Unit Aggregation and Certification Cash in Rules
Unit Aggregation and Certification Cash in Rules
Qualifications
Unit Aggregation and
Certification (cash-in) Rules
Effective for the May/June
2021 series only
Introduction
This document forms part of the May/June 2021 support and guidance package for
centres offering International A/AS Level (IAS/IAL) qualifications and must be used in
conjunction with the Pearson Guidance on the determination of grades for
International A/AS Levels and International GCSEs for May/June 2021 document
that can be found here.
Except for IAL Law 1, Pearson’s IAS/IALs are unitised qualifications subdivided into units.
Assessment in individual units can be taken over a number of examination series. Each
individual unit result is awarded a Uniform Mark Scale (UMS) score and these individual
unit scores are stored/banked by Pearson. A qualification grade is only awarded when a
student has completed all the units in the subject and a centre makes a cash-in entry. A
cash-in entry code starts with either ‘X’ for the International AS qualification or ‘Y’ for the
International A level qualification.
Pearson’s approach for IAS/IAL qualifications for May/June 2021 is for centres to provide
letter grades by unit. The unit results from this series will have associated UMS scores
so that they can be aggregated with both existing unit results from prior exam series
and unit results from future exam series. As part of the centre’s internal quality
assurance, a check on the cash-in is recommended to reflect on the impact the unit
grade judgements have on the qualification grade of a student due to certificate in this
series. This document explains and illustrates the application of the unit aggregation
and certification rules to support this activity.
Appeals
In some cases, you may feel that the award of notional fixed UMS for units entered in
summer 2021 has led to the student receiving an overall qualification grade which is
lower than you expected. If this is the case, you will be able to use the appeals process
to request a review of the aggregation for individual students once final results have
been issued.
1
IAL Law is a linear qualification and is not offered as an International Advanced Subsidiary. This guidance does
not apply to this subject.
makes a cash-in entry in the current or a future series. These are the same fixed
notional UMS scores that Pearson used in the May/June 2020 series and can be found
here.
The following is a simplified illustration of the UMS conversion when an exam happens
and when a teacher-assessed lettered grade is used.
Total UMS a b c d e
Unit 1 100 100-80 79-70 69-60 59-50 49-40
2
This means that this mark can be carried forward towards the total marks required to achieve the qualification grade, for this series and
future series, and students can continue with their existing study, exam pattern and progression
Cashing-in (or aggregation) for a Qualification Grade: the rules
Once a student has gained or has entered for the appropriate set of units, an entry may
then be made for the qualification award (the cash-in). The aggregation of the unit
uniform marks to a qualification grade is carried out by adding up the student’s UMS for
the eligible units. Some of these UMS may be from banked scores achieved in a prior
series. The aggregation of the student’s uniform marks will generate the best possible
qualification grade with the highest possible uniform mark. When aggregating unit
scores, the rules below apply.
Please note that separate rules apply for Mathematics qualifications. These are
outlined in Appendix 1.
Worked Examples
A full list of Pearson IAS/IAL unitised qualifications available in the May/June 2021
series with a summary of their unit structure is provided as Appendix 2. The
Qualification uniform mark scales can be found in Appendix 3.
Some worked examples are provided below to illustrate how the aggregation rules
apply for different student scenarios where a qualification grade is due to be claimed in
the May/June 2021 series. Worked examples are provided for two-, four- and six-unit IAL
qualifications. A link to worked examples for the Mathematics subjects can be found in
Appendix 1.
These scenarios assume that for any units entered in the May/June 2021 series, the
initial unit TAG has already been determined. This cash-in check is recommended as
part of your centre’s internal quality assurance to reflect holistically on the impact these
unit judgements have on the student’s qualification grade.
2-Unit IAL (e.g. Arabic)
Fixed UMS
Student 1 is entered for units 1 and 2 for the first time in the May/June 2021 series and
is cashing-in for an IAL grade.
There are no eligibility issues; the student has met all the rules for the IAL certification.
Unit 1: TAG is grade a (fixed notional UMS 90)
Unit 2: TAG is grade a* (fixed notional UMS 95)
Note: if this student had certificated the IAS in October 2020, it would not be possible to
re-certificate for the IAS in May/June 2021. The reason being that the student could not
re-aggregate with the same set of IAS unit results.
Student 3 sat unit 1 in January 2021 and achieved 69 UMS (notional grade c
performance).
