Cambridge Primary and Lower Secondary Progression Tests and Checkpoint Reporting FAQs - Updated February 2024

Oct 23, 2026

Uploaded by Noah

This FAQ explains reporting changes to Cambridge Primary and Lower Secondary Progression Tests and Cambridge Primary and Lower Secondary Checkpoint since 2022, focusing on new performance bands and a new 0 to 50 reporting scale. It defines the bands from Unclassified to Outstanding, clarifies where reporting uses raw (unscaled) marks versus Rasch-standardised scores, and describes what appears in Cambridge Checkpoint result reports (subject/strand/sub-strand/question plus centre and learner information).

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages6

Reading Time15 min

AccessFree to download

What has changed since 2022?

New performance bands and 0 to 50 reporting scale

Which curriculum codes are affected?

Cambridge Primary and Cambridge Lower Secondary

Does this apply to Global Perspectives Checkpoint?

What information is included in Cambridge Checkpoint reports?

Score levels and statement of achievement

Raw (unscaled) marks vs standardised scores

How Rasch converts raw marks to 0 to 50 scores

Why introduce new performance bands?

Consistency across Progression Tests and Checkpoint

When did the changes come into effect?

How do Checkpoint scores map to performance bands?

Score ranges to Unclassified through Outstanding

Is the 0 to 50 score related to a percentage?

FAQs: Changes to Cambridge Primary and Lower Secondary Progression Tests and Cambridge Primary and Lower Secondary Checkpoint reporting – Updated February 2024 What has changed with the reporting of Cambridge Primary and Lower Secondary Progression Tests and Cambridge Primary and Lower Secondary Checkpoint since 2022? In January 2023, we introduced new performance bands for both Progression Tests and Cambridge Checkpoint. The new performance bands are as follows, with the lowest achievable performance band learners can attain being ‘Basic’ and the highest ‘Outstanding’. | Performance band | | --- | | Unclassified | | Basic | | Aspiring | | Good | | High | | Outstanding | From the May 2023 Cambridge Checkpoint series, in addition to the new performance bands, all primary and lower secondary reports show a score on a 0 to 50 scale (rather than a score on the legacy 0.0 to 6.0 scale) . These changes apply to the curriculum codes shown below. | Programme | Subject | 2023 syllabus code | | --- | --- | --- | | Cambridge Primary | Mathematics | 0096 | | | Science | 0097 | | | English | 0058 | | | English as a Second Language | 0057 | | Cambridge Lower Secondary | Mathematics | 0862 | | | Science | 0893 | | | English | 0861 | | | English as a Second Language | 0876 | Do these changes apply to Cambridge Primary Checkpoint and Lower Secondary Checkpoint Global Perspectives ™? The performance bands and reporting scale changes do not apply to Cambridge Primary Global Perspectives Checkpoint (0838) or Cambridge Lower Secondary Global Perspectives Checkpoint (1129) . What is in the Cambridge Checkpoint reports? Cambridge Checkpoint reports provide information at the following levels: • subject, strand, sub-strand and question • centre, teaching group and learner. In the Cambridge Checkpoint result reports, we report scores using the 0 to 50 scale. The results at substrand and question level are reported as raw (unscaled) marks. We also report the new performance bands, at subject level, and these are shown on each learner’s Statement of Achievement. In the Cambridge Checkpoint results report section ‘Cambridge Checkpoint scores over time’, there are bar charts showing average Cambridge Checkpoint scores for your school by subject. The bar charts do not show results from Cambridge Checkpoint series prior to May 2023 because the May 2023 Cambridge Checkpoint series was the first time we assessed the new curriculum and the first time that we used the new Cambridge Checkpoint scale (0 to 50) . Raw (unscaled) marks and standardised scores Teacher and learners should be aware of the difference between raw (unscaled) marks and the standardised scores given in the Cambridge Checkpoint reports. Raw marks are the marks achieved by the learner in the tests without any form of adjustments, e.g.: • 27 marks out of a maximum of 40 marks on Cambridge Primary Checkpoint Science paper 1 • 15 marks out of a maximum of 40 marks on Cambridge Primary Checkpoint Science paper 2. This learner has achieved a total subject raw mark of 42 marks out of a total of 80 marks. The Cambridge Checkpoint results reports show the raw marks achieved at test, strand, sub-strand and question level. To determine a Cambridge Checkpoint score at subject level and strand level, we convert the raw marks achieved by the learner into standardised scores on the 0 to 50 scale using Rasch analysis. In this Cambridge Primary Checkpoint Science example, 42 raw marks are converted into a Cambridge Checkpoint score of around 33. The exact value depends on the difficulty of the test. The raw marks achieved in each strand are also converted into standardised Cambridge Checkpoint scores using Rasch analysis, e.g. Thinking and Working Scientifically 20; Biology 34; Chemistry 38; Physics 36; Earth and Space 30. The Cambridge Checkpoint subject score for a learner is not a simple average of their Checkpoint strand scores. Why do we have new perform

FAQs

What performance bands are used for Cambridge Primary and Lower Secondary Progression Tests and Checkpoint since January 2023?

New performance bands were introduced for both Progression Tests and Cambridge Checkpoint: Unclassified, Basic, Aspiring, Good, High, and Outstanding.

Do the reporting scale and performance band changes apply to Global Perspectives Checkpoint?

No. The performance band and 0 to 50 reporting scale changes do not apply to Cambridge Primary Global Perspectives Checkpoint (0838) or Cambridge Lower Secondary Global Perspectives Checkpoint (1129).

What is the difference between raw (unscaled) marks and standardised scores in Cambridge Checkpoint reports?

Raw marks are the marks achieved without adjustments and are reported at test, strand, sub-strand, and question level. Standardised scores on the 0 to 50 scale are derived from raw marks using Rasch analysis for subject and strand level reporting.

Oct 23, 2026

Uploaded by Noah