A-level Results Day

[GingerBeerMan]

Anyone that thinks humans have become brighter over this period doesn't deserve a pass at 11 plus.

Why not? I think the emergence of TV and the Internet has made kids brighter over the last 20 years.

 

[Uncle C]

Why not? I think the emergence of TV and the Internet has made kids brighter over the last 20 years.

I think you are mistaking knowledge for intelligence.

 

[SeagullSongs]

Why not? I think the emergence of TV and the Internet has made kids brighter over the last 20 years.

I'll go with that

That graph must be GCSE results, and I'll agree that those are getting easier, because they are actually changing the grade criteria and boundaries. With A-level the grade boundaries are fixed: 90% for an A*, 80% for an A, 70% for a B, etc.

For the record, I had to learn how to revise this year, hopefully it's paid off

 

[ATFC Seagull]

In 1954 it was massive news when Roger Bannister ran a 4-minute mile. Now everyone does it and the record is 15 seconds less. Has the distance got shorter? No. Why have the times gone down? Because of technology and coaching techniques.

Is it that inconceivable that teaching is the same? Teachers are coaching students through exams. Techniques, pedagogy (the science of teaching/learning) and experiences are moving on, the same as they are in sport science, so the overall performance is increasing.

I don't understand why this isn't so clearly understood!

 

[Seagull27]

I'll go with that

That graph must be GCSE results, and I'll agree that those are getting easier, because they are actually changing the grade criteria and boundaries. With A-level the grade boundaries are fixed: 90% for an A*, 80% for an A, 70% for a B, etc.

For the record, I had to learn how to revise this year, hopefully it's paid off

But they're not, are they? I thought it was done on UMS points, which are awarded with regards to moderation, not actual percentages?

Could be wrong though, it was a few years ago I was there.

 

[ATFC Seagull]

But they're not, are they? I thought it was done on UMS points, which are awarded with regards to moderation, not actual percentages?

Could be wrong though, it was a few years ago I was there.

This is correct. Although not sure it has a huge relevance to the debate!

 

[SeagullSongs]

But they're not, are they? I thought it was done on UMS points, which are awarded with regards to moderation, not actual percentages?

Could be wrong though, it was a few years ago I was there.

Yeah, but us students don't get told a lot about how they convert raw score to UMS

 

[Uncle C]

In 1954 it was massive news when Roger Bannister ran a 4-minute mile. Now everyone does it and the record is 15 seconds less. Has the distance got shorter? No. Why have the times gone down? Because of technology and coaching techniques.

Is it that inconceivable that teaching is the same? Teachers are coaching students through exams. Techniques, pedagogy (the science of teaching/learning) and experiences are moving on, the same as they are in sport science, so the overall performance is increasing.

I don't understand why this isn't so clearly understood!

You'll just have to believe me that after many years of recruiting new graduates from the sciences that the more recent crop of graduates are dross compared to say 30 years ago. So much so that anyone without a 1st class homours need not apply.

Why do you think some of the top Universities are setting entrance exams - its because they have no trust in A level results.

And yes students are being better coached to pass exams, but that doesn't make them more intelligent.

 

[Seagull27]

Yeah, but us students don't get told a lot about how they convert raw score to UMS

I think they have changing grade boundaries just like GCSE's, but instead of giving you the raw result and boundaries they assign you a UMS score that is within that boundary. So if you got say 50% in a particularly hard exam, where the A/B grade boundary was decided to be 45%, you'd be awarded an A and a UMS score somewhere above 80.

 

[ATFC Seagull]

You'll just have to believe me that after many years of recruiting new graduates from the sciences that the more recent crop of graduates are dross compared to say 30 years ago. So much so that anyone without a 1st class homours need not apply.

Why do you think some of the top Universities are setting entrance exams - its because they have no trust in A level results.

Not sure about the entrance exams comment but couldn't you be pinpointing a problem with university education rather than A-Levels? I know when I did my degree (6 years ago) I basically paid my fees so that some academics could do a load of research, and begrudgingly give a couple of hours a week to what can barely count as teaching me and my fellow undergrad peers.

 

[Seagull27]

You'll just have to believe me that after many years of recruiting new graduates from the sciences that the more recent crop of graduates are dross compared to say 30 years ago. So much so that anyone without a 1st class homours need not apply.

