How the overall grade will be determined for Cambridge Nationals and Technicals in 2021/22 and beyond

For students certificating in 2021/22 and beyond, students may have a combination of live assessments, unit teacher assessed grades and a reduction in the number of assessments taken.

For those certificating in 2021/22 who were unable to take assessments in January 2022 and are eligible for a special consideration absence, they may also have an assessed grade to be used towards the overall qualification.

How we will determine the overall grade when students have a combination of these measures can be found below:

Cambridge Nationals

The overall grade for Cambridge Nationals will be determined in the standard way by adding together the uniform marks (UMS) for each unit and then awarding the overall grade based on the standard qualification grade boundaries:

• Where a unit was given a teacher assessed grade, we assigned a UMS to the unit that is half the distance between the grade you have given and the grade above. For more details, please see our FAQ.
• Where a permitted reduction in the number of assessments has been used or the student is eligible for a special consideration absence from January 2022, there are two steps:
  • First we produce an assessed grade. We do this by calculating an average grade, based on the other grades a candidate has achieved, when the student is certificating. Please see our article on how assessed grades will be calculated for more details.
  • We will then assign UMS to the unit that is half the distance between the assessed grade and the grade above.

Example for a four-unit qualification:

Example for a three-unit qualification:

Cambridge Technicals

The overall grade for Cambridge Technicals will be determined in the standard way, combining the points from the units you have given a TAG for, units eligible for a special consideration absence and any units taken in the normal way.

• Where a unit was given a teacher assessed grade, we assigned points based on the grade submitted and the guided learning (GLH) of the units as normal.
• Where a permitted reduction in the number of assessments has been used or the student is eligible for a special consideration absence from January 2022, we will produce an assessed grade when the student is certificating. We will then assign points based on the grade submitted and the guided learning (GLH) of the units as normal.

Details of how many points are assigned to a unit at each grade and how many points are required for the overall grade can be found in the Centre Handbook.