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Cambridge Nationals are 'unitised qualifications', which means they are designed to be taken in chunks, or units, throughout the course. Marks (and unit grades) are accumulated along the way, and when all the required units have been taken, an overall grade is issued. Since exam papers can vary in difficulty from one series to the next, a common scale is used (called the uniform mark scale or UMS) to make sure marks gained on an easier paper do not advantage candidates compared with those who gain marks on a harder paper.
The grade of the overall qualification is calculated by adding together the uniform marks achieved in the individual units. If the examined unit is taken more than once, the latest result is always used (see the terminal rule guidance). This gives candidates a final uniform mark which is compared against the overall UMS grade boundaries.
For unitised qualifications, both the unit uniform marks and grades, and the final uniform mark and grade are given on the results slip.
There are three units needed to achieve the qualification: two coursework units and an examined unit. The examined unit is marked out of 70. This 'raw mark' needs to be converted to a UMS out of 80.
Mia and Mohammed both sat a Cambridge Nationals exam unit, but in different exam series.
Both papers are marked out of 70 and both students score 31. But, as Mia's exam included more complex questions than Mohammed's, the grade boundary for achieving a distinction at Level 1 (d1) is set at 30. Mohammed's exam was relatively straightforward and the grade boundary is set at 33.
Therefore, for this unit, Mia achieves a distinction at Level 1 (d1) and Mohammed achieves a merit at Level 1 (m1). Their marks are converted to UMS (out of a maximum of 80):
If the candidate is absent for one of the units needed to satisfy the qualification rules, the unit will be treated as achieving zero uniform marks when calculating the certification grade. This will be shown as ‘#’ against the certification grade on results documentation.
Candidates cannot specify which units they would like to use towards an award, and ‘re-aggregating’ an award is not permitted after results have been issued.