GCSE grades WTF ?
Discussion
Hi All,
Following on from the A-Level thread, the GCSE results came out today and just about everyone I know at the age, has come out with A's....like 6-7 A's and the rest B's or all A's and some A*.
My understanding is that next year a new number system is going to be introduced, to sort the wheat from the chaff... but what is normal these days?
Back in the 1980's most people were getting C's, a few B's and an A or two..... would have been consider pretty good.
Iceboy
Following on from the A-Level thread, the GCSE results came out today and just about everyone I know at the age, has come out with A's....like 6-7 A's and the rest B's or all A's and some A*.
My understanding is that next year a new number system is going to be introduced, to sort the wheat from the chaff... but what is normal these days?
Back in the 1980's most people were getting C's, a few B's and an A or two..... would have been consider pretty good.
Iceboy
Grades will be from 1-9 with 1 being the lowest and 9 being highest. Apparently 9 is the equivalent of an A* with 4 the equivalent of a C.
Seems like nonsense to me whichever way they go, grades from last year are not the equivalent of those this year and won't be the equivalent of those next year (they re-evaluate the marks based on how many points candidates got so a 9 last year might only be an 8 this year) which is a big help to no-one, least of all employers. Also, with the lower grades, who really cares whether you got a 1 or a 2, both are a very poor fail with, I suspect, no-one thinking that for anyone getting a 2 that at least it's better than a 1.
I don't see what's wrong with something much simpler: fail, pass, merit, distinction.
Seems like nonsense to me whichever way they go, grades from last year are not the equivalent of those this year and won't be the equivalent of those next year (they re-evaluate the marks based on how many points candidates got so a 9 last year might only be an 8 this year) which is a big help to no-one, least of all employers. Also, with the lower grades, who really cares whether you got a 1 or a 2, both are a very poor fail with, I suspect, no-one thinking that for anyone getting a 2 that at least it's better than a 1.
I don't see what's wrong with something much simpler: fail, pass, merit, distinction.
Cause back in the day you were taught the subject, now they are taught how to pass the exam and thats it.
I have loads of grads that can tell me textbook perfect definition/answers... Cant for the f
king life of them explain the same thing in layman's terms or why you would do something.
They know how to do it now, but not why or the understanding behind it.
I have loads of grads that can tell me textbook perfect definition/answers... Cant for the f
king life of them explain the same thing in layman's terms or why you would do something.They know how to do it now, but not why or the understanding behind it.
red_slr said:
Just reading about this online and you only have to score 84% to get an A* in maths??? WTF?
How can that be? I would have thought at least 95 if not 98% for an A*?
Depends on how difficult the questions are, surely? A pass-percentage in isolation is irrelevant. How can that be? I would have thought at least 95 if not 98% for an A*?
IIRC the "first" threshold when I did my maths degree was in the 70-80% range and that certainly didn't mean it was easy to get a first!
nicanary said:
Saw in a reputable newspaper the other day that one exam board awarded a pass for 19% in biology. The passmarks have always (?) been awarded after all papers have been examined and the difficulty of the paper then assessed.
A pass is the equivalent of the old CSE grade 3 or 4 so not comparable to an old O level.IceBoy said:
Hi All,
Following on from the A-Level thread, the GCSE results came out today and just about everyone I know at the age, has come out with A's....like 6-7 A's and the rest B's or all A's and some A*.
My understanding is that next year a new number system is going to be introduced, to sort the wheat from the chaff... but what is normal these days?
Back in the 1980's most people were getting C's, a few B's and an A or two..... would have been consider pretty good.
Iceboy
This post does not make sense.Following on from the A-Level thread, the GCSE results came out today and just about everyone I know at the age, has come out with A's....like 6-7 A's and the rest B's or all A's and some A*.
My understanding is that next year a new number system is going to be introduced, to sort the wheat from the chaff... but what is normal these days?
