‘I got five nines!’ Numbers to replace GCSE A*-G grades

Traditional GCSE grades are to be scrapped and replaced with a numbered scale. The plan, designed to help distinguish between the brightest students, will see A* grades replaced with the number nine.

Currently in subjects like maths and science, high numbers of pupils achieve A* and A grades, making it difficult to pick out the top students.

In a report on the changes, Ofqual, England’s exam regulator, said: “Currently there is a ‘bunching’ of grades as most students are awarded grades B, C and D. Adding in an extra grade will improve the spread of grades in this area.”

Chief regulator Glenys Stacey said that in these cases “you then begin to question whether the qualification is doing its job in differentiating sufficiently your most able students.”

Currently there is a ‘bunching’ of grades as most students are awarded grades B, C and D. Glenys Stacey, Ofqual

As is the case now, in future teenagers who fail an exam will be given a “U” for unclassified.

The change is also seen as leaving the door open for an extra grade to be introduced in the future if necessary, also though Ms Stacey stressed that this was not why the system had been chosen. She insisted: “It is not the case that we are doing it to be able to slip in another grade on top of that.”

A consultation on how the new system will compare to the old – for example which number is equivalent to a C – will begin in December, Ofqual said.

The first three subjects to be revamped – English literature, English language and maths – are due to be taught in secondary schools in England from 2015, with the first exams taken in the summer of 2017. These three subjects account for around a third of GCSEs awarded in England each year.