First fall in GCSE grades in exam's history

[Doggy Styles]

The results suggest they have.

That's what I meant, and I'm glad.

There is a long way to go though.

[lukemg]

There is only one 'fair' way to mark this and all other exams - you do it in %ages.
Top 10% - A
Next 20% - B
Next 20% - C

etc, these percentages need to be agreed and setup and any variation in exam ease will make no difference.
In the old days you knew where you were with an o'level a-c and beyond. Now its like a balloon for everyone who takes part.....

[Doggy Styles]

There is only one 'fair' way to mark this and all other exams - you do it in %ages.
Top 10% - A
Next 20% - B
Next 20% - C

etc, these percentages need to be agreed and setup and any variation in exam ease will make no difference.
In the old days you knew where you were with an o'level a-c and beyond. Now its like a balloon for everyone who takes part.....

I've always thought that as well.

It does raise different problems though.

[d000hg]

Grading by % just adds the problem that you don't know how the Xth percentile today compares with 20 years ago.

Only a fixed curriculum really lets you compare different years, but that's impractical too. So basically you might as well just accept it's never going to be perfect.

[Mich the Tester]

Grading by % just adds the problem that you don't know how the Xth percentile today compares with 20 years ago.

Yes you do. The 'yoof of today' are always more stupid than 'young people in my day'. It has been so since the times of Aristotle, and probably before him too.

[d000hg]

Yes you do. The 'yoof of today' are always more stupid than 'young people in my day'. It has been so since the times of Aristotle, and probably before him too.

Which raises an odd paradox considering that young people have always known better than their elders.

[SueEllen]

GCSE's aren't needed in England as the current lot of kids can't leave education or some form of educational training until they 18.

So they may as well make them all do some sort of Bacalaureat then they may actually learn something rather than just how to pass exams.

[MyUserName]

It would be nice if the exams were hard and allowed universities and employers to actually work out who was clever and who was not.

When I did my A levels there was only one girl who got straight As in my school. She always had got very good results since I knew her and then she went to Oxford and got a first in Chemistry or something. Now it seems like if you do not get an good few A grades you are below average.

Also, WTF are AS levels for? When we had them you took them as well as A levels (I took A level maths and AS further maths as I wanted to do a maths degree). If someone has several As and Bs in AS levels but no A levels does that mean they are clever or not?

[doomage]

My Nephew got his results through this morning. He got a grade "B" in Spanish. He's 13.

He hates the language, only took it because it's a pre-requisite for a business course he wants to do.

What business course is that? Insolvency practitioner?

[SueEllen]

Also, WTF are AS levels for? When we had them you took them as well as A levels (I took A level maths and AS further maths as I wanted to do a maths degree). If someone has several As and Bs in AS levels but no A levels does that mean they are clever or not?

They were originally suppose to allow those who specialised in one area i.e. Sciences, Arts to be able to do a subject in a different area, or to allow people to expand their knowledge in an area i.e. maths.

Now they are used as a halfway point in A levels to work out the predicted grades of students going to university.