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The 20+yr old GCSE Thread!

Oxbow

Oxbow

Oxbow

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Now for those who have just received their results, congratulations, and I hope you all received the grades you were hoping for. Please note, this thread is in no way to detract from your celebrations, its more of a reminice thread for the over 20s and to look into the medias ever increasing claims that GCSE's are compounded (Year on year) getting easier.

Firstly, my understanding is as follows:-

The fundamentals of GCSE's are quite clear. Within the confines of a syllabus, the modules studied should (in theory) be the same today as they were 10 years ago. Maths, Science, English, as core subjects, maybe French, Business Studies, Music as options with the exceptions of say IT where technology is ever changing, would an exam paper from 10 years ago really be harder than the papers sat for the same subjects in June 2006?

No, I personally do not think so. How could they be?

What I do believe though is current students abilities in an exponentially changing society. How many 20+ somethings who sat their GCSE's in 1998 or earlier, had access to the internet for research and study? None.

How may students jumped onto Windows XP, Office (Access, Excel, Word) and produced exceptional eye candy reports? None

How many students used photoshop to help design smart logos for coursework and the like? None

Yet look how many 16 year olds use these forums!

In my opinion, its safe to say that I don't think the exams are getting easier, but the methods behind the revision and coursework grades is allowing the grades to be obtained easier.

What are your thoughts? Do you agree, disagree or have a different view on why the exams are supposedly easier?
 
can remember when I did my GCSE's the only thing I used for revision was the notebooks that I used in the lessons, at no time did i buy books on anything apart from when I did myA levels they made us get this business studies book.

At the time the net was't realy avalible but if it were I don't think i'd use it for revisions unless I could download practice papers etc.

But looking at GCSE's now it seem they have a lot more choice in the subjects, back when I did them you had to choose a lanaguage now you don't have to. Then you've got the IT subject etc. Generaly I think the exams are of the same standard it's just that the students can now pick the subjects they know and like as opposed to being forced to pick subjects they have no motivation for.

Also my GCSE's were based purly on the final exams where as today I think they have course work to goes towards the final grade. Which I think makes things a little easier.
 
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Both Latin and Maths have definitely become easier.

Latin GCSE papers from the later 80s and early 90s are used for A level revision.

Maths GCSE and A level are easier, lots of topics have been moved from GCSE -> A level and A level -> further. Also the questions are more straight forward, it's more like putting numbers into a formula than actually having to think about it, they're usually broken down a lot more too.
 
Ok I took my GCSE's a few years after 1998 but I certainly had access to the internet, blah blah blah etc etc. Computers have been around for many years, and I was making fancy reports in 1996 :p
 
Biohazard said:
how?
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RedIndian.jpg


How to you too
 
I did my GCSE's 6 years ago now and even at that time they were very very easy. I really can't remember doing any revision for my GCSE's, most days in the exam period were spent down at the beach, getting high after the mornings exam. I ended up with 5 a's, 2 b's and 3 c's, which is quite shocking considering the amount of work I did (or lack of).

On the other hand I agree with my school not teaching some of the subjects like dance/drama a-levels - (Subjects that are on the LSE blacklist). Even though it narrowed down the choice of options you had.

A-level on the other hand were quite a step up and I did study for those (Physics, Biology and Chemistry) but when I was given old physics papers from 10+ years ago I really did not have a clue.

I am not sure if that is because standards have dropped or not because the syllabus has changed so much. You can't really comment unless you see the papers today which people sit for comparison. From my experience of the really old physics papers and my dads maths books, the level at which they got examined looked higher than mine did when I took my exams, but this may just be because the material I covered was different.
 
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Sorry if this thread was aimed at a different age group but I felt obliged to chip in my £0.02 worth as I picked up my results yesterday :)

Oxbow said:
What I do believe though is current student’s abilities in an exponentially changing society.
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Personally, I feel students are doing better academically as time goes on. I think there's a greater emphasis on how qualifications like these benefit later in life and most students want to do well!

