Why grade boundaries can be misleading

In advance of the release of figures for GCSE tomorrow and to avoid wasting time and drawing misleading conclusions, it’s important to understand the relationship between raw marks and grades and how grade boundaries fit into this.  The principles apply to both GCSE and A Level.

Ofqual have released helpful posts to explain the situation to candidates.  I have copied and pasted these at the foot of this post.

 Ofqual on grade boundaries (in 2024)

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/guide-to-as-and-a-level-results-for-england-summer-2024

Ofqual 2025

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/gcse-and-a-level-grading-what-you-need-to-know/gcse-and-a-level-grading-what-you-need-to-know

 Therefore

(1)   Don’t look at grade boundaries in other subjects or in other languages

(2)   As far as any individual subject is concerned, because the national % getting each grade remains essentially constant, any change in grade boundaries will be a reflection of whether the pupils score more or fewer marks in the papers than in other years.

 It is tempting to want to talk about something which seems tangible (figures) but it can be  unhelpful when in fact the raw marks and boundaries do not tell you anything about standards from year to year,  from subject to subject , or paper to paper.