Newsbot Posted August 22, 2008 Share Posted August 22, 2008 Students on the Isle of Man are praised after passing a record 64.1% of their GCSE at grades A* to C. Source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/...man/7577154.stm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Tatlock Posted August 22, 2008 Share Posted August 22, 2008 I got three A*'s free when I opened up me Cornflakes this morning. I only need another 6 and I can exchange them for a mug. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tearz Posted August 22, 2008 Share Posted August 22, 2008 Every year the same questions are raised by the media asking if exams are getting easier etc. Is it just me that feels that the improvements in results could just as likely be attributed to improved teaching methods, better learning facilities and so on? Ps - my grades at school were certainly nothing to write home about I’m not trying to justify my eliteness or similar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celt Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 Every year the same questions are raised by the media asking if exams are getting easier etc. I think they are but i'd still like to congratulate the ones who passed and say well done and i hope it leads on to better things. At the end off the day, people can still try hard to get them results. The tying helps. :~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RC-Drift.com Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 It's a farce! I'd like to see a random group of students take an old 'O' level and see how 'easy' that is to pass There's no way you could have done 9 GCE's, there simply wasn't enough time in the day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebrof Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 Is it just me that feels that the improvements in results could just as likely be attributed to improved teaching methods, better learning facilities and so on? 'Fraid so. You and a few delusional teachers who think that not being able to spell one's own name should be no bar to the highest academic prizes. G Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcCann Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 Regardless of whether the exams are easier or not now the fact that pretty much everyone is passing makes it much harder to differentiate between levels of ability when looking to employ somebody. Surely this makes these qualifications utterly pointless, everyone may as well leave school with nothing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monasqueen Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 If I sign up for 24 GCSEs next year, and go in, sign and date the papers, how many passes will I get? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebrof Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 If I sign up for 24 GCSEs next year, and go in, sign and date the papers, how many passes will I get? 25 is my guess. S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ean Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 Is it just me that feels that the improvements in results could just as likely be attributed to improved teaching methods, better learning facilities and so on? 'Fraid so. You and a few delusional teachers who think that not being able to spell one's own name should be no bar to the highest academic prizes. G Hmm...GCSE's as the highest academic prize? Come again? You can take the piss all you like and be a bunch of "when I"'s if you must but why does it matter to you? Are you likely to be competing in any job market with the current crop of GCSE leavers? Are their qualifications ever going to impact on your life? The students can only sit the exams in front of them, the teachers can only teach the curriculum they are told to and the exam boards can only create exams suitable for that curriculum. The reason it matters to you so much is that you can belittle other people's achievements. This says a lot more about you than any exam result could ever say. Regardless of whether the exams are easier or not now the fact that pretty much everyone is passing makes it much harder to differentiate between levels of ability when looking to employ somebody. Surely this makes these qualifications utterly pointless, everyone may as well leave school with nothing I get your point but I question whether this really makes a difference. If one student has straight A*s and another has A*'s, A's and B's surely you are going to pick based on an interview, gut feeling, personality, whatever...not their exam results. Exam results are never the sole reason for employing a person but they do provide a marker for their ability...say the second student is up against someone with a majority of C's and a couple of D's then the exam results will come into play. That said I do think there needs to be a change to the current exam system. Teachers have obviously become used to the system and know how to teach their students to get the marks, rather than teaching the students to gain knowledge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebrof Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 Is it just me that feels that the improvements in results could just as likely be attributed to improved teaching methods, better learning facilities and so on? 'Fraid so. You and a few delusional teachers who think that not being able to spell one's own name should be no bar to the highest academic prizes. G Hmm...GCSE's as the highest academic prize? Come again? Didn't say that. Read again carefully, and re-take your written comprehension test. You can take the piss all you like and be a bunch of "when I"'s if you must but why does it matter to you? Are you likely to be competing in any job market with the current crop of GCSE leavers? Are their qualifications ever going to impact on your life? The students can only sit the exams in front of them, the teachers can only teach the curriculum they are told to and the exam boards can only create exams suitable for that curriculum. I presume from your attempted defence of the indefensible that you are either a teacher or a recent exam-taker. You are certainly not very clued-up, or you would know that the chief purpose of exams is to distinguish the lions from the lambs. I am interested in exam results because when I employ people I want to know what they are capable of. Exam results used to be a measure of that. Sadly, they no longer are. I take your point that some part of the blame must fall on the curriculum-setters, but most of it belongs to the exam boards. And, of course, the UK's useless government. The reason it matters to you so much is that you can belittle other people's achievements. This says a lot more about you than any exam result could ever say. Don't presume. If you have just passed - Well done! I suspect from the evidence I have seen of your reasoning powers that it must have taken some considerable effort. And I am sorry if I sound patronising, but I am appalled that anybody should try and defend this monstrous deception - because that it what it is. Pupils, parents, universities and protential employers are all victims of this nonsense. There really is no point to state exams at all, now, which is why the better universities are starting to set their own entrance examinations. Big employers will follow. S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manshimajin Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 Isn't this just a re-run of Albert Tatlock's "Annual 'A' Level Results Slating Thread"? Same issues, same responses. If you just took the exams they were the hardest ever devised by mankind. If you took your's any time before this year the further back in history that event occurred the harder the exams were - I should know as I took my 'O' levels in about 1961 and they were unbelievably hard - but not as difficult as the 1950s ones... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Tatlock Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 Isn't this just a re-run of Albert Tatlock's "Annual 'A' Level Results Slating Thread"? Same issues, same responses. It's an annual sport on here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VinnieK Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 And I am sorry if I sound patronising No you're not. It's even more patronising to try and fob someone off with that line when you've clearly been deliberately patronising them. Don't place too much faith in entrance exams being a sign that state qualifications are now "useless". Those universities that use them do so for the simple reason that they can and because it benefits them greatly by emphasising their "elite" status and ensuring that as many of their students as possible will get a 2:1 or above without their academics having to exert themselves too greatly, and hence preserve or improve their position on the league tables. Standards may indeed play a role in their decision, but there are also plenty of other less noble motivations such as exploiting the league tables (and dare I say it, an unwillingness to recognise that the venerable British "read aloud and point" method of higher education is pretty shoddy inadequate) behind such moves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeyconcrete Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 I think one thing that has had a big impact is the Internet, as daft as it sounds. When it came to learning 'after hours' when I was at school I had the Encyclopaedia Brittanicas, Science encyclopaedia , the Library, stinky old text books etc - both as a reference and a revision tool. At school Microsoft's Encarta was just starting to be introduced. Nowadays the Internet is full of useful reference sources and revision guides that can be found with one search of Google. The Internet also has a bigger variety of content, which, in terms of quality will be better than some books. If someone needs to swat up on photo-synthesis, rather than reading about it in a 1980's science book, they can see 50 different versions on the Internet in full multi-media glory, bookmark it, print it etc. I think this, improved teaching methods and advances in technology has all helped boost education (and grades). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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