Grading
Your final mark and the quality of the feedback you receive depends entirely on the evidence you present through your project and the interactions with your mentor.
Your mentor looks for evidence you have learned and understood the core concepts for the grade you are taking.
Their assessment contains: sixteen different areas of attainment (up to 5 marks each, or 80 marks in total), two aspects that form an overall impression (up to 10 marks each, or 20 marks in total), extensive written feedback containing advice, constructive criticism and encouragement.
The evidence your mentor gathers from your project forms the basis of the judgements made in the assessment.
Areas of attainment
The sixteen areas of attainment individually concentrate on a different aspect of coding ~ they each ask for different types of skill, knowledge or aspect of understanding.
Blended together these areas form the basis of a rounded, balanced and well integrated software developer.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Project purpose | Was the purpose of the project, its aims and objectives and the needs of those interacting with it clearly articulated? |
| User engagement | How well did the candidate engage and empathise with their project's expected users, their needs and potential stumbling blocks? |
| Running the project | How clear and accurate were the instructions for executing the project, and how robust was the project when run? |
| Architecture and design | How well was the project designed, architected and put together? |
| User experience | In terms of the presentation and interface of the project, what is the user's experience of interacting with the project? |
| Core concepts | Does the candidate understand and display knowledge of the core concepts for this, and all previous, grades? |
| Code quality | Is the code idiomatic, efficient, simply written and well organised? |
| Understanding and technical engagement | How well does the candidate apply their knowledge and understanding of the core concepts to address the requirements of their project? |
| Creativity and imagination | How unique, surprising, delightful and/or original is the approach of this project? |
| Collaboration, community and compassion | How did the candidate approach, behave and react to interactions and contributions from others, relating to this project? |
| Documentation and comments | Was the project's documentation appropriate for this level of grading and were the comments in code helpful? |
| Development practices | How well did the candidate understand and make appropriate use of effective development practices? (e.g. testing, CI, debugging, refactoring, source control, issue tracking etc...) |
| Tools and third-party technology | How well did the candidate understand and make appropriate use of core tools used for software development? (e.g. a code editor, debugger, the command line, vcs etc...) |
| Learning and research | Is the candidate an effective and autonomous learner from documentation and other educational resources related to the technology and tools used in their project? |
| Effectiveness | Did the candidate achieve their aims and objectives for the project? |
| Candidate's level of achievement | How did the candidate meet the level of achievement expected for this grade? |
You are awarded up to five marks for each area of attainment.
The pattern for marking is:
- 1 mark
- the candidate demonstrated little or no progress for the area of attainment.
- 2 marks
- the candidate addressed the area of attainment, but fell short of the required level.
- 3 marks
- the candidate fulfilled the minimum required level for the area of attainment.
- 4 marks
- the candidate surpassed the required level for the area of attainment.
- 5 marks
- the candidate provided evidence of exceptional work for the area of attainment.
If you get mostly 3's you achieve a pass, mostly 4's a pass with merit and mostly 5's a pass with distinction.
A detailed description of the marking scheme for each level of attainment is described in the assessment guidance for mentors.
Overall impressions
The final 20 marks (of the 100 total marks available) are given for the overall impression the mentor has of two factors:
- Your project, its execution and outcome.
- Your engagement, growth and character as a coder.
Each is awarded up to 10 marks.
The mark is based upon the mentor's intuition, expertise, experience and professional judgement.
Mentors are given the following guidance when awarding you marks:
For this level of grading: requires significant improvement (1-3), working towards the expected level (4-5), achieving the expected level (6-7), high quality achievement (8-9), and exceptional attainment (10).
Your total mark is the sum of all the marks awarded for the sixteen areas of attainment and two areas of overall impression.
You pass the grade if you score 60 or above.
Those who do well, and are awarded 75 or above achieve a pass with merit.
Exceptional candidates who gain 90 marks or more achieve the rarely awarded pass with distinction.
Written feedback
Each area of attainment comes with written feedback. If a low mark was awarded it will be explained, with ways to address the shortfall in future. Otherwise, feedback will highlight where you did well, and offer ways to extend and improve.
The assessment concludes with a few paragraphs of general feedback from your mentor. Listen carefully to their advice. Open your mind to their suggestions. Let their guidance be the wind in your sails.
Well done! Now take the next step on your journey to experience.