A Level Results....guess what :-)

[Piersman2]

My daughter got her A*, A and B that she required for Durham.

Well done her

[BoRED S2upid]

EDLT said:

scenario8 said:

grumbledoak said:

At this rate we'll soon have a generation of 'highly qualified' Uni students who cannot use a broom the right way up.

They are not getting magically cleverer.

For an alarming number of graduates that is precisely the skillset they need in these difficult times.

I've got a temp-job in a cement factory, the guy I work with is/was a student who just got a first in physics (I think, it definitely wasn't a mong degree) and his job is to stack packs of cement onto a pallet.

But with his Physics Degree he will know how high to stack them before gravitational forces send them crashing onto his head and kill him. So not a total waste of 3 years and several tens of thousands of debt.

[Nom de ploom]

an A level used to be the equivalent of three old 'O' levels didn't it?

Show a current GCSE student an old O level paper any they will crumble. gcse's are easier than a levels and gettign easier - i'm sorry but its a fact (if 12 and 13 year olds are doing gcse's then they're easier full stop.)

so what natch does that say about current A levels?

ok I'm all behind making exams more relevant but at the end of the day we still need adults in the work place who "know" stuff not just how things relate to each other.

a generlism but I don't care - I worked basterd hard to get my A levels - are they giving them away these days?

[Ozzie Osmond]

The employment prospects for youngsters right now are very, very bleak.

And this week's idiocy of "national service" isn't even half an answer IMO.

[Eric Mc]

tomw2000 said:

Kwai Chang Caine said:

Who'd have thought it? This year's kids are cleverer and better educated than last year's!

8% A*
27% A
97.8% E and above which I think is a pass.

So only 2.2% of students failed....hmmmm.

Has such a sustained annual increase in 'intelligence' levels ever happened across any other population ever?

It's amazing. Thank goodness for Tony and Gorgon. Or maybe it's flouride in water or something.

Obviously, the superior intellect of modern youngsters is just too much for them to cope with - hence last week's riots.
Not only are they smarter and cleverer than their parents - they are above all those pesky laws and rules that their elders and (not so) betters created.
It's a real drag being so smart and having to obey rules and regulations created by idiots who could only manage humble O Levels and A levels when they were their age.

[Oakey]

And all these reports that school leavers can barely read and write, I'm guessing that's because they're too smart for such trivial things?

[Jim the Sunderer]

I can't see any lookers this year.

[Otispunkmeyer]

Kwai Chang Caine said:

Who'd have thought it? This year's kids are cleverer and better educated than last year's!

8% A*
27% A
97.8% E and above which I think is a pass.

So only 2.2% of students failed....hmmmm.

When did they get A* for A-level put in? Must of been after my time! Wish they had it when I did it...

[Oakey]

Jim the Sunderer said:

I can't see any lookers this year.

HEY YOU GUUUYSSSSS!

[scenario8]

Otispunkmeyer said:

When did they get A* for A-level put in? Must of been after my time! Wish they had it when I did it...

In A levels the A* was introduced for the 2010 results.

The A* was introduced for GCSEs in 1994.

It's "have" by the way.

[Otispunkmeyer]

scenario8 said:

In A levels the A* was introduced for the 2010 results.

The A* was introduced for GCSEs in 1994.

It's "have" by the way.***

suppose they had to do something... it seemed to be getting tougher to differentiate.

It was a case of cant see the wood for the trees. By more students getting the results everyone was back on the same level when instead the exams should of been separating wheat from the chaff.

• * noted

[MikeyT]

Granted it was a long time ago when I left school - Labour were in Govt (the time BEFORE Blair) ...so many eons ago - but it was only the brightest who went to University (or did A-Levels really).

Needless to sy I left at 15 and 3/4 but my sister did Economics, Maths and English, was pretty bright and only got 2 D's and a C I think ...