Oxbow said:
How may students jumped onto Windows XP, Office (Access, Excel, Word) and produced exceptional eye candy reports? None

How many students used photoshop to help design smart logos for coursework and the like? None
Click to expand...

While your statements are very true, our teachers ran a tight ship as far as coursework is concerned - everything had to be handwritten, including graphs. The exam board also require you to sign for it confirming the work completed is your own and to list any other sources you've used for information. Obviously there's nothing stopping students copying/ rewording stuff they've found on the web; however, if they find out you run the risk of being booted from not just that subject but every other subject with that exam board.

As far as revision goes, I have problems motivating myself to do work if I'm on the computer - find myself on the forums instead :p I found it much easier to sit in my room, stick some beets on and break out the notes I'd made in lessons.

There are past papers avaliable on the AQA website.
 
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Well i am 25 and i've just redone my english GCSE as i needed it to to a MPharm course. Since i sat the exam in 96 and gained a d grade and to now gettin a b grade i think the ability to use the internet and have full access to a computer made a huge difference as my coursework was 100% better (presented and alos more in depth).

I do overall think that people today realise how far you can really go with good grades though.
 
Biohazard said:
:D :D

lol just wondered as he'd just started a thread :confused: me confugsled :eek:
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By the looks of it he was banned about 10 minutes after he started the thread :D

I would imagine dual accounts, or someone banned trying to sign up again which is just a variation on dual accounts.
 
i did my gcse's 7 years ago, I went to a grammar school and only a couple of highly exceptional students got over 5 A's, getting like 11 A*'s was just unheard of. I personally got an A and 8 B's.

I was unfortunate enough to do Maths A level 5 years ago, before they changed the system around to all this AS level stuff. I can tell you now, that was a damn hard course, again, in a class of 15 above average intelligence kids, not one person got a A. I got a D, which I was really annoyed with at the time as I was hoping for a C, but when I look back through some of the work that was involved to even get that grade, I am astounded. Far harder than anything I had to do during my 4 years at uni. The pure mathematics 3 paper was just mind boggling.


Do I think they are getting any easier? Absolutely. They must be. Surely it's not some kind of darwinian hyper evolution, where every year, the human race is getting smarter. Far from it, kids leaving school now, from what one reads in the press, are getting dumber.
 
Are exams getting easier? NO.

On the other hand I do believe coursework has had a large effect on the grades people get. This is where I think the problem lies. Coursework is not checked enough and there is too much of it. There is way too much help given for coursework and I do believe it should be either scrapped or reduced drastically. I have to say (even though it upsets people a lot) exams are much better at working out someones knowledge about a subject. They cant just look it up on the internet, they have to actually know it. :eek: Subjects such as English and practical courses (DT etc) will always have to have coursework but others should not.

I also think you need to narrow down to specific subjects when talking about A's and A*'s achieved, just saying 20% of people got them is not enough. No matter what people say some exams are by far easier than others. I did business studies at GCSE (higher paper) and 1/3 of the questions were multiple choice! Needless to say I came out with an A. If you look at the statistics for each subject they vary widely, for example maths 13.2% of people got an A or A* whereas in Drama, PE, media studies people are getting in excess of 20%. Yes I know they are usually chosen subjects but that is still rather high dont you think.

The same is relevent for AS/A levels different subjects get different amounts of A's. I took Maths, Physics and Chemistry, now out of around 22 people only 3 A's were gained (2 by the same person in different subjects). Now take a subject such as Psycology I had about 4 friends doing this subject, all got A's as well as about 35-40% of their classmates. A similar thing in PE. My sister got full marks in her AS practical coursework for doing basic manouvers and showing a reasonable proficiency the sport she chose.

There is just to much difference between the difficulty of subjects for both GCSE and A level. That I think is the problem.

