Annual 'a' Level Results Slating Thread

[VinnieK]

I also wonder about some of the side effects of school league tables. The son of a friend who went to a private school was deliberately pulled out of certain courses he wanted to do because the school thought he would get low pass marks in them, which in turn effects their ranking. If this is a common practice it signals a move away from education to result management. Hopefully it was a 'one off'.

 

I don't doubt for a second that league tables have a bad effect on schools (as well as on universities where they're even more questionable), and there has certainly been a managerial attitude creeping into education for a while now with less than desirable results. I've heard of a couple of instances of schools acting as you've described, though I think it more commonly manifests by still further encouraging schools to coach instead of teach.

[conradthewoollyllama]

I honestly don't think they're getting easier, most of the work i do at A level is work my mum has no idea about. She finds it harder than anything she did for hers.

 

Every year they come out with this, it just demeens students and teachers. So teachers are doing their jobs? Students are actually working?!?!?! Shock horror! The exams surely must be easier!

 

In regard to the comment about universities being only half full if standards were the same, there's now a far wider range of courses, so some of them won't require the same academic levels as others. It doesn't mean standards are slipping, it just means there's larger opertunities for those who want to study vocations at a higher level of education.

[Jimcalagon]

I honestly don't think they're getting easier, most of the work i do at A level is work my mum has no idea about. She finds it harder than anything she did for hers.

 

Every year they come out with this, it just demeens students and teachers. So teachers are doing their jobs? Students are actually working?!?!?! Shock horror! The exams surely must be easier!

 

In regard to the comment about universities being only half full if standards were the same, there's now a far wider range of courses, so some of them won't require the same academic levels as others. It doesn't mean standards are slipping, it just means there's larger opertunities for those who want to study vocations at a higher level of education.

 

And has spelling become harder since your mum's day as well?

 

7/10 - must try harder.

[GD4ELI]

I honestly don't think they're getting easier, most of the work i do at A level is work my mum has no idea about. She finds it harder than anything she did for hers.

Just proves that bringing you up has addled your mother's brain cells, she must have experienced something terrible!

 

I got a good degree at university - can't remember a single course I studied.

[conradthewoollyllama]

Ah, i didn't realise spelling had to be 100% correct, my fault. I'll assume then that everyone who made any spelling mistakes automatically got a U 20 years ago?

 

None of my A levels are actually relevant to english language, they do however require alot of hard work. What's your experience with the A level system now? Or are you just assuming they're easier because that's what the paper told you?

[GD4ELI]

None of my A levels are actually relevant to english language

You mean that you don't expect to have to write properly in the future? Just going to grunt at people?

 

The members of the forum expect proper spelling, grammar and a bow-tie at all times.

[conradthewoollyllama]

You mean that you don't expect to have to write properly in the future? Just going to grunt at people?

 

The members of the forum expect proper spelling, grammar and a bow-tie at all times.

 

I mean that i don't need to be completely accurate with my spelling at all times. I'm pretty sure you got the gist of what i meant there. At least i'm typing in text or leet speak

 

I notice you avoided the section about your experience with the current A levels. So could you possibly divulge how you know so much about the slipping standards?

[Jimcalagon]

Ah, i didn't realise spelling had to be 100% correct, my fault. I'll assume then that everyone who made any spelling mistakes automatically got a U 20 years ago?

 

None of my A levels are actually relevant to english language, they do however require alot of hard work. What's your experience with the A level system now? Or are you just assuming they're easier because that's what the paper told you?

 

When I got my A-Levels, back in the mists of pre-history, you lost marks in any subject for poor spelling and punctuation. Surely if those things are no longer included in the marking scheme and you are only tested on the subject then the exams are by definition easier?

 

Also, in my day, only a few subjects included coursework as part of the exam. You just went into a room and answered questions at the end of the course to prove that you could remember what you had been taught.

 

Yes, lots of hard work may be involved nowadays but, as there is much more emphasis on coursework, which can be done at home with textbooks and the internet to pinch from paraphrase, the exams are easier for people who don't mind sitting down and churning out pages of waffle.

 

As I am a lazy bugger, I'm sure if I was at school today my grades would suffer because coursework was always a major chore for me - my main strength was being pretty good at assimilating information and putting it on paper in exams which, it seems, is no longer what education is about.

[Jimcalagon]

You mean that you don't expect to have to write properly in the future? Just going to grunt at people?

