BTEC Guide to Lower 6th Subsidiary Diploma in Music Performance

 This article has been adapted from Donna Hollick's Coulsdon College guide to BTEC Grading for BTEC RQF Certificate in Travel & Tourism, Sept 2020

You are studying the BTEC Level 3 QCF Subsidiary Diploma in Music Performance. Your qualification size is 60 credits and is equivalent in size to an A Level.  You will be studying 6 units across two years, all of which are assessed by internally-marked coursework. 

The following overall grades can be awarded for the certificate:

• Pass 
• Merit 
• Distinction
• Distinction*

Your 3 Lower 6th Units are:

• Unit 23 – Music Performance Techniques 
• Unit 40 - Working and Developing as a Music Ensemble
• Unit 22 - Music Performance Session Styles

You will be assessed for all of these units by internal coursework.

The marks below show how many points you will get for each grade. 

 

IMPORTANT - HOW YOUR GRADE IS CALCULATED

Each unit has 3 or more tasks and your work for each task is graded at Pass, Merit or Distinction.

For example, here are the grades for Unit 23: 

You must achieve all the criteria to get a Distinction for the whole unit (P1, P2, P3, M1, M2, M3, D1, D2, D3)

all the Pass and Merits to get a Merit, (P1, P2, P3, M1, M2, M3)

and all the Passes to get a Pass (P1, P2, P3)

If you get all the Pass grades and all of the Distinctions, but only 2 of the Merits – your overall unit grade will be a Pass. 

Calculating your overall grade for the Subsidiary Diploma

To calculate your overall grade, the points from all 6 units studied across 2 years are added together to give you your overall grade (e.g. Units 23 + 40 + 22 + your 3 units studied in the 2nd year). 

E.g. Lower 6th Units

Unit 23 - Merit = 8

Unit 40 - Distinction = 9

Unit 22 - Merit = 8

Upper 6th Units

Unit X - Merit = 8

Unit Y - Distinction = 9

Unit Z - Merit = 8

Your total points are = 50. 

This number is now multiplied by 10 to give your qualification grade = 500 points overall

Practice time!

1. Agatha gets 3 Passes and 3 Merits - what is her grade overall?

2. Rupert got 2 Distinctions, 2 Merits and 2 Passes – what was his overall grade?

3. Mabel got 5 Distinctions and 1 Merit – what was her grade overall?

4. Cliff got 4 Passes and 2 Merits - what grade did he achieved overall?

5. Priya got 2 Distinctions, 3 Passes and 1 Merit – what grade did Priya gain overall?

Stretch and Challenge

Please give your target grade that you would like to achieve at the end of the year and give 3 strategies you will use to achieve this!

Target Grade – 

Strategies:

1)

2)

3)