Reply With QuoteSome think not...
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standa...now/article.do
Congratulations to all those with straight As at A-Level.
But when I did A-Levels, in the late 1980s, only about three people got straight As out of hundreds at my entire Sixth Form College.
It was about the same the year before, and also the year after.
Were we just a very stupid generation?
Some think not...
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standa...now/article.do
Nope. A-levels are just ridiculously easy now. I'm pretty sure we've had a few threads ranting about this before, but it can't hurt to have another one.
I did A-levels in the late 90s, just before the switch over to the silly new AS system. Since I had good teachers, that involved doing past papers from the 80s, and even 70s, rather than just the ones provided as sample papers by the examinnig board. I can say with absolute certainty that the old papers were much, much harder than anything we had to do. The main difference was that you actually needed to understand what you were doing, whereas now you are led by the nose through every part of a question and pretty much told exactly what bit of memorised stuff you need to parrot. Even when I went to university the lecturers all complanied about how little maths most people knew, and the situation just keeps getting worse.
No just a stupid VIth form college.Originally Posted by Jack of Kent
At my selective school quite a few got straight As in the late 80s, I wasn't among them though.
However I think I'd be silly to deny that more people are getting As today than in my time. Apart from anything else the idea of an "A star" would have been completely superfluous in my time.
In part I agree with Cuddles that when we did past papers there were topics on the much older exams that we hadn't covered and didn't know how to. However where I disagree is that the structure of the questions I saw were very similar year to year, requiring the same amount of understanding.
I took A levels in 1990 (Maths) and 1991 (further Maths, Physics and Chemistry) The past papers I'm refering to were in Maths and Further Maths
That's not what I meant. Obviously syllabuses change, and there were some subjects which we hadn't covered and therefore couldn't do. What I was referring to, however, were the same subjects being treated very differently. In the 80s and early 90s, you had to understand what you were doing. In the late 90s, you had to parrot each part of the question when it told you to. Now, you pretty much just have to remember to turn up.
Just about the same ones I did. The difference being that the exams you sat are the ones I'm refering to as past papers.I took A levels in 1990 (Maths) and 1991 (further Maths, Physics and Chemistry) The past papers I'm referring to were in Maths and Further Maths
What criteria do they use when deciding on grades?
When I did O-Levels (late 70s) they were graded on a basis of the percentage of pupils expected to get each grade (or so we were told): it was thought that the proportion of 'A', 'B', 'C' or whatever pupils in each year would be the same, and the pass mark for each grade was adjusted accordingly. I'm not sure if this also applied to A-Levels, or whether the numbers taking them wouldn't have been big enough to reliably use the same approach.
Although I came close to it, in the end I never did go on to 6th form and sit A-levels when I left school in '86, but i had several friends who did. Bearing in mind that we'd all been in the top group for every lesson they all said that A-levels were difficult and required a lot of work, something that doesn't seem to be the case these days.
What is a pass mark now?
My son just got his straight 'A' results for A levels (Maths, Chemistry, Biology & Geology) and is very, very chuffed. His point (and he's probably cleverer than me) is that he can only sit what's put in from of him. He then launched into a long explanation about grade boundaries, the resitting of modules allowed under the current system, the fixing of coursework and getting marks when you get the answer wrong.
I'm not sure that the content of the A level my son has just taken is any easier than those I took thirty years ago (although I can only compare the maths directly) but the modular system, coursework, marking strategies, staged exams and resits make it much easier to get the top marks.
I wonder also whether there is still political pressure to manipulate grade boundaries - this has been an accusation in previous years?
"No statement should be believed because it is made by an authority." Robert Heinlein
I believe that the point of any exam is that there is a real chance that one can fail it.
Is my belief now controversial?
Is "all should have prizes" a fair characterization of the opposite point of view?
Ah yes...you're not supposed to have winners and losers at school any more are you?
24 people at my school, out of about 120, including 5 with 4 As
Proof of the fall in standards could be heard on the radio at lunchtime. Some A level students committing numerous logical fallacies by claiming that A levels couldn't possilby be any easier to pass because they had to work really hard to pass them.
Last edited by FarSideOfTheMoon; 14th August 2008 at 01:08 PM.
Were you one of them? I somehow suspect you would not know that fact otherwise..24 people at my school, out of about 120, including 5 with 4 As
It would appear to me that you now have to work really hard to fail them...
Given that over 97% of students passed, if you remember to turn up to the exam, you pass.
I thought I heard something on the radio the other day that the 97% pass rate covers grades A-E.
Now, I made be old-fashioned or just plain wrong, but I thought only grades A to C were passes? Or has my CV been wrong all these years and I in fact have 7 O-levels and not 4...?
Of course....but then this was in N Ireland. The highest rates of achievement in the UK traditionally (or it certainly used to be), but also the highest levels of people leaving school with nothing.Were you one of them? I somehow suspect you would not know that fact otherwise..
Selective education - you get the best 30% at age 11 in the grammar schools, and then after 16, even more filtering as the ones not suited for A levels get encouraged to go do bricklaying or hairdressing at the local technical college.
I think the combination of motivated pupils and teachers means you end up with an environment where high achievement is normal. These days someone might even call it a 'high performance culture'.
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