Cambridge Advanced Nationals: Raw marks and UMS

• What is UMS?
• How is UMS used?
• Why is UMS used?
• Why are my UMS scores different from my mark?
• Raw to UMS Calculator

What is UMS?

Cambridge Advanced Nationals use a common mark scale – Uniform Mark Scale (UMS) - for examined and NEA units.

The UMS allows raw marks achieved on the examined or non-examined assessment to be translated onto a common scale so that these scores can be joined together to create a qualification outcome.

Marks achieved on each Cambridge Advanced Nationals unit will be converted to UMS on a sliding scale – so better performance within a grade achieves more UMS towards the qualification outcome.

How is UMS used?

Assessments are produced with ‘design thresholds’ in mind. Design thresholds are basically the ideal grade boundaries to give a good spread and distribution of marks and differentiate students effectively. 

For Cambridge Advanced Nationals, our design thresholds are:

• 80% of the total marks for a Distinction
• 40% for a Pass.

This is reflected in the UMS boundaries – so whatever raw mark we set as the Distinction grade boundary, that boundary mark will convert to 80% of the total UMS available. The same goes for Pass – the raw mark the Pass grade boundary is set on will always be worth 40% of the total UMS.

When we produce the Cambridge Advanced National exam papers, we target the questions at a range of levels of ability – from questions we expect all candidates to be able to access high marks on through to some questions that we anticipate only Distinction candidates will be able to access most of the marks on.  We design the paper with 40% of the marks targeted at Pass candidates, and 80% of the marks targeted at Distinction candidates.

When we set grade boundaries (often referred to as ‘awarding’), we use professional judgment from a panel of senior assessors in the subject alongside the statistical data to determine the grade boundaries. The assessors are asked to consider evidence across a range of marks in the context of:

• what is expected of a Level 3 candidate in the qualification
• with reference to archive material from other relevant qualifications – such as Level 3 Cambridge Technicals in the same or a related subject area.

Why is UMS used?

Cambridge Advanced Nationals are made up of a number of units, and students can take their assessments in different exam series over the course of study. 

We try to set assessments to be the same level of demand every time, but in practice sometimes this is not fully achieved. This can be because some questions or tasks do not perform quite as anticipated (i.e. candidates perform better or worse on them than we had expected).

We need to make sure that the performance standard for the whole qualification is the same for all units across the qualification and over time to ensure fairness for candidates.  This is why we set raw mark grade boundaries each series.  The boundaries must be in line with the performance standard of the whole qualification and reflect how the assessment for that unit performed that series.  If, for example, an exam paper has proved to be less demanding than the previous series’ exam paper, the grade boundaries are likely to be set higher to reflect this. 

Because raw mark grade boundaries for units can fluctuate over time, we cannot simply add up the raw marks a candidate got for each unit to determine their final overall qualification grade as this would not be fair; if a unit’s Pass mark is 24 raw marks in exam series 1, and 23 raw marks in exam series 2 (because the assessment was a slightly higher level of demand), those taking the exam in the exam series 2 would be at a disadvantage compared to those from exam series 1 if we did this.  This is why we convert raw marks into UMS, so that we can ensure the standard stays the same across units and over time.  

In this example, a candidate getting 24 raw marks in exam series 1 and a candidate getting 23 raw marks in exam series 2 would both get the same UMS score.   The UMS score reflects the relative value of the raw mark achieved, considering where grade boundaries were set for that series and the level of demand of the individual assessment on that occasion. 

This means that a student always gets a UMS score towards their qualification total which is proportionate to their level of performance, no matter what series they take the assessment in.

Why are my UMS scores different from my mark, even though they are both out of the same maximum number?

When raw and UMS totals for a unit are the same, a 1:1 raw to UMS mark conversion is possible, where 1 raw mark equals 1 UMS mark. But this is only possible if we can set the raw mark grade boundaries on the same ‘design thresholds’ as the UMS boundaries.

So, with say 60 raw marks max and 60 UMS max on an examined assessment, if the paper performs as we expected, we can set the raw mark grade boundaries on the design thresholds, and 1 raw mark will equal 1 UMS mark.  In this example, a raw mark Pass boundary of 24 will give a UMS Pass boundary of 24. 

However, if the raw mark boundary is not set on the design threshold, then the raw to UMS conversion rate changes from 1:1 to something else, in some or all of the mark range, depending on how many marks away it is from the design threshold. 

If a paper proved less demanding than expected to some or all candidates, the raw mark grade boundary is likely to be set higher than the design threshold.  Continuing with the example above, if the raw mark Pass boundary is set at 27 (because the questions targeting Pass candidates proved more accessible than expected), the UMS Pass boundary is still 24.  Candidates achieving 27 raw marks will get 24 UMS towards their overall qualification mark.  Candidates achieving 26 raw marks will get 23 UMS, etc. 

If a paper proved less accessible than expected to some or all candidates, the raw mark boundary is likely to be set lower than the design threshold.  For example if the questions targeting the Distinction candidates proved less accessible than expected, the raw mark Distinction boundary will be set lower than design.  Following the example above, if the Distinction boundary is set on 46 marks (design is 48 out of 60), at this end of the mark range, 46 raw marks = 48 UMS, so marks either side of the Distinction boundary convert to UMS that are slightly higher than the raw mark.

Raw to UMS Calculator

You can find more information about raw mark to UMS conversion on our website. This includes a raw>UMS calculator that is updated each results day for the series.

Please note: the first results day for NEA units is 30 April 2026. The raw>UMS calculator will be available for NEA units taken in Window 1 (February series) from the 30 April. The design thresholds for the raw mark grade boundaries and the UMS grade boundaries are available in section 6.4 of the specifications.