VerifiedHeard That Matric Marks Are “Adjusted”? Here Is Exactly How It Works.
Every January someone claims the national results were massaged.
The claim starts from a real fact: Umalusi does adjust raw marks before results are released, and it says so openly.
What gets left out is the method and the hard limits. This guide shows you both, using Umalusi’s own published explanation.
What Gives Umalusi the Power to Adjust Marks?
Umalusi is the council that certifies school-leaving qualifications, and the power is statutory.
It comes from section 17A(5) of the GENFETQA Act, which says the Council may adjust raw marks during the standardisation process.
The job is older than Umalusi. It was done by the South African Certification Council before Umalusi took it over.
Why Are Marks Standardised at All?
Papers are never identical in difficulty from year to year. Markers are never identical in severity.
Umalusi describes the aim as removing the effect of factors other than a candidate’s ability and knowledge.
Put simply: if one year’s Mathematics paper is harsher than the five before it, those candidates should not carry that accident on their certificates for life.
Worth knowing:
Other countries do the same thing. In Cambridge-based systems it is called grading, and examiners move the grade boundaries instead of the marks.
What Is the Norm Umalusi Compares Against?
Nothing is adjusted without a benchmark. Umalusi calls it the norm.
- The average of total raw marks across the past five comparator sittings
- Outliers are excluded, so one freak year cannot drag the benchmark
- The NATED programme uses the past six consecutive sittings
- A newer subject needs a minimum of three sittings
The current year’s raw distribution is then compared against that picture, subject by subject.
How Much Can a Subject Mark Be Adjusted?
Here is where the manipulation argument falls apart. Umalusi publishes seven principles, and three are hard numbers.
1. A 10 Percentage Point Ceiling
An adjustment may not exceed 10 percentage points, and no adjusted mark may go beyond the norm.
Umalusi’s own example:
Raw mean 41%, norm mean 50%. The adjusted result cannot pass 50%, so the most that can move is 9 percentage points, not 10.
The lower of the two limits always wins.
2. Anything Bigger Needs Council Approval
Adjustments above 10 percentage points are possible only in exceptional circumstances, and only on recommendation to the Executive Committee of Council.
3. A Cap on Your Individual Mark
No individual candidate’s adjustment may exceed 50% of the raw mark that candidate obtained.
Umalusi’s example:
A candidate scores 80 out of 300, which is 26.6%. After adjustment the mark cannot be more than 120 and cannot be less than 40.
Can My Mark Go Down?
Yes.
The direction follows the data, not a target.
- Raw distribution below the norm — marks may be adjusted upwards
- Raw distribution above the norm — marks may be adjusted downwards
Both stay inside the caps above.
Subjects with a 50% practical component are treated more cautiously still: raw marks may simply be accepted unless there is strong evidence for a change.
Who Decides the Adjustments?
The Assessment Standards Committee of the Umalusi Council. Not a computer, and not the department that ran the examination.
The assessment body presents its results first. The committee then reads:
- Evidence-based reports from the assessment bodies
- Statistical material such as ogive graphs and distribution tables
- Pairs analyses comparing performance across related subjects
Umalusi says it moves marks only where there is compelling evidence that something other than candidates’ knowledge and aptitude affected performance.
Is Your School Mark Adjusted Too?
No.
Standardisation applies to the external examination mark only.
Your School-Based Assessment goes through statistical moderation separately, then gets added in.
The weightings tell you how much of the certificate your school controls:
| Qualification | School-based | Examination |
|---|---|---|
| NSC subjects without a PAT | 25% | 75% |
| NSC subjects with a PAT | 50% | 50% |
| NC(V) fundamentals | 25% | 75% |
| NC(V) core subjects | 50% | 50% |
| GETC for adults | 50% | 50% |
Does Standardisation Lift the Pass Rate?
Umalusi has publicly rejected that claim, and the published caps make a big engineered move impossible.
A 10 point ceiling, a norm ceiling and a 50% individual ceiling leave no room for it.
Also note:
Standardisation is not a way to fix your own result. It works on whole distributions before anyone sees a certificate.
If you think your specific script was marked or captured wrongly, the remedy is a recheck or remark, which has its own short deadline.
Umalusi publishes the detail in its presentation on the standardisation of results and a companion webinar on school-based assessment.
Umalusi Standardisation FAQs
Can Umalusi raise my mark by any amount?
No.
Adjustments cannot exceed 10 percentage points, cannot push a mark past the norm, and cannot exceed 50% of your own raw mark.
Does standardisation always push marks up?
No. Where a subject’s raw marks sit above the benchmark, they may be moved down instead.
How far back does the benchmark go?
Five comparator sittings, excluding outliers. NATED uses six, and a new subject needs at least three.
Is my year mark standardised?
No.
Only the examination mark. School-based assessment is statistically moderated through a separate process.
Who signs off on the decisions?
The Assessment Standards Committee of the Umalusi Council, after reading the assessment bodies’ reports and the statistical analyses.
What This Means for Your Results
- Your mark can move, but only within published limits
- It can move down as well as up
- Your school mark is handled separately
- If you dispute your own script, apply for a remark, not a review of standardisation
Standardisation is finished long before your results reach you. The remark window is not.
Watch the results release date and collect your marks through the online results service as soon as they are published.