Quality Handbook Supplement 15B - Grade based marking descriptors
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1. Introduction
1.1 This document defines the NTU grading descriptors for application to undergraduate and postgraduate assessment.
1.2 The purpose of defining these descriptors is to provide the NTU standard against which Schools can develop their own grading schemes.
2. Notes on the general grading descriptors
2.1 The general grading descriptors define, for each level, the standards of performance expected across the NTU grading scale. These are aligned with the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (FHEQ).
2.2 The descriptors define common characteristics expected of work at each of the different grade bands.
2.3 In designing or revising courses, course teams and module convenors should ensure that course outcomes at each level are appropriate aligned to the level descriptors of the FHEQ and the award descriptors (see Section 3 and Section 4 of the Quality Handbook).
2.4 The descriptors also include (bold text) elements of the Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes (SOLO) taxonomy. These define different levels of understanding across the grades in terms of the structural complexity of students’ responses.
2.5Schools and academic teams may choose to refine the general grading descriptors to suit specific discipline areas, however, it is important to retain the SOLO Taxonomy features of the descriptors.
3. Level 4 – General grading descriptors
Please follow the link to download the NTU general grading descriptors for Level 4, Level 5, Level 6 and Level 7:
Change History
Approval date:
Nature of change:
Includes revised general grading descriptors for levels 4-6 as approved at the April 2016 ASQC meeting
Implementation date:
01.10.2016
Approval date:
Nature of change:
Update to general grading descriptors to explicitly reference assessing technical proficiency in English language.
Implementation date:
01.09.2025
Approval date:
Nature of change:
Renumbered 15B.
Implementation date:
01.09.2026