So just how this current lot manamge to do so well if the exams are as hard is beyond me - but then maybe they're taught to PASS exams rather than KNOW the subject (happens at GCSE all the time)

[johnxjsc1985]

Way back in the 70's and early 80's only exceptional kids got to do 3 A levels most did just two and lots of kids where encouraged to think again as regards to taking A levels.I do find it difficult to see how someone can take 5 or more A levels unless they are not intensive as previous or are the current crop of youths execeptionally intelligent ?.

[anonymous-user]

Ozzie Osmond said:

The employment prospects for youngsters right now are very, very bleak.

And this week's idiocy of "national service" isn't even half an answer IMO.

I personally think it has mileage, for crims Asbo's not students though

[theironduke]

I feel old....8 years since i got my A level results

I only managed BBC but ended up with a First....now a self employed jack of all trades...go figure

[Dixie68]

What happens to all these bright kids when they're in University? Because by the time they get to the workplace they seem to have become thick.

[turbobloke]

Dixie68 said:

What happens to all these bright kids when they're in University? Because by the time they get to the workplace they seem to have become thick.

Shhhh you can't ask questions like that.

All must have prizes and each year all prizes must surpass previous years.

[amir_j]

johnxjsc1985 said:

Way back in the 70's and early 80's only exceptional kids got to do 3 A levels most did just two and lots of kids where encouraged to think again as regards to taking A levels.I do find it difficult to see how someone can take 5 or more A levels unless they are not intensive as previous or are the current crop of youths execeptionally intelligent ?.

Previously it was ne exam, now it's 6 or so with the modular structure.

Suspect they are taught how to pass rather than educated around the subject as well.

[ninja-lewis]

tomw2000 said:

Has such a sustained annual increase in 'intelligence' levels ever happened across any other population ever?

It's amazing. Thank goodness for Tony and Gorgon. Or maybe it's flouride in water or something.

I understand the figures stabilised for the first time in a while.

The percentage passing should be fairly high. Schools tend to focus on dragging up Fs to Es and also those borderline C/Ds (as Cs are counted in the league tables) at the expense of other students. If they don't expect a pupil to pass, they generally prevent them sitting the exam in the first place.

Obviously many more sit A Levels nowadays to get into university, which you would expect to drag down results. However, there are more A Level courses available and 3As in Dance, General Studies and Food Technology officially count the same as 3As in Maths, Physics and German.

Schools these days rigidly teach to the exam rather than teaching the subject. Past papers are pored over and dissected to determine what will be asked in the exam (i.e. what doesn't need to be studied), what the examiner's expect in an answer and how to structure it to maximise marks. Model answers are prepared in advance and classes focus on exam technique, not knowledge for the sake of knowledge.

Finally modularisation means pupils can study a module, sit the exam in January and forget about it unlike the old days of a single exam at the end of the course. If they do badly in January, they can always resit in June. If they get a bad grade, they can choose to not "cash" (make official) the exam in but instead resit it until they get a better grade to "cash" in.

All driven by everyone (government, exam boards, schools, students) gaming the system.

louiebaby said:

anonymous said:

[redacted]

This was my thinking. Are more of them doing their own entrance exams now?

No. Requirements go up: AAA becomes A*AA, all the way to A*A*A* and sometimes 4, even 5 A Levels; asking for a breakdown of module scores; they ask for multiple A*/As at GCSE; they blacklist less rigorous subjects; some are reintroducing a modern language requirement, which catches a fair few as schools are no longer required to teach modern languages to GCSE; and banning resits and insisting on all exams to be taking in one sitting in June. Personal statements and interviews carry more weight.

Alternatives to A Levels (and GCSEs) are becoming more widespread, particularly among independent schools: Pre-U, International Baccalaureate and favouring exam boards that are considered more robust.

Edited by ninja-lewis on Thursday 18th August 19:45

[amir_j]

They now have an A-level in Photography. Tom Daley the olymipic swimmer got an A* in it.