Assessment body Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) and its mother ministry of Education and Sports have cleared the air on reports that they gave distinction one (D1) to each student who scored 50 per cent in the recently released 2020 Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE).
An analysis of 2020 UACE results indicates that candidates performed better than those of 2019 — despite the Covid19 pandemic impact.
But some people started claiming the grading system had been revised to help candidates perform better.
A statement purportedly issued by Uneb executive secretary had claimed that any candidate who got 50 and above was given a D1, 40-49 D2, 30-39 C3, 20-29 C4, 15-19 C5, 10-14 C6, 05-09 P7, 01-04 P8 and 00 F9.
But both the education ministry and Uneb have dismissed this report.
“Fake report! Treat this information with the contempt is deserves,” said the education ministry.
GRADING SYSTEM: HOW A-LEVEL UACE RESULTS ARE COMPUTED
Information in this section of this story: Courtesy
The grades are point based. The maximum number of points one can score is 20 from all subjects.
Seven (07) Letters represent a grade from a subject i.e. A, B, C, D, E, O, F
A = 6, B= 5, C= 4, D= 3, E=2, O=1, F=0
A student is expected to do 3 Principal Subjects and 2 Subsidiaries; Subsidiary ICT or Subsidiary Math and General Paper as a compulsory.
A subsidiary subject can only score either one point or 0. They are graded using grade letters D1-F9. Any grade better than P7 is a point.
Different subjects have different number of papers ranging from one to 4.
Conditions for scoring the grade letters
A: At worst a C3 in one of the three papers and the rest must be distinctions i.e. 1,1,3/1,2,3 /2,2,3 = A
For two papers, ALL MUST be distinctions i.e. 1,1 /1,2 /2,2 =A
B: At worst C4 in one of the three papers and higher grades in the rest i.e. 1,2,4 /2,2,4 /3,3,4 /1,1,4 / 3,3,3 /3,2,4 = B
For two papers at worst C3 in one of the papers and higher grades in the second paper i.e. 1,3 / 2,3 /3,3 =B
C: At worst C5 in one of the three and higher grades in the rest i.e. 1,1,5 / 1,2,5 / 2,2,5 /2,3,5 /3,4,5 /4,4,5 =C
For two papers C4 in one of the papers and the rest must be a higher grade i.e. 1,4/2,4 /3,4 /4,4 =C
D: At worst C6 in one of the three papers and higher grades in the rest i.e. 1,2,6 / 1,1,6 /1,3,6/2,2,6 /3,3,6 /4,5,6 /5,5,6 =D
Then for two papers it must be C5 at worst and higher or better grades i.e. 1,5 /2,5/3,5 /4,5 /5,5 =D
E: At worst P7 or 8 in one of the three papers and then higher grades in other papers i.e. 1,1,7 /1,2,7 /3,3,7 etc. = E
O: At worst 2 passes in two out of three papers and better i.e. 1,7,7 /2,7,7 /6,7,7 =O
F9 in one of the papers, with the rest of the three papers having between D1-C6
For two papers, one pass and a better score =O
Also two papers and a credit =O
F: At worst 2 F9s out of the three papers =F
F9 and P8 in two of the three papers
F9 in one of the two papers and a pass =F
