A-level grade A's up again to 24% , are exams getting easier, or teachers better?

I think a combination of all 3: Teachers better, students

working harder, and the exams not being too tough all the time.

There are only 6 possible results you can get at A Level, A, B, C, D, E or U, hence almost a 25% share of the grades isn't too unbelieveable. Most kids encouraged to do A Levels are capable of a higher grade.

I've just seen my year 12 and 13 results and a lot more A's than B's C's and D's etc.

The students who get A's work so hard for them, try telling me that getting four A's is because the exams are a walk in the park. True, they may not be as difficult as they used to be but if i struggle teaching certain aspects i reckon they've done well to not fail the subject and mostly come out with top grades.

 

RE: Basically if they can turn up at the exam these days the throw a pass at them

True there. I've got a trainee with 3 good 'A' levels, and can't even hold a pen correctly.

 

speaking as who has seen his son work his knacks off for the last 2 years

and not get the grades he wanted, I don't think the A levels are easy</p>

 

We get some confusion because in th recent past the grading system was not fair........

i.e. norm referenced so each year x% got an a or a B or whatever


now its criteria referenced you get the grade that matches what you do not whether you 12000th in the list?

 

I did crap in mine....!

Now qualified to teach A level Spanish, in which I got an N grade.... guess my lecturers at University must have been good.

Oh that and pissing it up on an ERASMUS placement in Spain for a year.

 

Same thing every year.

So boring.

 

Probably a bit of both

Debating on the news now about whether there should be an A* grade to differentiate from the A grade because so many have an A grade.

Well why not just include the percentage they got in the exam?!

 

I think the % is going to be available to universities in future.

 

RE: I think the % is going to be available to universities in future.

yes, all module results will be.

 

Joycey!


Take em at Wath?

 

I think it's do do with options

There are all sort of options for what you can do at college now with NVQ's and loads of others that I can't think of at the moment that maybe more people are doing these options instead of A levels and that the ones that do do A levels are more suited to that course which would obviously mean they will perform better.</p>

When I was at college doing A levels it was a two year course and basically if you quit after one year because it was too hard then you got nothing so you carried on in the hope of getting at least something rather than wasting the year you'd just spent.</p>

Now I believe that you do AS levels first (may be wrong) so at the end of the first year you take your exams and get a grade and qualification at AS level and then choose whether to continue on for the second year to take the A level. If you dont do well at AS level then presumably you'd quit and not take the A level which would leave just the better students taking the final year and the A level exams which would explain why a higher percentage are getting the better grades because those that would normally get the bottom grades or fail dropped out after the AS stage.</p>

Just my theory anyway and if that's not how it works then I'll obviously i'm just talking crap as usual.</p>

 

Ooh arr, when I were a lad it were tougher

<font size="4">Rubbish.</font></p>

There's a wider range of courses, modular assesment, better support and teaching methods.</p>

A-levels grades used to come down to pure recall.  The modular system, whilst requiring a certain degree of recall, tests whether or not you actually understand a concept.</p>

Many questions require implied knowledge, often in a rather cryptic fashion.</p>

Having both passed and now taught A-levels, if anything I'd say some are significantly harder.  If you haven't done similar you have no authority to devalue the hard work of todays young students.</p>

So lets not all jump on the band waggon of how A-levels are getting easier.  Could it be that many of you are a little envious?</p>

 

What a joke !!

A levels today and especially GCSEs arent worth the paper they are written on. Everybody has to pass because we cant have the little dears failing can we ? Whats the point ? The kids are being cheated into studying for a worthless exam and employers just dont trust them. The kids that come to work with us have stacks of pieces of paper but many are barely literate. Their english is shocking. They are being let down by the education system so of course teachers are going to say everything's fine and the results are due to their quality teaching. The proof of the pudding is in the eating and we have to deal with the totally ignorant (but they think they're really brill because thats what they've been told all their lives)kids that the system spews out each year. God knows what they study these days because they appear to know nothing about the world around them or about our history. Kids work harder now ? My arse !!

 

Please don't say that.

Some of us work very hard to keep up with our work.

The problem today is the internet. It gives us information but when work is set to do at home it is very easy to just copy and paste someone else's work and then hand that in. I don't do that as my parents monitor what I do.

I have heard that schools are soon going to stop giving work out to be done at home that is part of the marked coursework and think this is a good idea. The only problem is going to be fitting in all the work in lesson time.

 

Luke! Yeah its me. I didn't realise you were on here

 

So basically...

While studying 4 quite large topic areas (because, eeh since you were a lad,I'm sure these topic areas have expanded and have more detail, some with more legal requirements), we should also learn about our country's history and other such crap that has no bearing on the job we wish to do. Oh that's right. I'm going nowhere in life because I don't know when the battle of hastings was (1066, obviously), or other such stuff. And because I don't know the true extent of the famine in Africa. I'm well and truely f ucked. BUGGERY! Oh and as you can obviously see, my spelling and grammar is absolutely appalling. Can't wait for that dole and the rest of the handouts I'll receive!

 

RE: I think the % is going to be available to universities in future.

While this is a good idea, I don't think it solves the problem that you can be too easily coached to do well in some A-levels. For example, when I did English Lit we were told specific points to mention that the teacher knew would get us marks. This is not a test of intelligence, thinking or understanding, as you do not have to understand the point you are making, you simply have to remember it

 

RE: So basically...

I just think kids today must wear blinkers or something. My neice is 13 and hasn't a clue who fought in the 2 world wars. Somebody at work was on a holiday website on the internet and didn't know which continent Italy was in. What the chuff are they teaching you lot ? Neither of these lasses are thick. Perhaps their Ipods have rotted their brains. A year or so ago i watched a programme where they took some of the brightest kids from public schools and tried to teach them to take some old 'O' level papers and none of them came anywhere near passing. Totally hopeless they were and these were kids who all ended up with A and A* passes at GCSE. For heavens sake none of them could conjugate avoir and etre when they were doing GCSE French. How can you possibley do French and not know ? Its not their fault. Its the Education system which is letting the kids down by not challenging and developing the brightest students. So we end up with kids coming into the workplace expecting everything to be easy and laid on a plate for them and they don't have a clue how to use initiative and graft. Call me an old codger if you like but its true.

 

RE: So basically...

what's the point in rote learning facts?? That's all A levels used to be. I think the real problem is at Universities.

 

You think that's bad

Someone I know at Oxford University didn't know what the holocaust was until we told him, nor did he know who the nazis were. He also had no idea what a peasant was.

He's just taken his first year exams and got a first.