Edexcel GCSE Foundation Grade Boundaries (Updated 2014)

Here are the historic grade boundaries for the past few years for the GCSE Maths Edexcel Foundation course.

The y-axis is out of 200 which is the maximum score you can have over the two papers.

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Grade C

A tiny drop on last year but still significantly above the average.  I think it is becoming more and more accepted that students who are capable of a C should be entered for the Higher paper.  Trying to achieve 70%+ on the Foundation paper gives you very little wriggle room in you make an error or two or come across a topic you haven't studied.

Grade D

 Just like the grade boundaries on the Higher tier, this grade boundary is still creeping upwards and is way above its average.  I don't know about you but I haven't noticed that the papers have been getting easier...

Grade E

And the pattern continues...another step upwards...

Grade F

Another jump...but wait until you see Grade G....

Grade G

Staggering...a jump of over 10%.  How does this grade boundary jump by so much?

I have to admit that I am starting to lose faith in Edexcel and their ability to maintain standards.

What do you think?

Updated Edexcel Maths Higher Grade Boundaries (June 2014)

So, the waiting is finally over and we now have the June 2014 results.

In a previous blog I looked at the historic grade boundaries for Edexcel's Maths GCSE.  Today, I have updated them.  Each y-axis has a range of 20 marks (10% of the total grade).  The y-axis goes 10 marks below the 4 year mean and 10 marks above the 4 year mean.

Take a look...

Grade A*

One of the few boundaries at Higher to remain consistent which is nice to see.

Grade A

Certainly an upward trend here......

Grade B

More upward mobility here....


Grade C

Again, another jump....

Grade D

Not much change but still slightly upwards...

Grade E

A slight step upwards....

So, what does this tell us?

Well, Grades A, B, C and D had a boundary above their 4 year average and the A* was higher than last year as was Grade E.

My own personal opinion is that the paper was a little harder than previous years so it seems to be getting harder to get one of the top grades.

Although, this is the first year where the results don't contain a large number of Year 10 students.  Logically, the Year 10 students would have scored lower marks than their Year 11 counterparts thus pulling the grade boundaries down if a similar percentage of students are to get a C+ each year.

(E.g. if 100 students took the exam and 30 of them are Year 10 students you would expect them to score lower marks than similar students to them in Year 11.  If 60% of students are to get a C+ then having Yr 10 students in the mix helps you get in the top 60%.  When the 30 Year 10 students are no longer entered you need to get in the top 60% of 70 Year 11 students rather than the top 60% of 100 Yr 10 and 11 students. )

I'd be fascinated to hear your views on this and see how your schools did.

I wonder what next year's boundaries will bring...

GCSE Foundation (Edexcel) Historic Grade Boundaries for Maths.

Recently, I posted a blog on how the Edexcel Grade Boundaries (Maths GCSE)  for the last 3 years have changed.   It can be found here....

GCSE Higher (Edexcel) Historic Grade boundaries.

This time I have taken a look at how the Foundation grade boundaries have changed in the past 3 years.  The y-axis (the vertical axis) is out of 200 which is the maximum mark attainable across the 2 papers.

Essentially, there is a very clear pattern.  Grade boundaries have been on an upward path for the past 3 years and last year's jump was phenomenal.  It is becoming very difficult for anyone to forecast what students will get this year.

Anyway, take a look and let me know what you think.

Grade C

As many of us will know, there was a massive jump in the C grade boundary last year....

Grade D.

Hmmmm...there seems to be a pattern developing here already.


Grade E.

So, the third grade in a row suffers a huge jump in grade boundary and is far above the 3 year average.

Grade F

The pattern continues...

Grade G

Any surprises!


So, the grade boundaries have been getting higher and jumped massively in 2013.  This does make it particularly difficult for anyone (students, teachers or parents) to know where they are going to be set this year.  Logically, they can't go too much higher as there is a ceiling!

I keep coming back to the conclusion that the government will not want GCSE attainment to drop in the run up to an election and Gove wouldn't have been moved if Cameron was delighted with what was going on.

Add in to this that I thought the 2014 papers were more challenging than in previous years and the grade boundaries have to come down.....don't they?

Can the grade boundaries go much higher this year?  We will find out in a couple of weeks time...

The charts will be updated as quickly as possible.

