Discussion
theboss said:
When studying for my maths and physics A levels in 1999 we used O level papers from the 80’s to practise. Further maths then was probably equivalent to A level maths in the same era. I took the physics Special paper and it was consistent with A level material from 15-20 years earlier.
First year at uni (Physics) was a crash course in maths because undergrad entrants just didn’t have the right skill level to be able to take the physics modules.
Wonder which way things have gone in the 19 years since? Does anyone still study physics?
Back in 1986 I got an offer of 2 x E at A level to go to Oxford (did entrance exam - mainly as practise for actual A levels - entrance exam was significantly harder).First year at uni (Physics) was a crash course in maths because undergrad entrants just didn’t have the right skill level to be able to take the physics modules.
Wonder which way things have gone in the 19 years since? Does anyone still study physics?
Rather than go for as close to 2 x E (like one of my fellow students!), A levels I ended up with:
Physics - A
Chemistry - A
Maths - B
General studies - A
+ S level Physics - grade 1
(On the back of 3 x B and 11 x A at "O" level)
Despite this, I struggled like crazy with the Maths on the Physics course (mainly as all fellow students had A grades at both Maths and Further Maths A levels).
ETA - as Bob-iylho states though, don't worry - it all does work out in the end, although not without some challenges in between - I ended up ultimately without a degree, but with a good career (and qualifications) in IT - networking and service management etc... Also had a wonderful time I've never regretted at both Oxford and a subsequent Uni.
Edited by C&C on Thursday 23 August 01:21
TheGroover said:
standards said:
Excellent!
According to my Maths teaching (30 years + experience) friends, A levels used to be on an ‘olympic’ system (top x % got As, next y% Bs etc.) whereas now we’re on ‘driving test’ system (meet the standard and you get an A) so more individuals can get a top grade..
Simply put then if you were in a top performing year you’d find it difficult to get an A, in a mediocre year a better chance of the gold medal. Think the Russian who won the 100m Olympic final when the USA boycotted; not likely if the USA team turned up.
Alan Wellski? According to my Maths teaching (30 years + experience) friends, A levels used to be on an ‘olympic’ system (top x % got As, next y% Bs etc.) whereas now we’re on ‘driving test’ system (meet the standard and you get an A) so more individuals can get a top grade..
Simply put then if you were in a top performing year you’d find it difficult to get an A, in a mediocre year a better chance of the gold medal. Think the Russian who won the 100m Olympic final when the USA boycotted; not likely if the USA team turned up.
Edited by standards on Thursday 23 August 10:08
Bob-iylho said:
2 x E's and a U here, bag of s
te........... nothing to offer.
Except, don't stress, it all works out OK in the end...........
And if it's not OK, it's not the end.te........... nothing to offer.Except, don't stress, it all works out OK in the end...........
ADE got me into Computer Science at Bradford. Never graduated though, and now I've got a gud jb in computng.
1985 year for me. Unconditional offer to study Ecology at Royal Holloway. DDD offer to study forestry at Bangor IIRC!!
Achieved BDE and ended up at Liverpool in 1992 to study for LLB after working as an insurance broker in the City. Did 2 years and took a year out to earn some money. I never went back and now run a small civil engineering company with one co-director. Funny how life works out!! I found my own way in life and I will be allowing my boys (7 & 6) to take their time choosing their career/occupation.
I do believe that A levels are dumbed down so that every Tom, Dick and Harriet can go to uni. I think that there were about 10-15 of my school year (120 pupils) that went on to uni. It is probably the other way round nowadays!! Keeps the unemployment figures down though!
Achieved BDE and ended up at Liverpool in 1992 to study for LLB after working as an insurance broker in the City. Did 2 years and took a year out to earn some money. I never went back and now run a small civil engineering company with one co-director. Funny how life works out!! I found my own way in life and I will be allowing my boys (7 & 6) to take their time choosing their career/occupation.
I do believe that A levels are dumbed down so that every Tom, Dick and Harriet can go to uni. I think that there were about 10-15 of my school year (120 pupils) that went on to uni. It is probably the other way round nowadays!! Keeps the unemployment figures down though!
lukefreeman said:
We're comparing times when no one went to uni, so uni's couldn't be picky, to times where every man and his dog goes to Uni, so Uni's can afford to pick the best of the best.
Sorry to disagree. Uni's want money, as much as possible and as many students as possible. They are now businesses. When I was at Uni a vice-chancellor was possibly earning a salary equivalent to a head of a reasonably sized school. Nowadays? My best mates sister in law is a VC having moved from the pharmaceutical industry. She is on £240k plus free house, plus flights back and to and she works 2 days a week from home! Universities, historically, were sized to provide the number of people required at a higher level of education for science based careers, education based careers, the law, medicine etc, etc. Look at the number of graduates in low paid work not related to their 'degree'. Not everyone is clever but more kids are lead to believe that they are and start their working life disappointed because a large proportion have been conned into wasting 3-4 years of their lives and rack up astronomical debt.
Not been to uni (have A levels) but as has been hinted at you have to consider how much easier getting the grades are now hence why you need AAA to get anywhere.
