OllyK

Looks like it's another year of yet more A grades for people who can't actually do simple maths or string a sentence together!

If you want to see how easy the questions were:
GMTV - GCSE quiz

PeteBrant

Slightly misleading link as not all GSCEs are multi choice.

As for improved number of pupils getting A grades, it would be interesting to see the reaction by the press and public if the numbers reduced. Somehow I don't think it would be greeted with "Oh well at least things are improving"

Clarebabes

Of course I got an A grade, but there wasn't anything too taxing in that, was there?

Scooby-kid

TBH, I don't think that is very fair. I have recently completed my GCSEs and questions were certainly not that easy, especially when you factor in gruelling coursework, and for the record, I got 3XA* and 7XA amongst other things.

Scott.

Mr Bat

No internet plagiarism in your coursework then?

Scooby-kid

Erm, no.......? Why would there be?

Scott.

OllyK

Give me a break, course work isn't gruelling. My first degree was all exam based, my second was mostly course work. The second was massively easier, less pressure, ability to look anything up in the library or online, even the opportunity to go an discuss issues with your tutor.

Interestingly they did a series on ITV, think it was last year, where they took a load of A* students and put them through the O Levels of 30 years ago or so. They struggled to get a hand full of passes between them.

PeteBrant

Anecdotal evidence ahoy

Course work forces you to put in effort through the entire year A single exam you can get lucky.

I'm old enough to have done O-levels, and I found them much easier than subsequent college coursework affairs. A single test is a test of memory.

OllyK

It forces you put in some effort, but not necessarily in to understanding the subject matter.

scooby L

I failed my O level English Lang 2 times... (does it show?)


Took a GSCE at college and got a C

and was WAY easier (for me)

I think it alows the kids to see if their results are sub-standard before crunch time... where as the O level generation didn't have that luxury.

In my HND I knew I needed 60% or more in the final exam to just pass one of my cores... so I worked very hard at that core and ended up with a core merit..

OllyK

We had mocks!

scooby L

Oh is that what they were for...

PeteBrant

Yeah, I had mocks too.

darts_aint_sport

Regardless of whether they are easier or not, if everyone is getting the same grade then what's the point of them? The real problem is not that more people are getting higher grades, it's that there's much less differentiation between good and average students.

PeteBrant

I think what the GSCE generation do have in thier favour is the ability to resubmit work before it gets a final marking. My oldest submitted a few papers, that the teachers gave back to him with a few reccomendations, which he duly did. The same applies to his college course.

Under a final exam system, you don't get the chance. Is one system better than the other? I don't know.

I know for a fact that there were people far more able than me in my school classes, and put in far more work during the school year, that I outperformed come exam time simply due to my ability to handle pressure, rather than having more knowledge.
My Maths teacher even made an example of me to justify the switch to GCSE's

"Here we have Susan, who is a model student, does all her homework, works hard, and then scrapes a grade D in her mock O levels."

"Then we have Brant, who spends the whole year larking around, hands in homework when it suits him, and breezes the exam"

"And that, boys and girls, is why things are changing"

mrtheedge2u2

when i did my GCSE's 15 years ago they were p1ss easy....... and they are only getting easier

Coffin Dodger

Surely it should be an indication of how good you are against your peers, therefore scale the results accordingly.

Assuming that not everyone got 95%+ it would be easy enough, just put in results order a list of the students that took the GCSE, then say give A* to the top 5%, A to the next 10%, B to the next 15%, C to the next 30%, D - 20% E - 10%, F - 5%, U - 5%. Easy to do and each year taking GCSEs will have a consistent grading indicating to potential employers the quality of that student vs. another from that or any other year.

My year at school was the first to do GCSEs and lets just say I was one of the brighter sparks in my school . I got 1xA, 4xB, 3xC and 1xD and those were considered pretty good grades back then. They must have got much easier for loads of students to now be getting straight A/A* results. (That or my school was rubbish and we were all a bit fick )

pimmo2000

iTrader: (6)

If you got such high grade there obviously weren't that difficult

scooby L

This is what concerns us isn't it.

The marks are taken statistically into a central point, the grade limits/markers are agreed, and yet we still have more and more pupils coming away grade A's. So either the grading is not ballanced like before, or the exams are easier, thus too many pupils are above a certain level, creating a falsely proportioned top 2 grades?

SirFozzalot

I did the multiple choice test above and got an "A" no problem, but I have to say, I know people who work for various companies on sites and I really think some of them would struggle with some of those questions.

I see it when I'm holding safety talks and explaining jobs to guys and they sometimes really struggle to get to grips with the job. It's almost like explaining it to kids.

I'm not saying they are any lesser than me or anyone else but it seems that the educated people among us sometimes take it for granted that because they find it easy/easier to do academic stuff that everyone can/will/should.

I would be interested to see the entire grading list for GCSE's as I bet even though A's might be increasing, there will still be a fair few that aren't getting anywhere near those sort of grades. If you make the exams too hard you could end up totally excluding alot of people who struggle academically.

dpb

Whats relevant surely is how useful these skool leavers are to their employers once theyre spat out onto job market

and from what i glean its less and less ...!

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

I don't suppose anyone else was listening to Radio1 this morning?

26% and you get a grade C
51% gets you an A

26% in any exam that you have genuinely tried to pass means you have **** for brains IMO

scooby L

In Lithuania you buy your degree's

My ex basically had to sell her car.... because her tutor said "it will cost you this much if you want me not to fail you"

And she was of a standard to pass... but he'd fail her if she didn't pay... so I suppose we're not that bad lol..

SirFozzalot

So you can get almost half of it completely wrong and still get an A?!?!? That's really bad!!!!!

dpb

YOUR JOKIN ...!!

SirFozzalot

So what do companies/apprenticeships that employ school leavers look for now?

When I left school most looked for 5 GCSE's at grade C or above including Maths, English and a science based subject.

It must be 10 GCSE's at grade A* or above!

richs2891

So lots of good grades (again) but not many with simple common sense in either the work place or real life enviroment.

Richard

PeteBrant

That makes no sense at all - The standard has to be consistant other wise someone that Gets say 80% in a particular year will be awarded a "D" and the following year, someone that gets 75% could get an "A"
- How is an employer supposed ot know whether it was a "good" or" bad" year for results? Furthermore, if the curriciulum is identical, then it makes even less sense.

In summary , then, that the most stupid ****ing idea I have ever heard in my life

speedking

The employer knows that the person who got an A with 75% is in the top 5% of pupils, similarly the one who got a D with 80% is in the bottom 45%. Which would he rather employ?

The chance of exams being much easier or harder from year to year seems quite high. The chance of intelligent people moving to the bottom 45% and the less intelligent appearing in the top 5% seems much lower and therefore a more reliable measure.

I'm with CD.

Devildog

Scott,

What % does that equate to?

It sounds great, but if you get an A for 51% then in theory you could have got 51% in 7 exams out of 10 which is, I hate to say this, pretty crap.

When I was at School 70% and over got you an A, 60 to 69 got you a B and 50-59 got you a C. Anything else was irrelevant because it was a fail.