Edexcel IAL UMS Converter: Turn Raw Marks into UMS and Grades

Convert your raw marks to UMS for any Edexcel IAL unit, see the grade they earn, and check what carries over to your next sitting.

TL;DR: Your raw mark is the score on your exam paper; your UMS mark is the standardised score Pearson converts it into, and your grade comes from the UMS. UMS grade boundaries never move — 96 out of 120 is an a on every IAL AS science unit, in every session — while raw boundaries shift each series. In June 2026 that gap stretched to 16 marks: 65/80 earned an a on Chemistry Unit 2, while 49/80 earned the same a and the same 96 UMS on the 2A variant. Use the converter below to turn your raw mark into UMS, then check the fixed UMS table to see exactly how far you are from the next grade.

On this page:

• Convert your raw marks to UMS here
• What is a UMS mark?
• How are raw marks converted to UMS?
• Why you can't just multiply your raw mark
• How many UMS do you need for each grade?
• Where to find your raw mark
• Resits and UMS: what carries into October 2026
• FAQ

Convert your raw marks to UMS here

The converter below covers every Edexcel IAL Biology unit (WBI11–WBI16) and Chemistry unit (WCH11–WCH16) for the June 2026 series, built from the official June 2026 grade boundaries published by Pearson. Enter your raw mark, pick your unit, and it returns your UMS mark and the grade it earns.

Two things before you type. First, check which paper you sat: several units ran an A variant this June with different raw boundaries, so WCH12 and WCH12 2A are not interchangeable rows. Second, the converter works in raw marks — if the only number you have is the UMS from your results slip, jump to where to find your raw mark.

What is a UMS mark?

A UMS (Uniform Mark Scale) mark is a conversion of your raw mark onto a fixed scale, and it is the number your grade is calculated from. Pearson explains that UMS grade boundaries are fixed while raw mark boundaries may change each exam session, so the UMS makes results from an easier paper and a harder paper worth the same.

Think of it as a currency exchange. Your raw mark is the local currency of one particular paper, in one particular session. The UMS is the common currency every session converts into, so a June performance and an October performance can be added together fairly when your overall grade is calculated.

This is why your results slip never shows your raw mark. For modular qualifications like the IAL, the statement of results always shows the UMS mark — the raw mark stays behind the scenes unless you go looking for it.

How are raw marks converted to UMS?

Senior examiners set the raw boundaries for each session, and each raw boundary is then mapped onto the fixed UMS boundary for that grade. In June 2026, the a boundary for Chemistry Unit 1 (WCH11) was 59 out of 80 raw marks, which converts to 96 out of 120 UMS — exactly 80%. On Biology Unit 1 (WBI11), the a boundary was 58/80, converting to the same 96 UMS.

Between two boundaries, marks are spaced out proportionally, so a raw mark a third of the way from the b boundary to the a boundary lands roughly a third of the way from 84 to 96 UMS. Pearson does not publish a single formula for the in-between marks — the published boundaries are the anchor points, and the converter fills in the rest.

Here is what that means in practice for June 2026. On WCH12 (Chemistry Unit 2), the main paper's a boundary was 65/80, while the 2A variant's was 49/80. Both convert to 96 UMS. A 16-mark difference in raw marks, worth nothing at all in UMS — that is the system compensating for a harder paper, and it is why comparing raw marks with a friend who sat a different variant tells you nothing.

If you want to see every Biology and Chemistry boundary for this series in one place, they are all in my June 2026 IAL grade boundaries breakdown.

Why you can't just multiply your raw mark

There is no single multiplier that turns a raw mark into UMS, because the conversion bends at every grade boundary. Students often try dividing the UMS maximum by the raw maximum and scaling up — on an 80-mark, 120-UMS paper that would mean multiplying by 1.5 — but that only gives the right answer by coincidence.

Pearson's own worked example shows how sharply the conversion can bend. On A level Biology Unit 1 taken in summer 2013, a raw mark of 36 converted to 36 UMS, while 37 converted to 39 UMS — meaning UMS marks of 37 and 38 were impossible to score on that paper. One raw mark was worth three UMS at that point on the scale, and one raw mark elsewhere on the same paper was worth one.

So treat any mental shortcut as a rough sketch at best. The published boundaries, and a converter built from them, are the only reliable route from raw to UMS.

How many UMS do you need for each grade?

On every 120-UMS IAL science unit, the UMS boundaries are the same in every session: 96 for an a, 84 for a b, 72 for a c, 60 for a d and 48 for an e. Pearson confirms that for IALs, 80% of the UMS is the boundary for an A, 70% for a B, and so on, with A* awarded for 90% of the UMS across the IA2 units together with 80% across all units.

The full picture for IAL Biology and Chemistry:

The A on the full A level is not a separate UMS total: you need at least 480 UMS overall and at least 90% of the UMS available across your A2 units — for Biology and Chemistry, that means 270 of the 300 A2 UMS. A student with 250 A2 UMS and a huge AS score still gets an A; a student with 272 A2 UMS and 480 overall gets the A*.

Because these numbers never move, they are worth memorising early in the course — every mock you sit can be translated into UMS and tracked against them. If you are building that kind of revision system, my IAL Biology and Chemistry notes eBooks are organised unit by unit around exactly these targets.

Where to find your raw mark

Your raw mark is never printed on your results slip — the slip shows UMS only, so you have two routes to the raw number. Pearson notes that exams officers can download raw marks from the Component Mark List on Edexcel Online, and students with ResultsPlus access can see the raw mark on the question paper screen.

In practice, ResultsPlus is the faster route, and it gives you something the slip cannot: your mark question by question. That breakdown tells you which topics cost you marks, which is far more useful for planning a resit than the headline number.

If your school has not set you up on ResultsPlus, ask your exams officer for your component raw marks directly — they can read them off the same report.

Resits and UMS: what carries into October 2026

Your UMS mark for each unit is banked, and when you resit, Pearson states that you can resit IAL units as many times as you want, and your overall grade uses your best result from your two most recent attempts under the same candidate identifier. Read that carefully: it is the best of your two most recent attempts, not your best ever — a detail that catches out students planning a third attempt.

The practical upside is that a resit can only be judged against your most recent sittings, and a strong June UMS in one unit sits safely in the bank while you retake another. So if one unit let your total down this summer, October 2026 is the repair window, and the UMS table above tells you precisely how many marks you are chasing.

If that is your plan for the sciences, structured unit-by-unit preparation makes the difference: my IAL AS Chemistry course and IAL AS Biology course both rebuild each unit around the mark schemes examiners work from. And if you are unsure whether a resit is the right call for your UMS position, message me on WhatsApp at +965 5137 5709 or email admin@chem-bio.info — bring your unit UMS marks and I will tell you what the numbers say.

FAQ

How do I convert my raw mark to UMS for Edexcel IAL? Use a converter built from Pearson's published grade boundaries, or read your raw mark against the boundary table for your exact unit and session. The raw boundaries map onto fixed UMS boundaries, and marks in between are spaced proportionally.

Can I just multiply my raw mark to get my UMS? No — the conversion changes gradient at every grade boundary, so a single multiplier gives the wrong answer on most papers. Pearson's own example shows two consecutive raw marks converting three UMS apart.

How many UMS do I need for an A* in IAL Biology or Chemistry? You need at least 480 of the 600 UMS overall and at least 270 of the 300 UMS across the A2 units (Units 4–6). There is no A* requirement on the AS units themselves.

Do my UMS marks carry over if I resit in October 2026? Yes — each unit's UMS is banked, and your overall grade is calculated from your best result of your two most recent attempts at each unit. Units you are happy with stay untouched while you resit the others.