six-year-old girl "passes" GCSE maths

[Petrolhead_Rich]

So this six year old girl is being reported to have "passed her GCSE maths exam at age 6.

She got an E

How the fk is that passing???

The News really is "six year old takes GCSE Exam and fails dismally

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-146605...

[jamesson]

Undoubtedly bright for a six year old, but this is hardly news.

What percentage equates to a grade E then?

[monkey gland]

Her father Charles said: "You see young people in the newspapers who have taken exams and you think, why not?"

Yeh, that's great and all Charles, but what's the fking point if she has to resit it later on to actually get a decent grade...

[Stevenj214]

"We want her to be outstanding and exceptional in every way."

"We don't stress her out, telling her 'you've got to do this'."

[GWC]

jamesson said:

Undoubtedly bright for a six year old, but this is hardly news.

What percentage equates to a grade E then?

30%

[Mr E]

E is classed as a pass.

I believe it's very hard to fail a GCSE.

[Shuvi Tupya]

GWC said:

jamesson said:

Undoubtedly bright for a six year old, but this is hardly news.

What percentage equates to a grade E then?

30%

The funny thing is that these exams are now probably multiple choice with only two responses to each question so you should get 50% if you just guess every answer

[roachcoach]

You can points for the dumbest crap ever in math exams. Quite often re-writing the initial question (if it was an equation) in an interesting, but garbage way yielded points.

I recall a paper where the task was to draw the shape (rectangle) but twice the size. points being awarded for even managing to make a rectangle shape...

Read into the 30% what you will...

[jamesson]

Call me old fashioned, but when was it decreed that anything less than 50% was a pass? 30% is only a good result in the context of her being six years old. In normal terms, it's a poor score.

[fido]

Sadly just another f-UK-d story. Even the child prodigies are useless nowadays - when she is old enough to realise what an 'E' means then it will be a major disappointment; they should have waited a few years to get her to A standard. The dad sounds like an embarrassing knobber as well:-

"Presidents of the world used to be old and now they are middle-aged. The younger generations are taking over now"
Yeah, we noticed from the events a few weeks ago .. and look at the f8g mess they made!

Edited by fido on Thursday 25th August 13:58

[rudecherub]

jamesson said:

Call me old fashioned, but when was it decreed that anything less than 50% was a pass? 30% is only a good result in the context of her being six years old. In normal terms, it's a poor score.

I agree, standards won't return until they go back to grading on a curve.

IIRC when CSE was rolled together with O level to make GCSE they decided E at GCSE was a 'pass' because a C at CSE ( subject ) was equivalent to an E at O level ( subject )

I was told at the time that it was a technical matter, and C would continue to be the minimum standard required by 'real' universities especially in Maths and English Language.

Edited by rudecherub on Thursday 25th August 14:19

[AshVX220]

Stevenj214 said:

"We want her to be outstanding and exceptional in every way."

"We don't stress her out, telling her 'you've got to do this'."

That poor kid is going to grow up never being good enough to please Daddy.

Poor little sod.

[GetCarter]

Mr E said:

E is classed as a pass.

I believe it's very hard to fail a GCSE.

I managed (I was asleep I think)

[ninja-lewis]

rudecherub said:

I was told at the time that it was a technical matter, and C would continue to be the minimum standard required by 'real' universities especially in Maths and English Language.

Edited by rudecherub on Thursday 25th August 14:19

Universities do require C grades as the minimum standard. School league tables also use the A*-C range for measuring performance.

[Caulkhead]

jamesson said:

Undoubtedly bright for a six year old, but this is hardly news.

What percentage equates to a grade E then?

E - spell first name correctly

D - spell both names correctly

C - Both names a question correct

B - Both names and two questions correct

A - Both names and three questions correct

A* - Both names and three questions correct, one of which describes the horrors of climate change

HTH.

[DieselGriff]

I was in one of the last years to do O levels - GCSE was being brought in the following year. I completed my English language O level a year early so was asked if I wanted to do a Lit' O level as well which basically comprised reading 6 classic novels and 6 contemporary novels and writing an essay on each.

I said yes but wasn't all that enthusiastic and in the end only submitted 4 or 5 essays so was not surprised to fail the O level however in a build up to the introduction of the GCSE some exams were going to be marked as CSE and GCSE to compare. I can't remember the CSE result but I'm now the proud owner of a GCSE grade D in English Literature!

[Frog Dog]

Shuvi Tupya said:

GWC said:

jamesson said:

Undoubtedly bright for a six year old, but this is hardly news.

What percentage equates to a grade E then?

30%

The funny thing is that these exams are now probably multiple choice with only two responses to each question so you should get 50% if you just guess every answer

Did you also get an E in maths? You have a 50/50 chance of getting a question right (if its only got 2 answers that is) but you could still get every single one wrong and fail completely.....

[Deva Link]

Frog Dog said:

Shuvi Tupya said:

The funny thing is that these exams are now probably multiple choice with only two responses to each question so you should get 50% if you just guess every answer

Did you also get an E in maths? You have a 50/50 chance of getting a question right (if its only got 2 answers that is) but you could still get every single one wrong and fail completely.....

The irony is strong on this one.

[Shuvi Tupya]

Deva Link said:

Frog Dog said:

Shuvi Tupya said:

The funny thing is that these exams are now probably multiple choice with only two responses to each question so you should get 50% if you just guess every answer

Did you also get an E in maths? You have a 50/50 chance of getting a question right (if its only got 2 answers that is) but you could still get every single one wrong and fail completely.....

The irony is strong on this one.

Indeed.

[Strachan]

E is a pass because it is not an F (fail).