in thinking that in a few years time it'll be impossible to fail an 'A' level?

[BarmyArmy]

A level pass rate up

"The pass rate for A-levels rose for the 28th year in a row, with 97.6% of entries gaining an E or above, up from 97.5% in 2009."

The problem (for I see it as that, rather than evidence of increasing 'hard work') began under the Tories, when they introduced the GCSE in 1986.

Traditional 'bell curve' grade allocation was replaced with marks awarded to a particular 'standard', meaning it is perfectly possible for everyone to pass, or indeed everyone to gain the same grade - depending on where the grade boundaries lie.

Under the old bell curve system, grades were allocated according to the percentile bands in which you lay - i.e. the top 20% of any given intake received an A, the next a B and so on.

What do people think?

Yup, i grudge them all those As as well.....

Very sensitive topic on a day when some parents are disappointed about their kids' results.

No. I don't think that it will be "impossible" to fail an A level in a few years time.

And I'm not sure you've got the percentages right for the "bell curve allocation". Because if 20% get the top grade, it is impossible to have a normal distribution...

There may be some weight to the argument you put forth Barmy, but when you've done A Levels (which I did almost 10 years ago), it's horrible and actually quite offensive to be proud of your achievements, only to be told that it's no achievement at all because the exams are piss easy. Tread carefully with this subject, don't shit all over someone's results just because of media hype.

FanjoForTheMammaries - 'timely', I think is the word

TheFallenMadonna - you're quite right about the 20% issue...I was trying to demonstrate the point.

Sloppy work.

Must try harder...

LucyLouLou - I'm not saying the exams are piss easy...far from it. I'm questioning whether the grades are allocated in the correct way.

TheFallenMadonna - ooh, a flashback to my school reports there!!

So you think that a certain proportion of students should always fail, no matter what their mark? What percentage?

Thats so so rude barmy- my brother got 4 a*s today af was offered a place in Cambridge and Edinburgh becfore he sat his exams because he is a science and maths genius (their words not mine!) I'm so proud of him and people like you just shit all over their achievements.
he worked his arse off for those grades and I know his mates worked harder as there are fewer places etc this year so they have been pushed harder by tutors. I would LOVE to see you pass an a level now, I'd put my life savings on it that you couldn't achieve half if what these kids could.
You seem to be on a mission today to upset people on here.

And breathe!

Barmy, I didn't mean to suggest you were, I was more putting the comment out there in the ether. This is a topic that very easily upsets people (see Dinky's comment above for example) and a sweeping generalisation about the standard of exams that the media like to portray is disparaging to the majority of students who work their asses off to get good grades.

Congratulations to your brother Dinky!

TheFallenMadonna - yes...those placed at the bottom X per cent of the distribution should fail - because what is being measured (under bell-curve grade-allocations)is their position relative to their peers.

DinkyTinky - well done to your brother! Four A*s is a great achievement. Has he decided whether to go to Cambridge or Edinburgh?

YABU, I teach A Level Law and the topics they cover for A2 are just the same as they cover at university in their second year. What I can say though is that it is fairly easy to predict and prepare students for the exams if one spends an awful lot of time going through past papers. My students did amazingly well because I had a fair idea of what questions were coming up in their exam and I was correct which means that they knew all the answers. So I do not agree with the notion that exams are easy or are marked easily, no chance at all. How would you then justify the students who fail these exams if you are saying they are very easy. Surely they would then all pass the exams.

I am really proud of my students because they worked exceptionally hard to remember all they learnt throughout the academic year. I sat A Level law exams in 1995 and in fact found those exams easier than the ones my students sit now.

But where would you place X?

Grade descriptors refer to what students can do (and by default, with reference to higher grades) what they can't do. Do you think that is useful information to have?

Dinky congratulations for your brother and I am with you 100%. Just to add on to my post above, even though I WAS able to predict the questions coming up, they still worked their butts off to achieve the A's they so rightly deserved

I'm not telling barmy - you'll probably start another thread on edinburgh/Cambridge being easy peast too :P

And anyway, going by your theory if all students slacked off or their was a particularly stupid year of students then children who would achieve a C in the current system would achieve an A for being minimally more intelligent / putting more slightly more effort in.

LucyLouLou - understood. Although, it is the case that the methods used to elicit marks from students have changed over the years...sometimes in ways that, to my untrained eye at least, suggest things have become more straightforward than in years gone by.

For example, at 'O' Level Physics, one was expected to learn the formulae one might need to answer questions in the exam.

GCSEs came along, and the formulae were added to the inside cover of the question booklet.

Then the exams changed to being multiple choice, with 5 possible answers given.

Then the formulae were moved from the inside of the question booklet to sit aside the question where they would be required.

Finally, the number of possible ansers was reduced from 5 to 3.

Now, I appreciate that learning things by rote for their own sake is of less value today than the ability to 'research' an answer etc. But this new approach, coupled with the grade allocation, means that there are increasingly fewer ways of ascertaining the differences between candidates (for degree courses, jobs etc).

When interviewing candidates for jobs at an investment bank a few years ago, I would pay as much attention to the year the candidates got their results, as to the grades they actually got.

Barmy I've got 11 gcses and not one was mulitple choice

Barmy then maybe your thread should be entitled impossible to pass an O'Level as the examples you have just illustrated above concern O'levels. A Levels are not easy at all and you are being unreasonable for making such a sweeping statement without evidence

mumofthreesweeties - you really want my opinion of the students that fail the exams nowadays? I'll keep my counsel on that one.

Also, you have demonstrated perfectly clearly the amount of teaching to the exam that takes place.

mumofthreesweeties - the example I gave began with the old 'O'level and then moved to the more recent GCSE.

Dinkytinky - what year did you get them?