No wonder A-Levels mean and are worth squat

Hatter The Mad

Hatter The Mad

Hatter The Mad

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/education/09/exam_results/a_levels/html/all_subjects.stm

I don't know how anyone can look at this and think that the results are normal, or in any way represent a good qualification system. A-Levels are just too easy, it is a fact. If this was a fair or useful qualification system (to filter the best from the worst), we'd see a bell curve.

GCSE results are distributed normally: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/education/09/exam_results/gcse_fc/html/all_subjects.stm

So why not A-levels?

Is it a problem with over specialisation? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/education/09/exam_results/a_levels/html/mathematics.stm

Perhaps it is: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/education/09/exam_results/a_levels/html/critical_thinking.stm - the majority of school kids don't know if they are "good" at critical thinking (the A-Level subject) before picking it, so we see a more normal distribution.
 
UNfortunately, it really is still a bell curve grading system, they just renamed C to an A, d to B and so on, so you're only seeing half the curve anymore :p

Exam's are easier, teaching is far far more focused on ONLY things you get tested on. They teach you to pass a test now, they don't teach you useful knowledge, exams are easier and almost every exam year to year is identical, similar questions, similar styles, similar numbers just slight changes. You get years of papers to practice the exact method of passing and only some slight number changes(say in a maths exam) when you take the real test. The problem being maths is about the method, the numbers are easy, its how you use the numbers and they basically tell you what the questions will be before you take the test.

Its all a joke, the government want people in education longer because, shockingly, its like creating more fake jobs. Rather than 16yr olds going to get jobs in mines, and car factories and chemical plants and other manufacturing jobs. Its easier to have them learn nothing for a further 5-6 years.
 
drunkenmaster said:
Its all a joke, the government want people in education longer because, shockingly, its like creating more fake jobs. Rather than 16yr olds going to get jobs in mines, and car factories and chemical plants and other manufacturing jobs. Its easier to have them learn nothing for a further 5-6 years.
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You want them to get jobs in mines?
 
What made me smile the other was the chap from the governement saying how this year is a peak for the most amount of people entering higher education, I couldn't help but think what proportion of people were entering into the so called 'mickey mouse' degrees, and if you take those out of the equation what the figures would look like.
 
Having just taken My GCSE's. They aren't getting easier, maybe not that much harder, but they certainly arn't getting easier - for instance I had to revise from December to June to get my 10A* and 1A out of the 11 I took.

Having looked through many past papers, I'd have to agree that they have the same structure of the exam, but the questions are worded differently.

Reason why they don't teach you anything else is because school is too target orientated. Having taken Spanish, what good is it if I can describe my school to an A grade level, when I really need to be able to complain, and try to solve problems that I may encounter on my holiday there.

I'd also have to agree that college isn't for everyone and that people shouldn't be forced into doing something that they arguably don't want to do and would disrupt everything that goes on.

The exams may appear easier as teaching has got better, as the resources have. I doubt many people could brag about having a touch sensitive interactive smart board could they? And the power of the internet, pod casts etc. - Thats the real reason why exams are getting better, because year after year they will be a increase in intelligence and any mistakes that occurred in the previous year would be solved by the next.
 
sjcf1 said:
Having just taken My GCSE's. They aren't getting easier, maybe not that much harder, but they certainly arn't getting easier - for instance I had to revise from December to June to get my 10A* and 1A out of the 11 I took.
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Yes they are. Try take a GCSE paper from 10 years ago, or an O-Level paper from 20 years ago. Sorry to rain on your parade - I am sure you worked hard and did well, but they are getting easier
 
It's brilliant. It really is. The government sets targets for children and older teenagers. As a result, teachers are being pushed by their seniors to drill the curriculum into each individual in the class so they can meet the targets set. When they have met the targets, it's scrutinized and picked apart by the media and general members of the public until a new more radical way is introduced to test a students understanding in the subject matter. And when this new exam type is introduced the cycle will continue. New records will be set, the media will report, general public will follow.

It’s a slap in the face. We should be encouraging and supportive of those who have received excellent exam results.
 
I doubt it, if we were taught it - as the material would be different from what we've taken, I'm sure that you'd find a similar number of us getting the marks what we did now. But trying to force a person of my age to do the exams that we've just done to do them again would be no easy task.

I've actually been reading a Chemistry A level book, made in 1975 - like most cool people do on their holiday, and I have to say there's not a great deal of things that I don't understand in the book.

If society was going to solve this, they'd give current students a paper from back then, and adults a paper from now. I can tell you that some people would have a hard time doing the papers that we've done.
 
sjcf1 said:
Reason why they don't teach you anything else is because school is too target orientated. Having taken Spanish, what good is it if I can describe my school to an A grade level, when I really need to be able to complain, and try to solve problems that I may encounter on my holiday there.
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Taking your Spanish as an example, pupils are no longer deducted marks for the misspelling of words in foreign language GCSE exams. I mean if you can't even spell the foreign words correctly, what good is an A* if you then actually use that language (written) in a job later?

"Silver Plates" and "Murky Buckets" would probably still get you full marks in a French exam :rolleyes:
 
To get an A* you are only allowed a few occasional omissions. 1 or 2 mistakes in a page long piece of coursework. Putting something that's obviously wrong will get your marks downgraded severely. I managed to fall foul of that
 
sjcf1 said:
Having just taken My GCSE's. They aren't getting easier, maybe not that much harder, but they certainly arn't getting easier - for instance I had to revise from December to June to get my 10A* and 1A out of the 11 I took.
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Completely disagree. I got 5 and a half A*s, 2 and a half As, a B and an A at an AS at the end of year 11 and it really didn't require constant revision. Few days before the exam reading textbooks and that was enough.

A Level is a bit harder but I've came through the first year with 3As and a B (very close to an A though) in non-doss subjects. I'd honestly sort of argee with the notion that they do seem to be getting easier, but it's not exactly a simple thing to quantify.
 
I don't understand this instant over-specialisation, personally. We give students the option to study THREE subjects and then ONE subject for the rest of their education. That's it. I swear this is the only first world country on the planet in which education doesn't carry ten subjects all the way through to university and sometimes beyond.

Why isn't doing a foreign language compulsory? Hell why isn't doing two of them compulsory?
 
Killerkebab said:
Why isn't doing a foreign language compulsory? Hell why isn't doing two of them compulsory?
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Many reasons. They're either just not useful to some people or those students simply don't want to take those subjects/aren't good enough at them.

Why would foriegn language be deemed so necessary over everything else?
 
Universities prefer it if you have a foreign language. Why people think they should be compulsory is due to the fact that you'd learn to respect another language and its culture.
 
sjcf1 said:
Universities prefer it if you have a foreign language. Why people think they should be compulsory is due to the fact that you'd learn to respect another language and its culture.
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Do they?

I personally don't see the point. Anyway, it would be wasted on me, I grew up around two languages. I only learnt English though ;)
 
sjcf1 said:
Having just taken My GCSE's. They aren't getting easier, maybe not that much harder, but they certainly arn't getting easier - for instance I had to revise from December to June to get my 10A* and 1A out of the 11 I took.
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I'm afraid I disagree with you on this...I've been in education for a long long time now, and I see the exam papers year on year going back over 30 years. Theres no doubt at all that the exam papers of today are easier, and continuing to get easier.

Having said that, as a student you can only 'beat' whats put in front of you so your grades are still something you should be proud of.
 
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