When a special consideration application for 'Absent for a good reason’ has been accepted for a Cambridge Technicals unit, we produce an assessed grade for the unit.
Assessed grades
Assessed grades allow us to estimate how a candidate would have performed on a missing unit by looking at their performance on other units they have completed.
We can produce an estimate in a few different ways depending on the information we have available. For Cambridge Technicals, we use a method known as the proportional method that calculates an average grade based on the other grades a candidate has achieved. This method allows us to simply and quickly produce an assessed grade for a missing unit using grades.
Proportional assessed grade method
The proportional assessed grade method looks at the grades that a candidate has achieved and calculates an average grade that is then used for the missing unit. We are able to calculate this average by assigning a number to each grade (see tables below). The grades that are used to calculate the assessed grade are grades from supporting units and not all grades a candidate has will be used as a supporting unit.
Rules for supporting units
We have a number of rules about what units can be used as a supporting unit when calculating the assessed grade and these rules will apply to all assessed grades for Cambridge Technicals:
- Where possible, we only use like-for-like units. This means we try to only use supporting units that are the same type of unit (moderated units or examined units) to the one we are calculating. When we are calculating an assessed grade for a moderated unit we will only use other moderated units as supporting units and we would not use any examined units. Only when there are no available moderated units with a grade would we use an examined unit as a supporting unit. For example, if we are estimating a grade for the moderated unit A, and a candidate has grades for moderated units B and C and also has a grade for the examined unit D, we would only use units B and C. If we were estimating a grade for the moderated unit A and did not have a grade for moderated units B and C we would use unit D as a supporting unit.
- If a candidate has had multiple attempts at a unit, we only use the unit with the best grade as the supporting unit. For example, if we were estimating a grade for the moderated unit A and a candidate has one grade for moderated unit B and two grades (e.g. P and M) for moderated unit C, we would use the grade from unit B and only the M grade from unit C.
- A previous attempt at the unit being calculated cannot be used as a supporting unit. For example, if we were estimating a grade for unit A, and the candidate had grades for units B, C and a previous attempt at unit A, we would only use units B and C as supporting units.
- We do not use an assessed grade as a supporting unit. If a candidate has already received an assessed grade for one of their units, we do not use this grade when calculating an assessed grade for another unit. For example, if we were estimating a grade for unit A, and the candidate had grades for B, C and D but unit D is an assessed grade rather than a grade from a live assessment, we would only use units B and C.
Further instructions on how to apply these rules and how to calculate an assessed grade can be found below in the worked examples.
How to calculate an assessed grade
For each type of qualification, a number is assigned to a grade that we call the numerical grade scale. We assign and use these numbers when calculating the average grade. The numerical grade scales for Level 3 Cambridge Technicals (Table 1) and Level 2 Cambridge Technicals (Table 2) are below.
Table 1. Cambridge Technical Level 3 Numerical Grade Scale
| Level 3 Cambridge Technicals | |||
| 2016 Suite | 2012 Suite | ||
| Numerical Grade | External | Internal | Internal |
| 1 | U | U | NA |
| 1.5 | R | NA | NA |
| 2 | P | P | P |
| 3 | M | M | M |
| 4 | D | D | D |
Table 2. Cambridge Technical Level 2 Numerical Grade Scale
| Level 2 Cambridge Technicals | |||
| 2016 Suite | 2012 Suite | ||
| Numerical Grade | External | Internal | Internal |
| 1 | U/Not Achieved (Unit 1C) | U | NA |
| 2 | P/Achieved (Unit 1C) | P | P |
| 3 | M | M | M |
| 4 | D | D | D |
When the calculation of the average grade results in a decimal, it will be rounded up if the first decimal place is 0.5 or above and rounded down if it is below 0.5.
Example 1: 2016 suite - examined unit
Level 3 Extended Certificate in IT (360 GLH) - Estimating examined unit 02 (90GLH).
All of a candidate’s available grades:
| Unit | Unit Type | GLH | Grade | Completed assessment |
| Unit 01 | Examined unit | 90 | M | Yes |
Unit 02 |
Examined unit |
90 |
- |
Absent |
| Unit 03 | Examined unit | 60 | D | Yes |
| Unit 08 | Moderated unit | 60 | M | Yes |
| Unit 09 | Moderated unit | 60 | D | Yes |
Supporting Units: Unit 02 is examined and so we use only the available examined units 01 and 03 as supporting units.
