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It describes the role of fairness and consistent meaning of grades over time, and outlines the factors influencing movement, such as differences in paper difficulty and assessment accessibility. The document details how boundaries are set using statistical evidence and expert judgment, including review by senior examiners and approval by Pearson staff. It also clarifies Uniform Mark Scale (UMS) treatment in modular qualifications, where scaled scores keep UMS boundaries fixed across exam sessions.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":20,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/exam/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/edexcel-understanding-grade-boundaries-2026-international-qualifications/621448/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/edexcel-understanding-grade-boundaries-2026-international-qualifications/621448.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Damian","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-06","2026-10-20",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":19},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"Why do grade boundaries move from year to year?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"Paper difficulty can change between years, making questions slightly easier or harder than the previous year. Boundaries may also shift to support fairer, more accessible assessments.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How are grade boundaries set in practice?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"A statistical range of possible marks is identified first using evidence such as how the paper performed versus last year and characteristics of the student cohort. Senior examiners then review student work across that range and recommend boundaries, which Pearson staff approve to ensure consistency.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What is the Uniform Mark Scale (UMS) and how does it affect boundaries?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"In modular qualifications, exams may occur at different course points with varying difficulty. Marks are converted to a scaled score so that similar performance is treated fairly, and UMS grade boundaries remain fixed even when raw mark boundaries vary by exam session.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},621448,1793069560,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":19,"category_name":20,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":19,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":8,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":81,"preview_page_count":4},137451208677,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d","Edexcel  \nUnderstanding grade boundaries 2026  \nInternational qualifications  \nQualifications continue to be in-line with established standards, which means that students who get a certain grade have shown a similar level of performance to students awarded the same grade in previous years. Maintaining these standards over time ensures fairness for all and confidence in what grades mean.  \nWhy do grade boundaries move?  \nThe difficulty of a paper may change from year to year. Sometimes, this is just because questions proved to bea bit easier, ora bit harder, than those seen the year before. Changes might also bea result of our desire to produce fairer assessments, for example if we have removed unintended barriersin the assessment to make it more accessible.  \nSuch improvements are aimed at enabling students to access questions appropriately, enhance their experience, and build confidence. Boundaries move to allow for differences in the difficulty of the test.  \nHow are boundaries set?  \nWe use a mix of statistical evidence and expert judgement. This year, like every year, students can have confidence that the grade they receive fairly reflects their knowledge of the subject, and maintains the standard from previous years, so that grades mean the same thing regardless ofwhen an exam was taken.  \nThe process starts with data, we use these to help identify a range of marks where the grade boundary might be, based on evidence such as how the paper performed in comparison to last year and what we know about the students taking the paper.  \nSenior examiners then review the quality of student work over a range of marks and recommend grade boundaries based on all the available evidence. Boundaries are approved by Pearson staff to ensure consistency both across years, and that we’ve applied the principles fairly across subjects.  \nUniform Mark Scale (UMS)  \nIn modular qualifications, students take exams at different points in the course, and we want to ensure students with the same level of performance are treated fairly, even if the exams they took were of slightly different difficulty. To achieve this, marks are converted to a scaled score. Raw mark grade boundaries change for each exam session, but UMS grade boundaries are fixed and are always the same.  \n\n| Helpful links\u003Cbr>• Convert UMS and raw marks\u003Cbr>• Pearson Grade Boundaries\u003Cbr>| 4523463506b | Version 1 | Aug 2026 | Public |\n| --- | --- |","cbCaidyJtgA8FcIt","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaidyJtgA8FcIt","pdf",863139,"English","# Why do grade boundaries move?\n# How are boundaries set?\n# Uniform Mark Scale (UMS)","[{\"question\":\"Why do grade boundaries move from year to year?\",\"answer\":\"Paper difficulty can change between years, making questions slightly easier or harder than the previous year. Boundaries may also shift to support fairer, more accessible assessments.\"},{\"question\":\"How are grade boundaries set in practice?\",\"answer\":\"A statistical range of possible marks is identified first using evidence such as how the paper performed versus last year and characteristics of the student cohort. Senior examiners then review student work across that range and recommend boundaries, which Pearson staff approve to ensure consistency.\"},{\"question\":\"What is the Uniform Mark Scale (UMS) and how does it affect boundaries?\",\"answer\":\"In modular qualifications, exams may occur at different course points with varying difficulty. Marks are converted to a scaled score so that similar performance is treated fairly, and UMS grade boundaries remain fixed even when raw mark boundaries vary by exam session.\"}]","Edexcel - Understanding grade boundaries 2026 - International qualifications | PDF",1792465548]