Report cards and grading

The new UACE grading system, explained

How a script becomes a grade under the competency-based curriculum: bases, scores, performance levels, weights and the weighted average.

Irumba Sharif · 30 August 2026 · 3 min read

Under the new competency-based curriculum, an examiner no longer counts right and wrong answers. Every item is marked against an analytical rubric, and the route from a script to a letter grade has four steps. Once you can see all four, the system stops being mysterious.

Step one: every item is built from bases

A base is one skill the item assesses. A History item might assess comprehension, explanation of causes, chronology, analysis of consequences and evaluation. A Geography item might assess data interpretation, calculation, explanation, mapping and judgement.

Each base is scored from 1 to 4:

• Score 4, Exceptional: full understanding of the task, strong links to the scenario, logical and fluent ideas
• Score 3, Proficient: clear understanding, good use of the scenario, mostly organised and coherent
• Score 2, Developing: partial understanding, limited use of the scenario, ideas present but inconsistent
• Score 1, Elementary: limited understanding, little reference to the scenario, ideas unclear or disorganised

Note what is being judged. It is not whether a fact is correct. It is whether the learner understood the task, used the scenario, and organised their thinking.

Step two: the base scores are summed

The maximum depends on how many bases the item carries.

• A five-base item: 5 x 4 = 20 score points
• A six-base item: 6 x 4 = 24 score points

The minimum is not zero. A learner who attempts every base scores at least 1 on each, so a six-base item has a floor of 6.

Step three: the total maps to a performance level

For a five-base item out of 20:

• 17 to 20: Exceptional
• 14 to 16: Outstanding
• 11 to 13: Satisfactory
• 8 to 10: Basic
• 5 to 7: Elementary

For a six-base item out of 24:

• 22 to 24: Exceptional
• 18 to 21: Outstanding
• 14 to 17: Satisfactory
• 10 to 13: Basic
• 6 to 9: Elementary

So 15 out of 20 is Outstanding, and so is 18 out of 24. The ranges are different because the totals are different, which is exactly why you cannot read one table for both.

Step four: performance levels become weights, and weights become the grade

Each performance level carries a weight from 1 to 5. Exceptional is weight 5, Outstanding 4, Satisfactory 3, Basic 2, Elementary 1.

Each paper earns a weight. Add the weights across the papers in that subject and divide by the number of papers. That average weight is the grade:

• A: 4.6 to 5.0
• B: 3.7 to 4.5
• C: 2.8 to 3.6
• D: 1.9 to 2.7
• E: 1.0 to 1.8

An average weight of 3.3 is a Grade C.

What this changes for a teacher

The mark you record is not a percentage and should not be treated as one. A learner who scores 3 on five bases has 15 out of 20, which is Outstanding, which is weight 4. Writing "75%" on that script and filing it away loses the information the system runs on.

It also changes what feedback is worth giving. "You lost marks on question 3" means little. "You scored 2 on evaluation because you gave an opinion without weighing the evidence" tells a learner exactly what to practise.