BNDS Assessment Framework
The school-wide grading scheme from the BNDS A-Level Student Guide 2025-26, applied by every course. This page is the single reference for the rules below. The framework, curving, notice, retake and AI rules are current; syllabus specifics change per subject and per exam year.
Grade composition
| Category | Weight | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Attainment | 50% | Major, summative. Syllabus content only, exam conditions, curved to CIE past-paper data; should produce a reliable Forecast Grade. Project completions and portfolio milestones count. |
| Course Skills | 20% | Minor, formative. Skills/content relevant to the syllabus, flexible format: quizzes, drafts, practice tasks, homework. |
| Learning Behaviour | 10% | Glossary upkeep, blog punctuality, screening/feedback participation, case-study contributions, correcting work, submitting on time. |
| End of Term Exam | 20% | Summative, previously covered content, sat in the school exam window (S1 2026-27: Mon 2027-01-11 – Mon 2027-01-18). |
Notice for assessments
Attainments carry at least one week’s notice (AL Student Guide p.13). Non-attainment assessments carry 72 hours.
Standing rules
- 4–6 attainments per semester; none in the first two teaching weeks.
- Attainment dropping — one per semester, late in the semester, but only if the class has ≥6 attainment grades in MB, and you have missed none, have no plagiarism or cheating record, no unexcused absences, are always on time, and attend all required grade/programme meetings (Guide p.12). ⚠ All four courses run four attainments, so no student is eligible to drop one. This is a result of how the courses are designed, not of your conduct.
- One grade per week posted on MB — at least one grade per subject each week (Guide p.12). Learning Behaviour postings fill the weeks with no CS task or attainment.
- Marking returned within 5 working days (Guide p.12).
- Homework capped at 30 minutes per subject per day (Guide p.13); break homework ≈ 3–4 hours per ten-day holiday.
- Extensions must be requested at least 24 hours before the deadline (Guide p.13).
- Absence from an assessment requires contacting the subject teacher 24 hours before the due time; illness needs a doctor’s note. ⚠ “If no communication is made with the subject teacher in advance you may be given 0, even if this is due to illness” (Guide p.8).
- Late-work cutoff: three weeks before the last school day of the semester (Guide p.13). For S1 this falls inside the winter break, so the operative date will be confirmed — see school academic calendar.
- Assessment content: only what has been taught and practised — “You should have seen similar content or formats beforehand” — though “the context in which the knowledge or skills are applied may be novel” (Guide p.9).
- Formative (CS) tasks placed next to an attainment are direct practice for it.
- Seniors get a reduced assessment load in the week before the 1 Nov and 1 Dec university deadlines (Guide p.13).
Curving and grade boundaries
Attainments are not recorded as raw marks (Guide pp.11–12):
- Curved against CIE past-paper data, “allowing for where students are on their learning trajectory.”
- More generous in G10, stricter in G11 and later in the year.
- Grades “reflect your learning trajectory, not what you would score on a CIE exam today.”
- Past-paper grade thresholds are “the best starting point” for setting boundaries.
- Moderation applies where an attainment runs across multiple classes taught by different teachers; the Head of Department checks large between-class differences and may adjust curves or boundaries.
- “You will always be told how grade boundaries and curves are decided.”
An attainment “should make a reliable Forecast Grade” (Guide p.11).
Grade conversion (Guide p.11)
| CIE scale | A-Level grade | BNDS GPA |
|---|---|---|
| 90–100 | A* | 4.3 |
| 80–89 | A | 4.0 |
| 70–79 | B | 3.5 |
| 60–69 | C | 3.0 |
| 50–59 | D | 2.5 |
| 40–49 | E | 2.0 |
| below 40 | U | 0 |
Failing is below 50% (Guide p.15). At or below 70% triggers the Academic Concern Steps — your advisor and the A-Level Director are informed and support measures follow (Guide p.13).
Retake policy (Guide §IV, pp.15–16)
You get one opportunity to retake a failed course, in the holiday after the semester, with 2–3 teacher meetings for support. The work is “just as challenging” and similar in quantity to the original. The grading policy is explained before finals and cannot be changed once agreed. A signed academic-honesty declaration is required; plagiarism means immediate failure with no resubmission.
A passed retake earns the equivalent of a D, not the grade actually achieved. A failed retake leaves the original grade standing. Under force majeure, more than 50% completion plus written parent-signed evidence can pass; without evidence, fail.
Graduating seniors get only two weeks for a retake, because their Summer Holiday starts early.