The English Examining Boards: Their route from independence to government outsourcing agencies

213

Figure 4-5 SSEC Norms for A-IeveI Grades

APPENDIX A

Reconsideration of the A-Level Grading Scheme with
Special Reference to Grade C

The current general grading scheme for A level was agreed in I960 by the
Secondary School Examinations Council (SSEC) and came into effect in 1963.
The scheme suggests that the percentage of candidates awarded each grade
should be as shown in the following table.

Source: Ministry of Education, The General Certificate of Education
and Sixth Form Studies, Third Report of the Secondary School
Examinations Council (HMSO, 1960).

These guidelines are the only published description of A-Ievel grades to
which both the GCE boards and users of A-Ievel results refer.       .

In proposing the scheme the SSEC made it clear that th⅛ percentage
guidelines were to be regarded as no more than rough indications. In
practice, however, the distribution of grades over all boards in each of the
large-entry subjects has conformed closely to the guidelines, with only
marginal fluctuations from one year to the next. ■

(JMB 1983)

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