I used to help my Wife's little sister with her English. My written work isn't the best, I only got a B at GCSE. Going through her mock exams I was correcting loads of basic stuff. She got an A. She still makes the same basic mistakes now even though she has gone on to get a degree so its not because she got better.
My Wife's dad was a maths teacher then deputy head and he says that getting grades these days is way easier, not necessarily as the papers are any easier but you need less marks to get the grade. eg an A* is given for about 75%, A 60% I think for a C you are talking 40-50% where as 10 years previous it was all 10-15% higher.
Also I remember there were 2 tiers to my exams. If the teachers thought you were good enough they put you in the higher tier and then you could only achieve A*-C or fail. If in the lower tier I think it was B/C down to F then fail on a much easier paper. This is why schools / colleges are now getting increases A*-C
I used to help my Wife's little sister with her English. My written work isn't the best, I only got a B at GCSE. Going through her mock exams I was correcting loads of basic stuff. She got an A. She still makes the same basic mistakes now even though she has gone on to get a degree so its not because she got better.
My Wife's dad was a maths teacher then deputy head and he says that getting grades these days is way easier, not necessarily as the papers are any easier but you need less marks to get the grade. eg an A* is given for about 75%, A 60% I think for a C you are talking 40-50% where as 10 years previous it was all 10-15% higher.
Also I remember there were 2 tiers to my exams. If the teachers thought you were good enough they put you in the higher tier and then you could only achieve A*-C or fail. If in the lower tier I think it was B/C down to F then fail on a much easier paper. This is why schools / colleges are now getting increases A*-C
Trophy Husband said:
lukefreeman said:
We're comparing times when no one went to uni, so uni's couldn't be picky, to times where every man and his dog goes to Uni, so Uni's can afford to pick the best of the best.
Sorry to disagree. Uni's want money, as much as possible and as many students as possible. They are now businesses. When I was at Uni a vice-chancellor was possibly earning a salary equivalent to a head of a reasonably sized school. Nowadays? My best mates sister in law is a VC having moved from the pharmaceutical industry. She is on £240k plus free house, plus flights back and to and she works 2 days a week from home! Universities, historically, were sized to provide the number of people required at a higher level of education for science based careers, education based careers, the law, medicine etc, etc. Look at the number of graduates in low paid work not related to their 'degree'. Not everyone is clever but more kids are lead to believe that they are and start their working life disappointed because a large proportion have been conned into wasting 3-4 years of their lives and rack up astronomical debt.
Also have a
for the ABC & BBC gags.Back on topic(ish).
I went in 1975, DDE was the req., I got CDE for said Bath Uni electronics sandwich course.
I finished my A-levels in 2000. Did piss all work and ‘achieved’ BCCD. Had offers at Birmingham, Aston, Aberystwyth and Cardiff to study French with a requirement of BCD. My school still insisted on the traditional ‘exams at the end’ a-level (hence the lower grade requirements) but neighbouring schools had adopted the coursework model with no exams. A rugby team mate at one of the neighbouring schools was required to achieve ABB for the same course, so universities were recognising the different difficulties of exam boards back then. We had both played for Wales youth at the time so were considered similar sporting ability on paper.
At the time, Labour were just starting the university for all bks to fudge employment figures, so there were too many places/courses for the number of students applying. At Birmingham the course was under subscribed and so we had D grade French students who could just about introduce themselves managing to sign-on via clearing. As a result the whole course was pre-GCSE level in the first year. Gives you an idea of why standards are dropping, and why employers are having to assess graduates to make sure they’re capable of reading and writing.
It was definitely tougher in the past (our teachers pulled out exam papers from the 70s and 80s to compare to what we were doing) and university is definitely dumbed down.
Having said that, you do need to be academic to achieve higher grades at university. Blagging your way through, even now, will see you scraping a 2:2.
At the time, Labour were just starting the university for all b
ks to fudge employment figures, so there were too many places/courses for the number of students applying. At Birmingham the course was under subscribed and so we had D grade French students who could just about introduce themselves managing to sign-on via clearing. As a result the whole course was pre-GCSE level in the first year. Gives you an idea of why standards are dropping, and why employers are having to assess graduates to make sure they’re capable of reading and writing. It was definitely tougher in the past (our teachers pulled out exam papers from the 70s and 80s to compare to what we were doing) and university is definitely dumbed down.
Having said that, you do need to be academic to achieve higher grades at university. Blagging your way through, even now, will see you scraping a 2:2.
Edited by Wobbegong on Thursday 23 August 13:05
Did quite well at GCSE - 6xAs, 5xBs.
Completely screwed up A levels - 2xEs and a C. Still thought I could walk the exams, and had some family issues along the way which didn't exactly help me focus.
Got let straight onto my compsci course at uni, anyway (this was turn of the millennium).
Completely screwed up A levels - 2xEs and a C. Still thought I could walk the exams, and had some family issues along the way which didn't exactly help me focus.
Got let straight onto my compsci course at uni, anyway (this was turn of the millennium).
Alex said:
Johnniem said:
Sorry fella but is this meant to be ironic or was it typed on a Nokia 3610? 
I was paraphrasing a famous old job ad: "If u cn rd ths, u cd get a gud jb in comptng." or something like that.Back to your computing wizardry!
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