Back in the 1980's most people were getting C's, a few B's and an A or two..... would have been consider pretty good.
Iceboy
If just about everyone you know has come out with ’six to seven As and the rest Bs’ – what you say is impossible because this year was already the first year with the new number system and only a few subjects were still scored using the A to D system (media studies being one I know of)
I do however agree with what you say about the 1980s
Edited by andyxxx on Thursday 23 August 13:04
cbmotorsport said:
Back in my youth the above average, bright, hard working student would get 2/3 A's 4/5 B's and a C or two.
Vast majority would bet a smattering of B's and C's
Not sure if things have got easier or kids just realise the importance of it a lot more.
That's pretty much exactly the set of marks I got in 1990. Hardly anyone got more than 4 A grades, I think only 2 girls in my year got a full house of 9 As. Very rare. Maybe I should have tried harder....! Largely irrelevant now though.Vast majority would bet a smattering of B's and C's
Not sure if things have got easier or kids just realise the importance of it a lot more.
I did my GCSEs in 1998 and managed:
6x A
4x B
2x C
I was stunned to hear my nephew who starts his GCSE years in september is one of 3 kids doing the most exams in their year and he is only doing 8 GCSEs ... I was stunned - apparantly some of the kids only do a couple that the school know theyll pass!
6x A
4x B
2x C
I was stunned to hear my nephew who starts his GCSE years in september is one of 3 kids doing the most exams in their year and he is only doing 8 GCSEs ... I was stunned - apparantly some of the kids only do a couple that the school know theyll pass!
Kids work harder and teaching has improved
I Know my stepson and his friends work and study harder than my mates and I ever did (we did ok)
There is far more stress and pressure on today youth as well, I dont really envy them , I only ever knuckled down here and there to get Cs and Bs
Lots more pressure and less carefree times for todays teenagers bit of a shame really
I Know my stepson and his friends work and study harder than my mates and I ever did (we did ok)
There is far more stress and pressure on today youth as well, I dont really envy them , I only ever knuckled down here and there to get Cs and Bs
Lots more pressure and less carefree times for todays teenagers bit of a shame really
To be fair my daughter has worked ridiculously hard over the last 6 months (and previously) working up to her exams and has got her results. She's a nightmare for stress and has found the whole examination process massively difficult. She's also not the most gifted when it comes to straight academic subjects (maths being a massive problem particularly)
Happily, she has achieved the grade 4s that were necessary for her Maths and English so that she is able to move on to her college of choice - as this is an art college she had to achieve this as there is no opportunity to resit them there.
I have to say though that I am absolutely livid with regards to the Computer Science situation. This was a 3 year course where they are covering many aspects including programming where coursework counted as an element of the final result. Elements of answers etc. were leaked and viewed online which was known about around 2 years ago. They were, however, expected to carry on working on this coursework with the associated timed assessments all the way through the course only for them to then announce in Janury this year that all coursework would be disregarded for this year and the next 2.
Surely in the 2 years since this was discovered they could have found a better solution?
My daughter went from a predicted 6 to only getting a 2 and I'm absolutely steaming. Her teacher was visibly upset by the whole shambles
Happily, she has achieved the grade 4s that were necessary for her Maths and English so that she is able to move on to her college of choice - as this is an art college she had to achieve this as there is no opportunity to resit them there.
I have to say though that I am absolutely livid with regards to the Computer Science situation. This was a 3 year course where they are covering many aspects including programming where coursework counted as an element of the final result. Elements of answers etc. were leaked and viewed online which was known about around 2 years ago. They were, however, expected to carry on working on this coursework with the associated timed assessments all the way through the course only for them to then announce in Janury this year that all coursework would be disregarded for this year and the next 2.
Surely in the 2 years since this was discovered they could have found a better solution?
My daughter went from a predicted 6 to only getting a 2 and I'm absolutely steaming. Her teacher was visibly upset by the whole shambles
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