You can also check out our FAQ page.

You can also sign up to subject emails to keep up-to-date with the latest news, information and resources.

If you are considering teaching any of our qualifications, use our online form to let us know, so that we can help you with more information.

About the authors

Amy Brewer, Bethan Foulkes, Sarah Millington, Liz Bull, Sarah Ash, Nicola Heath and Vinay Thawait are subject advisors responsible for supporting the Cambridge Advanced Nationals.

Amy and Bethan are in the science subject advisor team and are responsible for our Cambridge Advanced Nationals in Applied Science and Human Biology. Sarah Ash and Sarah Millington support the Cambridge Advanced Nationals in Health and Social Care. Liz Bull is responsible for the Cambridge Advanced National in Engineering. Vinay is in the IT and computing team and is supporting the Cambridge Advanced Nationals in IT: Data Analytics and Computing: Application Development.

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