GCSE Maths - Edexcel Higher Grade Boundaries Review.

As always, at this time of year, teachers, 16 year old students and their parents wait to see what their GCSE results will be.

In the past experienced teachers would be able to make pretty good estimates of what grade each student would get.  However, as politicians have become more focused on driving up standards (not necessarily a bad thing) it has become more difficult to predict what grade a student will get.

Grade boundaries are on the move.

I have had a look at the last 3 years worth of grade boundaries for Edexcel GCSE Maths (Higher) and there seems to be an interesting picture. 

For each picture below the vertical axis (y-axis) is out of 200 which is the maximum possible mark a student can get across the 2 papers.

Let's see how the grade boundaries have changed over the last 3 years.  The red bar is the mean of the three year's scores.

Grade A*

So, students wishing to get an A* have seen the boundary creep up in past 2 years, with the boundary for 2013 a clear jump above the average needed.

Grade A

As with the grade boundary for A*, the Grade A boundary has also risen in each of the last 2 years with a clear gap between last year's boundary and the overall average.

Grade B

There seems to be a pattern developing here....

As with the boundaries for A* and A, the marks needed to get a B have also steadily increased....

Grade C

And again, the bar is being raised.  Only be a couple of marks this time but it is still creeping up...

Grade D

Interestingly, the picture changes once you hit the boundary for Grade D.  This has remained very constant over the past 3 years.

Grade E

And to finish off the boundary for a Grade E has been going down!

So what does this all mean?

In all honesty, I'm not sure.

There are a few theories that could be applied here.

1.  If exam papers were getting easier, and I don't think they are, then the grade boundaries should rise to ensure consistency in performance from year to year.  E.g. if you got a B in 2011 you had to score more marks to get a B in 2012 as the paper was easier.  That seems fair to me.

However, if the papers are getting easier, why are the grade boundaries for D and E going downwards?  This would mean that someone who got an E in 2011, would be getting a D in 2012.  That isn't fair!

2.  Maybe, the difficulty of exam papers is remaining at a similar level year on year.  If this is the case then standards are rising for the grades of A* - C e.g. it is harder to get these grades.  Again, this doesn't explain why the boundaries for grades D and E are going down.

3.  Maybe the answer to this is a politicians answer in that the papers are getting harder and easier at the same time.  Let me try and explain.  Maybe the questions aimed at examining grades A*-C have become more demanding.  This would raise standards.  At the same time, Edexcel do not want to have large numbers of students failing their course so have built in a safety net?  Maybe the politicians just want to raise the standards of students studying for a C or above and are not so concerned with weaker students.....

So, what does this tell us about this year's grade boundaries?

Nothing for certain.  I thought the papers were harder than in previous years which, if standards are to remain the same, should result in slightly lower grade boundaries.  The Higher boundaries are fairly consistent and do follow some type of pattern.  The Foundation boundaries, which will be my next post, are far more variable.

I hope this year's boundaries are set with a bit of thought.

How the reduction in entries, from schools not entering Yr 10 students for early entry, will effect the grade boundaries will be fascinating. 

Although, am I alone in thinking it shouldn't make any difference at all?

If I am a Year 11 student desperate for a grade B, and I think I might have just scraped it, how does whether the Year 10's in my school have been entered for the exam affect my maths ability and my attainment level?

Interesting days ahead.

I will be updating my bar charts after Result's Day!

GCSE grade boundaries to be lowered?

So, further to my post a couple of days ago it seems that changes to the grade boundaries are afoot.

GCSE Grade boundaries to be lowered?

The Times is reporting the lowering of grade boundaries to avoid the "Gove effect".  Essentially, Gove appears to have insisted upon harder exams this year to reduce the number of students getting each grade to ensure the best students are highlighted.

Whilst an admirable philosophy - students should certainly have to earn the top grades - this was always going to put him at odds with secondary teachers and schools who are rigorously judged by the amount of progress students make.

It wouldn't do, especially with an election on the horizon, for schools to see their results drop and the inquiring face of Ofsted to appear to annoy everyone...Did Gove really want to be the first Secretary of State for Education to see results go down?

So, just maybe, Gove is going to have the absolute opposite effect of what he intended as grade boundaries are lowered to ensure standards don't drop....

The writers of "Yes Minister" would be proud...