Cambridge students’ higher grade will stand

LAHORE:In response to strong reaction from students over unfair grading in Cambridge O and A level exams, Cambridge Assessment International Education (CAIE) has announced that grades issued for the June 2020 series will not be lower than the predicted grade submitted by the schools.

Shahid Ashraf, Cambridge International Deputy Country Director Pakistan told The News that apart from that where a grade issued last was higher than the predicted grade, the higher grade would stand.

Earlier, Cambridge International had observed that it was looking at how to best respond to feedback from schools and students on the outcomes of the June 2020 series. “We have decided to bring forward this response to today. We have decided that grades we issued for the June 2020 series will not be lower than the predicted grade submitted by the school. Where a grade we issued last week was higher than the predicted grade, the higher grade will stand.”

It is important to us that Cambridge students can compete on an equal basis with students who have similar national or international qualifications, and that their hard work and achievements are compared fairly.

We fully recognise the urgent and practical need to help Cambridge students’ progress with their education and their lives, Shahid Ashraf said.

“In April, we asked our schools to work collaboratively with us. We know teachers workedextremely hard to gather evidence and work out predicted grades, and we have viewed a significant proportion of the evidence schools used to make their predictions,” reads a statement issued by Cambridge International. To a question, Shahid Ashraf said that the revised results would be sent soon.

IB to adjust awarded

results: After careful deliberation, the International Baccalaureate (IB) will be making an adjustment to awarded results for the Diploma Programme (DP) and Career-related Programme (CP) May 2020 session, where applicable, using predicted grades and coursework (IA).

In a press release issued on Tuesday, Uzma Shujjat, IB Regional Manager Pakistan & NordicRegion, said that given the current unprecedented circumstances, using the IAs as the basis for awarding the updated grades provides an accurate and reliable reflection of an IB student’s performance. The IA grades are based on student coursework and assessed by trained independent IB examiners.