Government spin AGAIN

[minestrone]

check out the papers here


http://www.gcsesciencepastpapers.com...-june-2007.htm

How can "what is the name of our galaxy?" be regarded as a science exam question?

If you don't know that by whatever age you take GCSEs (14/15?) you should be sent straight to the mines.

[expat]

Ok that's scary, it's a long time since I learned the basic equations and I'm ashamed to say that I had to think hard to recall some of them, but that paper is a complete farce.
At a guess (i.e. without checking some of the numbers with a calculator) I scored 90%+ in 15-20 mins reading through that paper.

I am still stunned at Q2b: 1 mark for being able to write down one formula, or equation as they put it, from Ohm's Law:

V=IR

and 2 marks for being able to calculate

0.5 x 30 = 15.

Or perhaps it is for knowing what to do if you have V=IR and know that I=0.5 and R=30.

[OwlHoot]

"The only way to deal with bureaucrats is with stealth and sudden violence" - Boutros Boutros-Ghali.

Dit Bot Bot really say that? He always seemed a mild-mannered kind of guy (and was a bureaucrat himself wasn't he?)

Maybe I'm missing some irony there, as he was in the public eye around the time of Gulf War 1.

[deano]

A department for children, schools and families spokesperson said that standards in science were in fact improving in response to better funding of schools

Perhaps they mean that the teachers are better behaved than they were in science. I suppose they don't throw things at the dimmer pupils anymore.

Pity.

[expat]

Did Bot Bot really say that? He always seemed a mild-mannered kind of guy (and was a bureaucrat himself wasn't he?)

That's why I found it remarkable that he said that.

[Bagpuss]

The most shocking thing is the pass scores for the grades.

According to the article 20% was good enough for a C in some exams. IIRC 50-60% was a C in the mid/late 80s. 20% would have been a grade 5 CSE or ungraded.

So you have a situation where you have a 40 yr old with a C in a Science that possibily got 3 times more correct questions then an school leaver with the same grade.

[expat]

The most shocking thing is the pass scores for the grades.

According to the article 20% was good enough for a C in some exams. IIRC 50-60% was a C in the mid/late 80s. 20% would have been a grade 5 CSE or ungraded.

So you have a situation where you have a 40 yr old with a C in a Science that possibily got 3 times more correct questions then an school leaver with the same grade.

Which is why young people have more qualifications than older people.

Which is why asking for unnecessary qualifications is age discrimination by the back door.

[Mich the Tester]

So you have a situation where you have a 40 yr old with a C in a Science that possibily got 3 times more correct questions then an school leaver with the same grade.

It’s not only the sciences that face this problem. I recently had to explain to some jerk with an business degree how to calculate depreciation on an asset.

But then, I got an A for GCSE economics twenty years ago; he got his MBA two years ago.

[Moscow Mule]

The most shocking thing is the pass scores for the grades.

According to the article 20% was good enough for a C in some exams. IIRC 50-60% was a C in the mid/late 80s. 20% would have been a grade 5 CSE or ungraded.

So you have a situation where you have a 40 yr old with a C in a Science that possibily got 3 times more correct questions then an school leaver with the same grade.

Could that be explained by the paper grading?

I know some subjects (esp maths & probably science) once had papers where it was possible to only get u-d, e-c or d-a. In those cases, I think it's possible to take the harder paper, get 20% and be awarded a "C".

I don't know if that still happens.

[sasguru]

Which is why young people have more qualifications than older people.

Which is why asking for unnecessary qualifications is age discrimination by the back door.

Why not use the crappy educational system to your advantage? Getting an MBA or MSc (distance learning or part time) for anyone educated in science, maths or engineering in the 80s or previously is a piece of cake.

This is a particularly good option when you are travelling on contracts. Gives you somefink to do in the evenings, innit?