The new grading system for O level in Uganda has been an issue of concern since the introduction of the New O Level Curriculum in Uganda.
A team at Akademik IT have compiled a simplified report to help parents and students understand how the New O Level Curriculumis graded.
The Ministry of Education rolled out the competence-based curriculum for the lower secondary school level in 2020, presenting a need for assessment reforms that introduced new components of Continuous Assessment (CA) and project work on top of the existing end of cycle examinations.
This makes the Products of the new lower secondary school curriculum confident, able to communicate better and to apply the acquired knowledge, skills and attitudes in reaI life situations.
The new assessment comes with a change in the reporting, grading and certification.
The New curriculum requires that every student should submit a project to UNEB for assessment. The project work is assessed at school and the achievement level, which reveals a learner’s creative competency in dealing with actual and contemporary world problems, presented as a stand-alone on the certificate.
The overall score is constituted by the achievement at school level (20 percent) and end of cycle examination scores (80 percent).
The O Level Grading system in Uganda:
During the assessment of the New O Level curriculum in Uganda is assessed as follows;
- A – Exceptional; – Demonstrates extraordinary competency by applying knowledge and skills innovatively and creatively in real-life situations.
- B – Outstanding; – Demonstrates a high level of competency by effectively applying acquired knowledge and skills in real-life situations.
- C – Satisfactory; – Demonstrates an adequate level of competency in applying knowledge and skills in real-life situations.
- D – Basic; – Demonstrates a minimum level of competency in applying knowledge and skills in real-life situations.
- E – Elementary; – Demonstrates below the basic level of competency in applying knowledge and skills in real-life situations.
The grading is based on the following scores:
- A – 80 -100
- B – 70 – 79
- C – 60 – 69
- D – 50 – 59
- E – 0 – 49
How to read the New O Level report Card together with the Old Curriculum.
In order to under how the New Curriculum is graded, let us use the old knowledge from the Old curriculum.
| NEW CURRICULUM | EXAM SUBJECT SCORES | OLD CURRICULUM | EXAM SUBJECT SCORES |
| A | 80-100 | Distinctions (D1, D2) | 70- 100 |
| B | 70-79 | Credits (C3, C4) | 60-69 |
| C | 60-69 | Credits (C5 –C6) | 50-59 |
| D | 50-59 | Pass (P7, P8) | 40-49 |
| E | 0-49 | Fail (F) | 0-39 |
What Do The New Curriculum Results on the report card Mean?
Instead of ranking students in Divisions 1-4 like in the old curriculum, UNEB now categorizes results into three main groups:
Result 1 – The student qualifies for a UCE certificate, having obtained at least a grade of D or better in one or more subjects.
Result 2 – The student does not qualify for a certificate, possibly due to missing compulsory subjects or failing to meet the required number of subjects.
Result 3 – The student has only received a grade of E across all subjects, meaning they have not met the minimum competency level.