*Awaits flaming* :rolleyes:

BTW I am 20 so just on the edge :D
 
nealw said:
i did my gcse's 7 years ago, I went to a grammar school and only a couple of highly exceptional students got over 5 A's, getting like 11 A*'s was just unheard of. I personally got an A and 8 B's.

I was unfortunate enough to do Maths A level 5 years ago, before they changed the system around to all this AS level stuff. I can tell you now, that was a damn hard course, again, in a class of 15 above average intelligence kids, not one person got a A. I got a D, which I was really annoyed with at the time as I was hoping for a C, but when I look back through some of the work that was involved to even get that grade, I am astounded. Far harder than anything I had to do during my 4 years at uni. The pure mathematics 3 paper was just mind boggling.


Do I think they are getting any easier? Absolutely. They must be. Surely it's not some kind of darwinian hyper evolution, where every year, the human race is getting smarter. Far from it, kids leaving school now, from what one reads in the press, are getting dumber.
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I know for sure that Alevel maths has got easier. Ive done a few early 90s papers, and they are much much MUCH harder. They made you work damn hard just a pass, let alone get a good grade. Where as the syallbus that I took made it very easy to get a pass (E grade), and anything above this required work. I only got a C, but tbh, I didnt do much work. They've now made the whole system even easier. 'C1' is a joke compared to P1.
Its the same story for physics (although this isnts quite as straight forward. The exam material has changed more than gotten easier)
They've also allowed unlimited resits of units, making it easier still.


GCSEs have gone the same way, they ARE easier. It doesnt take a genius to see that the exams standards have declined over the years.
I think coursework should be scrapped altogather asap, or limit its percentage of the final mark to under 10% in total.
 
Amp34 said:
Are exams getting easier? NO.

On the other hand I do believe coursework has had a large effect on the grades people get. This is where I think the problem lies. Coursework is not checked enough and there is too much of it. There is way too much help given for coursework and I do believe it should be either scrapped or reduced drastically. I have to say (even though it upsets people a lot) exams are much better at working out someones knowledge about a subject. They cant just look it up on the internet, they have to actually know it. :eek: Subjects such as English and practical courses (DT etc) will always have to have coursework but others should not.

I also think you need to narrow down to specific subjects when talking about A's and A*'s achieved, just saying 20% of people got them is not enough. No matter what people say some exams are by far easier than others. I did business studies at GCSE (higher paper) and 1/3 of the questions were multiple choice! Needless to say I came out with an A. If you look at the statistics for each subject they vary widely, for example maths 13.2% of people got an A or A* whereas in Drama, PE, media studies people are getting in excess of 20%. Yes I know they are usually chosen subjects but that is still rather high dont you think.

The same is relevent for AS/A levels different subjects get different amounts of A's. I took Maths, Physics and Chemistry, now out of around 22 people only 3 A's were gained (2 by the same person in different subjects). Now take a subject such as Psycology I had about 4 friends doing this subject, all got A's as well as about 35-40% of their classmates. A similar thing in PE. My sister got full marks in her AS practical coursework for doing basic manouvers and showing a reasonable proficiency the sport she chose.

There is just to much difference between the difficulty of subjects for both GCSE and A level. That I think is the problem.

*Awaits flaming* :rolleyes:

BTW I am 20 so just on the edge :D
Click to expand...

I agree with you about the coursework, to a certain extent. Coursework is generally regarded far too highly. To base 25%+ of the final grade on it is a joke. I remember GCSE coursework, and it was nothing more than a stealing work from the internet or books, and editing it slightly. I'm sure I copied most of mine from my friends, but my teachers didnt care, and I got easy marks.

The same thing happens in Alevel, but I mainly did edexcel syallabus', so I never had ANY coursework for any of my subjects. I really wish I did at the time, as its a good safety net, allowing you to do less work for the same grade. Its a little annoying that the people that had coursework could had it easier...
 
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