Why do you think some of the top Universities are setting entrance exams - its because they have no trust in A level results.

This interests me as I was generally of the consensus that if you got a 2:1 or above, you'd be considered for most jobs, and other factors are more important than whether you got a 2:1 or a 1st. Would you say that is not the case now?

 

[SeagullSongs]

I think they have changing grade boundaries just like GCSE's, but instead of giving you the raw result and boundaries they assign you a UMS score that is within that boundary. So if you got say 50% in a particularly hard exam, where the A/B grade boundary was decided to be 45%, you'd be awarded an A and a UMS score somewhere above 80.

Oh okay, so it's to spread out the results if people tend to do similarly well (or not)?

 

[BrickTamland]

Get my AS levels tomorrow. Not too nervous though as they're not the be all and end all. Would be nice to do well though as they're a good measure of progress and can be used to give me a good advantage for my A levels next year. I can certainly say I will be A LOT more nervous this time next year though! Good luck everyone!!

 

[Seagull27]

Oh okay, so it's to spread out the results if people tend to do similarly well (or not)?

Yeah I think so, a form of moderation so that if one year an exam is really easy, and the next year it's really hard, it works out fairly for both years. That's the impression I always got anyway but I could be wrong.

 

[GingerBeerMan]

You'll just have to believe me that after many years of recruiting new graduates from the sciences that the more recent crop of graduates are dross compared to say 30 years ago. So much so that anyone without a 1st class homours need not apply.

I think the difference is people nowadays are just learning everything in the syllabus word for word. That makes it easy to pass the exam, but when anything a little bit different comes in they don't know how to deal with it. 30 years ago I assume there wasn't as good resources to learn word-for-word and so a-level students had to learn the whole syllabus, as well as a lot of other 'filler' information - a feat that could only be performed if they really had an interest in the subject and were very knowledgeable in the field.

 

[Uncle C]

This interests me as I was generally of the consensus that if you got a 2:1 or above, you'd be considered for most jobs, and other factors are more important than whether you got a 2:1 or a 1st. Would you say that is not the case now?

30-40 years ago, a 1st Class Honours degree was as rare as hens teeth. I retired about 6 years ago but at that point any advert for a new graduate in a science based job was receiving about 40 applicants. There is no way that 40 people could be interviewed so a selection process of all applicants took place.

Out first were those applicants that couldn't spell, construct a sentence, or answer questions correctly on the application form.

Unless anyone had very relevant experience the next group out were the low pass rate graduates. At this stage there were often enough candidates with 1st Class degrees to fill the interview rooms, and I severely doubt that things are any different now.

A 2:1 with some worthwhile experience, might make the cut.

 

[matthew]

Economics History and Politics AS results tomorrow.

I'll see my results and then comment on whether A levels are getting easier

 

[SeagullSongs]

I think the difference is people nowadays are just learning everything in the syllabus word for word. That makes it easy to pass the exam, but when anything a little bit different comes in they don't know how to deal with it. 30 years ago I assume there wasn't as good resources to learn word-for-word and so a-level students had to learn the whole syllabus, as well as a lot of other 'filler' information - a feat that could only be performed if they really had an interest in the subject and were very knowledgeable in the field.

With Physics it's very much to do with learning the syllabus as best you can then putting in in the right places in the paper.
Biology, on the other hand, is all about learning the syllabus, but then applying that knowledge to different scenarios that you've never encountered before.
Maths is somewhere in the middle. You have to learn what to do, but sometimes with the question the method you have to use isn't obvious.

 

[LadySeagull]

I think it's more than just learning everything in the syllabus, I reckon students these days find it easier because they can practise with past papers and mark schemes (exemplar answers). When I did my A levels 'back in the day' I don't recall any teacher telling us about past papers and mark schemes. That's probably why I only just scraped passes in mine!

 

[Uncle C]

I think it's more than just learning everything in the syllabus, I reckon students these days find it easier because they can practise with past papers and mark schemes (exemplar answers). When I did my A levels 'back in the day' I don't recall any teacher telling us about past papers and mark schemes. That's probably why I only just scraped passes in mine!

There's massive pressure on schools nowadays to improve exam results year on year, so they understandably employ every measure available.