[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-206691-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":74,"doc-detail-206691-en":124},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":67,"head_meta":69,"extra_data":71,"updated_unix":73},105,"en","understanding-grade-boundaries-2025-uk-qualifications-fair-assessment-guidance","Understanding grade boundaries 2025 - UK qualifications - Fair assessment guidance","","Explains how UK qualification grade boundaries work in 2025 and why the same grade represents a comparable level of performance to earlier pre-pandemic years. Details the reasons boundaries move, including changes in paper difficulty and efforts to remove unintended assessment barriers for accessibility. Describes how boundaries are set using statistical evidence, expert judgement, examiner reviews, and approvals, with cross-organisation comparison overseen by the regulator to ensure fairness and confidence in grade meaning.",{"@graph":14,"@context":66},[15,34,49],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/exam/","Exam",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/understanding-grade-boundaries-2025-uk-qualifications-fair-assessment-guidance/206691/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"author":36,"headline":10,"publisher":39,"fileFormat":42,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":43,"datePublished":43,"encodingFormat":42,"isAccessibleForFree":44,"interactionStatistic":45},"DigitalDocument",{"name":37,"@type":38},"Taylor Morgan","Person",{"url":19,"name":40,"@type":41},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-09-05",true,{"@type":46,"interactionType":47,"userInteractionCount":4},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":48},"ViewAction",{"@type":50,"mainEntity":51},"FAQPage",[52,58,62],{"name":53,"@type":54,"acceptedAnswer":55},"Why do grade boundaries move from year to year?","Question",{"text":56,"@type":57},"Paper difficulty can change year to year, making questions slightly easier or harder. Boundaries may also shift when assessment processes are improved to remove unintended barriers and improve accessibility.","Answer",{"name":59,"@type":54,"acceptedAnswer":60},"How are grade boundaries set in 2025?",{"text":61,"@type":57},"They are set using a mix of statistical evidence and expert judgement. Data helps identify a likely marks range, senior examiners review student work across that range, then staff approve boundaries for consistency and fairness.",{"name":63,"@type":54,"acceptedAnswer":64},"What ensures grades mean the same across different exam dates?",{"text":65,"@type":57},"The approach maintains standards over time and applies principles fairly. Approved boundaries are compared with those from other awarding organisations under regulator oversight to support a consistent, fair grading approach.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":68,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":40,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":70,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":72,"site_id":7},206691,1788595380,{"code":4,"msg":75,"data":76},"success",[77,81,85,88,93,98,103,108,113,116,120],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":78,"show_sort_weight":79,"slug":80},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":82,"show_sort_weight":83,"slug":84},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},70,"exam",{"id":89,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":90,"show_sort_weight":91,"slug":92},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":94,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":95,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":97},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":99,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":100,"show_sort_weight":101,"slug":102},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":104,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":105,"show_sort_weight":106,"slug":107},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":109,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":110,"show_sort_weight":111,"slug":112},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":114,"show_sort_weight":111,"slug":115},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":118,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":119},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":121,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":122,"show_sort_weight":89,"slug":123},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":75,"data":125},{"doc_id":72,"user_id":126,"nickname":37,"user_avatar":127,"doc_module":4,"category_id":33,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":128,"file_id":129,"file_url":130,"file_type":131,"file_size":132,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":22,"language":133,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":134,"faqs":135,"seo_title":136,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":73,"read_time":30},1099523885336,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c","Understanding grade boundaries 2025 – UK qualifications  \nQualifications continue to be in-line with pre-pandemic 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 be a bit easier, or a bit harder, than those seen the year before.  \nChanges might also be a result of our desire to produce fairer assessments, for example if we have removed unintended barriers in 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 have then reviewed the quality of student work over a range of marks and recommended 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. These boundaries are then compared to those from other awarding organisations in a process overseen by the regulator, to ensure a fair approach for all.  \nHelpful links  \nl  Pearson Grade Boundaries  \nl Ofqual How GCSE and A level grading works video  \nl Joint letter from Ofqual and UCAS to students  \n202508 016  UKAM | Vers ion 1. 0 | Aug 2025 | DCL1: Public","cbCaienNvlkAwoo4","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaienNvlkAwoo4","pdf",104890,"English","# Why do grade boundaries move?\n# How are boundaries set?\n# Helpful links","[{\"question\":\"Why do grade boundaries move from year to year?\",\"answer\":\"Paper difficulty can change year to year, making questions slightly easier or harder. Boundaries may also shift when assessment processes are improved to remove unintended barriers and improve accessibility.\"},{\"question\":\"How are grade boundaries set in 2025?\",\"answer\":\"They are set using a mix of statistical evidence and expert judgement. Data helps identify a likely marks range, senior examiners review student work across that range, then staff approve boundaries for consistency and fairness.\"},{\"question\":\"What ensures grades mean the same across different exam dates?\",\"answer\":\"The approach maintains standards over time and applies principles fairly. Approved boundaries are compared with those from other awarding organisations under regulator oversight to support a consistent, fair grading approach.\"}]","Understanding grade boundaries 2025 - UK qualifications - Fair assessment guidance | PDF"]