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Original poster

8s at GCSEs not valued like old A*?

27 replies

ouda · 26/08/2018 15:33

There's been lots in the news about students getting lots of grade 9s. But the students getting grade 8s have not really been mentioned, even though the old A* cuts across grade 8 too.

Does this mean that the pressure is now on for students to get strings of 9s even though only about half as many get them as previously got As, and someone getting an 8 now may be getting a higher raw score than someone who got an A last year?

I'm writing as dd got all 8s and one 9 and I was really chuffed for her but looking at stuff about kids getting strings of 9s makes me feel like her grades would not be seen as good enough for top unis? Would Oxbridge now expect 6+ 9s (as used to be thought they needed 6+ A*s)?

OP posts:
Dickybow321 · 26/08/2018 15:45

But the headline figure of 732 students getting 7 9s or more is artificially low bc it doesn't count kids who say got 7 9s and 3 8s.So there's probably thousands of kids with a clutch of 9s. I can't see how they won't start using 9s as the new standard for Oxbridge.

TeenTimesTwo · 26/08/2018 15:39

I can't see Oxford & Cambridge expecting straight 9s as they wouldn't get enough students!

Instead of the 1000s (?) getting straight A we now have 700 getting 9s. 8s (and 7s) are still excellent* and you need to remember that and see any 9s as a bonus.

The whole point of the numbering was to be able to mark out the very very top (why that's needed I'm not too sure as that is what A levels are for, but still).