Uganda’s A-Level grading system is set to change once the ongoing curriculum reform process is completed in 2028, according to the Executive Director of the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB), Mr. Dan Odongo.
The proposed changes to Senior Six candidates’ grading come a year after government overhauled the O-Level grading system in 2024, moving away from the old numerical distinctions, credits, passes, and failures toward a letter-based grading system.
Speaking during an interview at his office in Kyambogo earlier this month, Odongo explained that A-Level, unlike O-Level, has not yet gone through the same reform into a competence-based syllabus. He said proposals had already been tabled before the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) board, with a circular expected to guide schools and other stakeholders once the changes are finalised.
He added that while the current A-Level curriculum and teaching approach have already been aligned to account for learners coming from the competence-based O-Level system, the curriculum itself has not yet been fully reformed, meaning grading will largely stay the same until that reform is complete around 2028.
According to Odongo, the current letter grades will remain in place, but their meaning will change, with each grade set to carry descriptors explaining exactly what a candidate has demonstrated.
Mr. Gilbert Gift Siima, Manager of the Secondary Department at NCDC, explained that the grading scale will shift from the current A, B, C, D, E, O, F system down to simply A, B, C, D, E, with descriptors attached to each grade carrying the real weight. He said two candidates could both score an A in a subject like Fine Art, but the accompanying descriptors would distinguish their actual levels of achievement, since what matters is not the letter itself but what the candidate can demonstrably do.
Siima noted that the exact procedure for arriving at final grades is still being worked out, with UNEB continuing to pilot and test the system and make adjustments as needed, a process expected to run until results from the first cohort under the aligned A-Level curriculum are released.
Under the existing system, students typically sit three principal subjects, graded from A, B, C, D, E as passes, down to O as a subsidiary pass and F as a fail. Subsidiary subjects, including the mandatory General Paper and Subsidiary Mathematics or ICT, are graded on a separate scale where distinctions and credits earn a point and lower passes or fails earn none.
Principal grades currently map to points under a system where A equals 6 down to E equals 2. The proposed new system would adjust this to A equals 5 down to E equals 1, blending school-based continuous assessment, weighted at 20 percent, with end-of-cycle national exams weighted at 80 percent, with a maximum scoring ceiling of 20 total points including subsidiaries.
Odongo said A-Level assessment itself has already shifted toward being scenario based, with UNEB recently distributing sample questions to schools so that both teachers and learners are aware of the kinds of tasks students will be expected to handle going forward.
CampusBee will continue to follow developments on Uganda’s A-Level curriculum and grading reforms as they progress toward the 2028 rollout.
