To be suspicious of my niece's fab gcse results

[Noellefielding]

She got 9 As (6 A*s) and 3 Bs
I mean she's very bright and all that but I was around for a whole week in the middle of her exams and she wasn't working at all. Now I don't think she has a photographic memory and of course course work is included in some subjects. But when my contemps did O levels the ones who got results like this swatted til their eyes bled almost regardless of how clever they were.

It just seems odd to do so well without much evidence of swatting. DH says exams are loads easier. I don't know what to believe. Some of her papers looked easier than I remember mine!
No offence intended at all to anyone just genuinely curious.

Teaching isn't getting better at all- it is just that there is so much pressure to teach exactly to the exam. This is not an approach which encourages a genuine love of learning and reading around your subject, in my opinion, and it does not produce much in the way of deeper understanding and good general knowledge.

Agree with BOF.

Even 17 years ago we were taught what we needed to pass an exam, not a knowledge of the subject. For example I got A's in Physics, Biology and Chemistry but my general knowledge of science was poor: I could pass the exams but I certainly didn't have any real understanding of the subject matter.

hmmm, interesting one, really.

I am another one who (usually) got by absolutely fine, with sod all work.

GCSEs taken in 1992, btw.

However, I did nearly come a cropper in my History - I did absolutely nothing for the hwole 2 years (no coursework in my day) - barely even paid attention in class (really, really HATED History)

I was relying on my previous experience to pull me thruogh - hedge it a bit in the exam, chuck in a couple fo dates, etc - Bob's yer uncle.

hmm, well I got an F in my mock, which should have been enough to shock me into working, but it wasn't (oh so conceited, I was!)

so, the dya of the first exam dawns, and I realise that actually, it's not all going to flow into my head miraculously, I might actually have to do some work. Luckily it was an afternoon exam.

I spent the morning reading through the entire syllabus.

Sat the exam, and got an A (this was pre A*)

Now that really should not have been possible. At All.

And if the exams have got even easier than that since, then heaven help us.

Exams are not getting easier. The difference is that these days kids are taught to the test rather than taught the subjects. Teachers and tutors know fairly well what type of questions will appear and they teach directly to the test rather than the broader subject.

Modular maths does make the process easier but non-modular subject are not easier.

Also the internet has made a dramatic difference to revision and study for kids. Tons and tons of past papers, past essays and step by step techniques. Like York Notes on acid!

GCSEs definitely easier, IMHO.

I did a GCSE at nightschool a few years ago to see what it was like. Tutor was awful, didn't follow the syllabus etc, and due to personal circumstances I had no time for revision. Got an A.

However, individual andecdotes are useless - am sure that a wider trawl would reveal broadly the same general view, though.

(whispers - am also a teacher....... Don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but I think it's pretty obvious that things have easier)

'Have got easier' - sorry

What a meanie you are. I think it's really sad that you would discredit the achievements of your own neice.
Yabu.

Check out the Maths GCSE papers available online! I printed one out for DD to have a look at (she's 14) and my 7 year old DS could do most of it . Things like "write this number in words - 300,000". I mean, it doesn't get much easier does it? My friend's son got 6Bs and 5Cs and he's not what you'd consider a bright child. Did very little revision either. I'm very over the difficulty of these exams.

I got A at English A Level and I literally only attended 10 or so classes the entire year (did it in a year at college). I had only read one or two of the texts as well.

This was in 1994. Make of that what you will. I am not a genius of any kind but I got lucky with the questions that year.

YABU - even if the have got easier all that's happened is that students need to get much higher grades in order to get to top flight universities (at my 16yo sister's school a B is regarded as a fail). I did my GCSE's in '91 and got 9 As & 1 B with absolutely no work at all (spent much of the final year truanting too), ditto for A levels (ABB - got me into an excellent university), I worked hard at uni & got a first but I'd have no chance of getting onto that course with my A level grades now.