Calculation:
| Supporting Units | GLH | Grade | Numerical Grade | Sum of Weighted Numerical Grades | Average of Numerical Grades | Assessed Grade for 02 |
| 01 | 90 | M | 3 | 510 | 3.4 | M |
| 03 | 60 | D | 4 |
- Sum of numerical grades, weighting units by GLH: for unit 01 weighting by 90 and unit 03 weighting by 60:
= (3 x 90) + (4 x 60)
= 270 + 240
= 510
- Calculate the average by dividing the sum of numerical grades by the number of GLH the units have been weighted by:
= 510 ÷ (90 + 60)
= 510 ÷ 150
= 3.4 which is then rounded down
= 3
- Assign the grade using the numerical grade scale: M
Example 2: 2016 suite - moderated unit
Level 3 Extended Certificate in Health and Social Care (360 GLH) - Estimating moderated unit 14 (60GLH).
All of a candidate’s available grades:
| Unit | Unit Type | GLH | Grade | Completed assessment |
| Unit 01 | Moderated unit | 60 | D | Yes |
| Unit 02 | Examined unit | 60 | P | Yes |
| Unit 03 | Examined unit | 60 | M | Yes |
| Unit 04 | Examined unit | 90 | R | Yes |
| Unit 10 | Moderated unit | 30 | M | Yes |
Unit 14 |
Moderated unit |
60 |
- |
Absent |
Supporting Units: Unit 14 is moderated and so we use only the available moderated units 01 and 10 as supporting units.
Calculation:
| Supporting Units | GLH | Grade | Numerical Grade | Sum of Weighted Numerical Grades | Average of Numerical Grades | Assessed Grade for 14 |
| 01 | 60 | D | 4 | 330 | 3.67 | D |
| 10 | 30 | M | 3 |
- Sum of numerical grades, weighting units by GLH: for unit 01 weighting by 60 and unit 10 weighting by 30:
= (4 x 60) + (3 x 30)
= 240 + 90
= 330
- Calculate the average by dividing the sum of numerical grades by the number of GLH the units have been weighted by:
= 330 ÷ (60 + 30)
= 330 ÷ 90
= 3.667 which is then rounded up
= 4
- Assign the grade using the numerical grade scale: D
Example 3: 2012 suite - moderated unit
Level 3 Subsidiary Diploma in Performing Arts (540 GLH) - Estimating moderated unit 07 (60GLH).
All of a candidate’s available grades:
| Unit | Unit Type | GLH | Grade | Completed assessment |
| Unit 01 | Moderated unit | 60 | P | Yes |
| Unit 02 | Moderated unit | 60 | D | Yes |
| Unit 03 | Moderated unit | 60 | M | Yes |
| Unit 04 | Moderated unit (attempt 1) | 60 | M | Yes |
| Unit 04 | Moderated unit (attempt 2) | 60 | P | Yes |
| Unit 05 | Moderated unit | 60 | M | Yes |
| Unit 06 | Moderated unit | 60 | D | Yes |
Unit 07 |
Moderated unit |
60 |
- |
Absent |
| Unit 08 | Moderated unit (attempt 1) | 60 | M | Yes |
| Unit 08 | Moderated unit (attempt 2) | 60 | M | Yes |
| Unit 09 | Moderated unit | 60 | P | Yes |
Supporting Units: All units in the 2012 Suite are moderated and so all units 01-06 and 08-09 can be used as supporting units.
From the two attempts at unit 04, we will consider the attempt with the best grade, which is attempt 1. From the two attempts at unit 08, both grades are the same, so it does not matter which attempt is used. Therefore, we use attempt 1 for 04 and either attempt 1 or 2 for unit 08, in our case attempt 1.
Calculation:
| Supporting Units | GLH | Grade | Numerical Grade | Sum of Weighted Numerical Grades | Average of Numerical Grades | Assessed Grade for 07 |
| 01 | 60 | P | 2 | 1440 | 3 | M |
| 02 | 60 | D | 4 | |||
| 03 | 60 | M | 3 | |||
| 04 | 60 | M | 3 | |||
| 05 | 60 | M | 3 | |||
| 06 | 60 | D | 4 | |||
| 08 | 60 | M | 3 | |||
| 09 | 60 | P | 2 |
- Sum of numerical grades, weighting units by GLH: for units 01-06 and 08-09, weighting all units by 60:
= (2 x 60) + (4 x 60) + (3 x 60) + (3 x 60) + (3 x 60) + (4 x 60) + (3 x 60) + (2 x 60)
= 120 + 240 + 240 + 180 + 180 + 240 + 180 + 120
= 1440
- Calculate the average by dividing the sum of numerical grades by the number of GLH the units have been weighted by:
= 1440 ÷ (60 + 60 + 60 + 60 + 60 + 60 + 60 + 60)
= 1440 ÷ 480
= 3
- Assign the grade to both missing units using the numerical grade scale: M
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