GCSE grade boundaries 2019 explained: What is a pass at GCSE?

Today, thousands of young people across the UK will be opening their GCSE results in anticipation.

These long-awaited envelopes are the result of countless hours studying, even more in class, and potentially even more stressing.

Things have changes a whole lot since the old days when it comes to results, and even more over the last few years, as it’s no longer A* to U.

Over the last few years, the ways exam grades are presented has been migrating over to a numbers-led system.

Here’s everything you need to know.

What is the new GCSE grading system?

GCSEs are now graded between number 1 and 9.

This change began being implemented for some subjects in 2017, and by now most subjects will be categorised like this.

According to the Department of Education, you can match up your grades with the old letter-based system based on the following:

• Grade 9 is the equivalent of above an A*
• Grade 8 is the equivalent of in between grades A* and A
• Grade 7 is the equivalent of a grade A
• Grade 6 is the equivalent of just above a grade B
• Grade 5 is the equivalent of in between grades B and C
• Grade 4 is the equivalent of a grade C
• Grade 3 is the equivalent of in between grades D and E
• Grade 2 is the equivalent of in between grades E and F
• Grade 1 is the equivalent of in between grades F and G

The U will still be included, which stands for ungraded, and means that a student has failed to meet the minimum requirements to be given a pass at any grade.

The idea behind the change was to give out fewer of the highest grades, effectively marking out the top-tier results as more exclusive and harder to achieve.

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