IME the people who shout loudest about how much revision they have done, how hard they have worked etc etc, are not the ones who do the best. It is quite probable that your DD is very bright and the things that she had learnt over the past 2 years stayed with her.

However - I did just hear on the news that a GCSE student has written to the media because she got a B ( I think) in French, and she claims to only know 20 french words!

omg errant apostrophe! "GCSEs"

Just joined and have to reply. The onus is on teachers and schools now to get results as opposed to my day (did GCSE's in 1991). Our teachers didn't seem that bothered whether we worked outside the classroom or not, there was no Easter revision, after school revision, one to one tuition provided unless your parents got you a tutor.
I work in a school with a mixed range of ability and yes some students can pass their GCSE's seemingly easily, but the top grades come with a great deal of work. To get an A* in maths you need over 90% generally.
We have all had a massive change of attitude, teaching staff and students and it does grate when we are having to put a great deal of effort into making sure that the C/D borderline kids get C's, some of whom don't give a toss but I am always there on results day and they are always grateful for the push they've had when they open the envelopes.
I also mark GCSE's for the board and it's really interesting to see the commen misconceptions students have and why - I try to teach for the love of my subject but at the end of the day until league tables are abolished schools live and die by their results!
BTW the 300 000 question is a grade G question on a foundation paper - we need to be able to assess the ability across the board.
Sorry for long first post!!!

The marking today for my subject is for what you've got right, not what is incorrect (different from O levels), so getting marks is easier. I am an examiner.

I invigilated a couple of exams this year and I could do some of the physics paper (not having done physics since I was 13, 31 years ago) and could do 75% of the geography paper from memory and common sense. The French listening was easy and they were allowed to bring texts into the Eng lit exam. Much easier than my O levels in 1982!

Exams are easier.

Everyone gets on their high horse when it's mentioned that exams have got easier - lots of comments about how insulting it is to the children having taken them. I personally (and may well get flamed for this) find it insulting to suggest that they haven't got easier because it makes my one A, five Bs and 3Cs look awful (A was in maths as is my 1st class honours degree). These were considered reasonable grades at the time.

My DSs went through the Belgian system and moved late to the British system. DS1 got a B in English language (same as me) after only six months in the school, having done very little written English before though he was a reader. DS2 also got a B after two years in the school but preferred to read in French so his spelling when he went to the school (and still now actually) was pretty appalling. I know it's not all about spelling but DS2 admits himself that his English is not great.

I don't understand why you are so bothered, noelle, and why you are so grudging.

You weren't around during your niece's study time and I can't imagine you were around while your bloody-eyed mates swotted either.

Try being happy for her, pure and simple.

A lot of it is done by course work now and the exams are easier I think. But I would say that, having done O levels :o

When I did my GCSEs mocks (15 years ago) I didn't do any revision, did fine. I revised for the real things (but only for 3 subjects) because my mother got so stressed about my lack of revision for the mocks that I thought it would be better for her state of mind if I put on a show of effort. I did pay attention in class for the 2 years before them and did do homework. I got very similar grades to your niece.

You could argue that sweating over your textbooks the day before the exam is more likely to be a bad sign then a good one...!

Having said that, i am from the school of "cram at the last minute then forget the next day", and it never did me no harm, guv

I did no work for my O levels and did very well As and Bs throughout

it bit me on the bum in A levels though

They are definitely easier. When I did GCSE's we had to use past O level papers for practice as there hadn't been many GCSE papers.
I had to re-read many of the questions in the actual exams as I thought they were trick questions. They weren't, they were just ridiculously easy.
I was a rubbish studier and did hardly any work but did very well in them.

i didn't do much revision for school exams - i paid attention as we went along and it just sort of stuck enough to get 1s at standard grades and As at highers.

uni however was a totally different matter - i had to work bloody hard and still didn't do that well really.

Ooh another GCSE's are easier now and the children haven't worked hard for them at all!

Bah!!!!

Are you Lucy Beale's aunt then OP?