 

The members of the forum expect proper spelling, grammar and a bow-tie at all times.

 

I mean that i don't need to be completely accurate with my spelling at all times. I'm pretty sure you got the gist of what i meant there. At least i'm typing in text or leet speak

 

I notice you avoided the section about your experience with the current A levels. So could you possibly divulge how you know so much about the slipping standards?

 

Also you need to sharpen your comprehension skills - You asked me about experience with current a-levels, not GD4ELI

 

edit to add - I have two children in full-time education.

[conradthewoollyllama]

We are still marked on grammer, and spelling, but my subjects aren't relevant. So my spelling drags me down, but doesn't reflect on the skill needed for the exams.

 

The question about experience with A levels was actually addressed to you both.

 

So both your children are currently studying A level and you perfectly understand everything they're doing and feel your work was far harder? Is it possible that your looking back with all the hindsight you have, and the knowledge from your time in 'the real world' and deciding you did more at that age?

[Jimcalagon]

We are still marked on grammer, and spelling, but my subjects aren't relevant. So my spelling drags me down, but doesn't reflect on the skill needed for the exams.

 

 

Yeah, good luck with that then.

[conradthewoollyllama]

I'm not saying that my spelling or grammer are good, i know they're not and that's not the point of my argument. I just don't think that A level standards are slipping.

 

I've worked extremely hard to get the grades that i need to get where i want to be. I don't think it's fair that people who aren't taking the exams claim that it's easy to get good results.

[Cambon]

None of my A levels are actually relevant to english language, they do however require alot of hard work. What's your experience with the A level system now? Or are you just assuming they're easier because that's what the paper told you?

 

My niece is taking 4 "A" levels next year. In my day you could not take 4 at once, it was not possible, it would have been far too much work. Last year, the same niece passed 10 GCSEs, 9 with A or A* ratings. When I took my GCEs it was not possible to take more than 8 at once and you had to be seriously clever before they would let you. In fact, I only took 8 subjects at school, including P.E. which you could not take a GCE in.

 

There were a fair number of examination boards back then. GCEs were seen as better qualifications that CSEs, RSAs etc. In fact CSEs and RSA were almost seen as exams for thickies by comparison. This caused problems with school leavers, only people who had GCEs got good jobs and places at university. People with CSEs might go to technical college if they were lucky but may as well have just joined the dole queue.

 

The government at the time (in their wisdom) then decided that they would combine the examinations board into one and just have one type of exam called a GCSE. This would remove the stigma attached to the lesser exams. My eldest nephew was one of the first people to take a GCSE. He had done all mock GCEs and felt cheated after sitting his GCSEs because they were too easy by comparison. He passed all of them with flying colours but felt he need not have bothered studying.

 

The next thing the government did was to award all technical colleges university status because a diploma from a technical college was never seen as being as good as a diploma from a university, again trying to remove the stigma. All it did was to make it more difficult for employers to get the best staff.

 

However, back to "O" and "A" levels. Prior to marking of papers, a government body reviews a sample and decides what the pass mark is going to be, and at what point different grades are reached. I don't know the figures for this year, but I know that the French GCSE pass mark for a "C" grade 2 years ago was just 37%.

 

When interviewing for staff these days, I look at CVs, if the person does not have English Language, Maths, and three other subjects at "A" or "A*" they basically get disregarded.

 

out of time

[Domino]

Disregarding the sniping that has gone on up to now, it can't be very nice when a kid has really tried to do well and studied hard, to be told "Well done you've passed with good marks, but the certificate is virtually useless because the exam was easy.

[Jimcalagon]

My niece is taking 4 "A" levels next year. In my day you could not take 4 at once, it was not possible, it would have been far too much work. Last year, the same niece passed 10 GCSEs, 9 with A or A* ratings. When I took my GCEs it was not possible to take more than 8 at once and you had to be seriously clever before they would let you. In fact, I only took 8 subjects at school, including P.E. which you could not take a GCE in.

 

It was different at the school I went to in the early 80s - everybody did English Language 'O' level in fourth year (year9?) and then 9 other O-Levels in Fifth year.

In Lower Sixth, another 'O' Level whilst studying for 3 'A' Levels, then in Upper Sixth we took the three 'A' Levels we'd studied for plus the 'General Studies' A Level (which didn't require any studying as such but was just a sort of test of your intelligence and understanding of the world).