In many assessments, the establishment of an appropriate pass mark is key to the exam’s reliability as a means of decision-making. But how do we establish the score that we expect a borderline student to achieve and thus be confident that the selection of a particular pass mark has been correct? That is, how do we set a ‘standard’? Such questions become increasingly pertinent in an age of heightened student expectation and raised student fees coupled with increased time-pressures upon teaching staff in an HE sector concerned with the threat of litigation. However, these questions are self-standing as the cornerstones of academic teaching and student learning and thus warrant answering in their own right. A standard can be defined as a judgment made about performance against a social or educational construct and is thus an abstract borderline position that determines the difference between acceptable and unacceptable performance (Kane, 1994; Norcini 2003). Therefore, as a simple definition, a standard-set exam will not establish the position of this border via a fixed mark on an observed scale. A number of relative and absolute methods exist to determine this border and each has particular merits that range from the defensible to the feasible. As such decisions delineate the competency level or grading of a student, they can have substantial impact upon future careers and should not be treated lightly. Practices for setting a pass mark vary across the sector, but an absolute requirement by the General Medical Council for “valid and reliable methods to standard-setting” as outlined in their 2009 document ‘Tomorrow’s Doctors: outcomes and standards for undergraduate medical education’ has focused attention on this issue for many physiologists and life scientists engaged with teaching and assessing medical students. It thus appears timely to review the position of such formal standard setting practices in other, non-professional exams. This introductory talk will outline the range of such methods that can be applied to assessments and will aim to convince of their merits whilst pointing out potential limitations for their adoption and usage across all academic subjects.