Making the grade - the new GCSE system explained

Our children are probably over-examined and over-graded. But in their desire to distinguish between genius goats and merely brilliant sheep, the education authorities have excelled themselves this year.

A new GCSE grading system comes into play for the first time, replacing the old alphabet A* to G with numbers, 9 to 1. This, however, is a transitional year so the new scheme will be used only for English and maths, meaning that this year’s students will end up with a mixture of numbers and letters.

The main rationale for the change is that A*s were no longer considered sufficiently discriminating. Under the new system, the top grade 9 will be reserved for a small band of the highest achievers, while grade 8 will include most of those who previously would have earned an A*.

Level 7 will be equivalent to a grade A.