A-level day

[NickFitz]

Surprisingly strong showing from The Grauniad's image server

 

[VectraMan]

That's what they used to do. However, it is true to say that makes comparison between years difficult and/or meaningless.

That's partly true anyway, as it's a different exam every year.

 

[richard-af]

Torygraph offering a bit of competition:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai...e_1_ggl_BrGB&HBX_PK=a+level+results&HBX_OU=50

 

[richard-af]

Nice effort by Reuters:

http://uk.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUKL1526401120070815

Naughty Reuters! That's an old piccy. Obviously brought back out from under the mattress for today's superb achievements.

 

[BoredBloke]

From the article

"Melanie Slade, footballer Theo Walcott's girlfriend, scored two Bs and a C"

Are those her grades or does it mean Theos' balls and cock? Fnaarrr fnarrr!

"That's what they used to do. However, it is true to say that makes comparison between years difficult and/or meaningless. "

No it doesn't. Those in the top 5% will always be in the top 5%. The problem here is that this lot wanted to show an improvement, so they had to change the way the grades were set and effectively degrade all other a levels in the process. We now have some a levels where 96% pass the exam. How thick do you have to be to be in the bottom 4%?

 

[richard-af]

From the article

"Melanie Slade, footballer Theo Walcott's girlfriend, scored two Bs and a C"

That's a 2 C.S.E. Grade 3s and an unplaced, for us old-timers.

 

[TheFaQQer]

"Melanie Slade, footballer Theo Walcott's girlfriend, scored two Bs and a C"

Are those her grades or does it mean Theos' balls and cock?

 

[TheFaQQer]

Ah but that is not fair because the top 5% one year may not be a good as the top 50% were the previous year!!!

Whoever told you life was fair was lying.

Because you should be measured against a set standard, not everybody else in your year.

I managed to get an B at GCSE English this way, but I still start sentences with "Because".

Why?

It seems to work OK for a lot of university degrees, where the mark on a curve - if it's good enough for Harvard, why not for A levels and GCSEs?

 

[Ardesco]

Whoever told you life was fair was lying.

I think you missed the point of my post

 

[Gonzo]

That's what they used to do. However, it is true to say that makes comparison between years difficult and/or meaningless.

I think using the standard distribution approach should be fine. If there are easier papers some years than the others then the better people will just do better. How well anyone does at A Level is surely a combination of brains, effort and personality? Saying that the distribution of those is going to be different between people born in different years in my book is akin to believing in Chinese horoscopes.









Oh yeah, I was born in the year of the pig, and I think that I have all the "pig characteristics"