Student 4 sat unit 1 in January 2021 and achieved 79 UMS (notional grade b
performance).
Fixed UMS
Student 6 entered units 1 and 2 in the May/June 2020 series and achieved:
Unit 1: fixed notional UMS 90 (notional grade a performance)
Unit 2: fixed notional UMS 90 (notional grade a performance)
The student sat examinations for unit 2 and unit 3 (first attempt for this unit) in the
October 2020 series and achieved:
Unit 2: 79 UMS (notional grade b performance)
Unit 3: 78 UMS (notional grade b performance)
Fixed UMS
Student 9 sat unit 1 in the January 2020 series and achieved 98 UMS (a notional grade a
performance).
The student entered units 2 and 3 in the May/June 2020 series and achieved:
Unit 2: fixed notional UMS 108 (notional grade a performance)
Unit 3: fixed notional UMS 45 (notional grade b performance).
The student re-entered unit 3 in October 2020 and achieved:
Unit 3: 41 UMS (a notional grade c performance).
The student sat unit 4 in January 2021 and achieved:
Unit 4: 71 UMS (a notional grade d performance).
Student 10 sat units 1 and 2 in the January 2020 series and achieved:
Unit 1: 27 UMS (unclassified)
Unit 2: 35 UMS (unclassified)
The student re-entered both units in May/June 2020 and entered unit 3 for the first time
and achieved:
Unit 1: fixed notional UMS 54 (notional grade e performance)
Unit 2: fixed notional UMS 54 (notional grade e performance)
Unit 3: fixed notional UMS 27 (notional grade e performance)
The student sat unit 4 in January 2021 and achieved 56 UMS (notional grade e
performance).
Student 11 entered for units 1, 2 and 3 in the May/June 2020 series and achieved:
Unit 1: fixed notional UMS 108 (notional grade a performance)
Unit 2: fixed notional UMS 90 (notional grade b performance
Unit 3: fixed notional UMS 54 (notional grade a performance)
The student entered unit 4 in January 2021 and achieved:
Unit 4: 105 UMS (notional grade a performance)
IAL Qualification Grade: unit aggregation = 108 + 90 + 54 + 105 + 114 + 51 = 522 UMS =
Grade A*
The student has achieved at least 480 UMS overall and has achieved at least 90% of the
total uniform marks available for the IA2 units (at least 270 UMS).
Student 12 entered for units 1, 2 and 3 in the May/June 2020 series and achieved:
Unit 1: fixed notional UMS 108 (notional grade a performance)
Unit 2: fixed notional UMS 90 (notional grade b performance
Unit 3: fixed notional UMS 54 (notional grade a performance)
The student was also entered for the IAS certification in May/June 2020.
IAS Qualification Grade (May/June 2020): unit aggregation = 108 + 90 + 54 = 252 UMS
= Grade A
The May/June 2021 UMS score for unit 4 is the best of the two most recent attempts
and is used for the cash-in.
IAL Qualification Grade: unit aggregation = 108 + 90 + 54 + 102 + 102 + 51 = 507 UMS =
Grade A
The student has achieved at least 480 UMS overall but has not achieved at least 90% of
the total uniform marks available for the IA2 units (at least 270 UMS).
Appendix 1: Mathematics subjects qualification overview and
Aggregation Rules and Guidance
Qualification Overview
Pearson Edexcel International Advanced Subsidiary
The International Advanced Subsidiary in Mathematics, Further Mathematics and Pure
Mathematics qualifications each consist of three externally-examined units:
The certification of each qualification requires different contributing units. For example,
students who are awarded certificates in both International Advanced Level
Mathematics and International Advanced Level Further Mathematics must use unit
results from 12 different units, i.e. once a unit result has been used to cash-in for a
qualification, it cannot be re-used to cash-in for another qualification. A combination of
legacy and re-developed units can be used to cash-in.
The aggregation rules for these Mathematics subjects are here. This document also
includes some worked examples.
Eligibility of units for May/June 2021 cash-in: summary table from the Pearson
Qualifications Information Manual 2020/21 (Section 4 International A Level)
here.
Appendix 2: Pearson IAS/IAL Unitised Qualifications 3
3
IAL Law (YLA1) has a linear assessment model and does not include an Advanced Subsidiary award.
Appendix 3: Qualification Uniform Mark Scales
Notes: