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Original poster

A level grades

678 replies

DolphinFC · 10/08/2021 10:25

If feel that value of an A grade ar A level has been reduced dramatically. I feel truly sorry for those very bright, hard-working students who would've got an A grade no matter what. Their deserved A grade is now lost in a pile of undeserved A grades.

OP posts:
SerenaCat · 12/08/2021 13:41

I guess the proof will be in the pudding when this year's A level students get their University results in 3/4 years time...

RufustheBadgeringReindeer · 12/08/2021 13:41

I think the ranking system was still in place….which is a smidge unfortunate for ds2 (as with others obvs) as he was working at a higher grade but was downgraded because of a very bright cohort (in that subject)

RufustheBadgeringReindeer · 12/08/2021 13:43

@SerenaCat

I guess the proof will be in the pudding when this year's A level students get their University results in 3/4 years time...
Nah

I reckon they’ll be threads on here saying they shouldn’t have firsts and 2:1s as they are too easy and being given away

herecomesthsun · 12/08/2021 13:46

@igelkott2021

The other issue, of course, is schools knew uni offers before awarding grades

not necessarily

I actually thought the system would have worked better if schools had been allowed to tell students what their grades were likely to be so they accepted offers accordingly. Not much point accepting an AAA offer if you were going to get BBB. And despite the hysteria on this thread about "everyone getting As", there were plenty of kids who did not get what they needed.

what hysteria Confused
thing47 · 12/08/2021 13:50

I'm not sure there is a direct correlation between A level grades and university performance, is there? I mean, obviously there is some correlation but some people peak at A level (or even primary school Smile), others decide they don't really enjoy university (for a myriad reasons), others might choose the wrong course and switch course or university, and others only really come into their own the further up the 'education ladder' they go.

I feel it's likely that this year's exams were graded generously, but I certainly don't hope that children drop out of university as a result of getting grades they might not have got in exams, that strikes me as a weird thing to hope for!

herecomesthsun · 12/08/2021 14:04

There is some data suggesting that young people from state schools may outperform young people from independents at University.

sorry, randomly googled this but found the Mail first www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3237737/State-school-students-firsts-university-private-pupils-levels.html

shallIswim · 12/08/2021 14:08

[quote herecomesthsun]There is some data suggesting that young people from state schools may outperform young people from independents at University.

sorry, randomly googled this but found the Mail first www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3237737/State-school-students-firsts-university-private-pupils-levels.html[/quote]
Dunno about the research, but DD was pleased when on arrival at Durham (first choice uni) she had new friends from 'top' independents lauding her and her results from a very bog standard comp. she was amazed that her achievements were so sweetly revered. She said they kept asking 'but how...?' .

Bryonyshcmyony · 12/08/2021 14:46

"but how...? “

Yeah that never happened 😂

shallIswim · 12/08/2021 15:02

@Bryonyshcmyony

"but how...? “

Yeah that never happened 😂

Why? Why could that not happen?
shallIswim · 12/08/2021 15:04

@Bryonyshcmyony

"but how...? “

Yeah that never happened 😂

What an odd comment on human nature. Didn't stop DD having complete imposter syndrome. But why couldn't her more monied new friends have been nice?
Bryonyshcmyony · 12/08/2021 15:05

It just sounds massively unlikely

I really don't think private school kids at uni wouldn't be able to get their heads round a state school person getting the same grades as them. It just doesn't ring true at all, sorry

Saucery · 12/08/2021 15:16

This thread has everything! Fake concern about dc out of their depth with their shiny, undeserved A*……..snobby Durhamites…….Grin

MoreRainThanAnyYet · 12/08/2021 15:18

I really don't think private school kids at uni wouldn't be able to get their heads round a state school person getting the same grades as them. It just doesn't ring true at all, sorry

Some of the kids I knew at university had trouble getting their heads around 'How do you cope if you haven't been used to boarding school?'

These are young people who have mostly known their own world and as yet know little about other people's.

Bryonyshcmyony · 12/08/2021 15:20

@Saucery

This thread has everything! Fake concern about dc out of their depth with their shiny, undeserved A*……..snobby Durhamites…….Grin
Yep it sure does!

Also that 5 year old article about state school kids doing better than private school kids at university which has naff all to do with the thread

Bryonyshcmyony · 12/08/2021 15:21

These are young people who have mostly known their own world and as yet know little about other people's

Did you know much about their world?

MoreRainThanAnyYet · 12/08/2021 15:37

No, of course not. It was an enlivening experience all round.

Phineyj · 12/08/2021 16:06

The Ofqual guidance said specifically that schools were not to take university offers into consideration when awarding grades. However, as the guidance was issued very late - only just before Easter - some offers would already have been

Schools generally advise students to accept a realistic insurance offer for UCAS, expecially if their firm choice is aspirational. There are always some students who don't take the advice, of course.

Phineyj · 12/08/2021 16:06

Been known

Phineyj · 12/08/2021 16:09

There was no ranking system (there was in 2020). Schools were required to take the 2017-2019 results for their centre into consideration, however.

The Ofqual guidance is freely available online - it's not secret!

thing47 · 12/08/2021 16:12

I'm not really interested in a state v private argument, but I do think that research is noteworthy, and relevant if it's still the case. It would seem to indicate that private schools are very good at getting their pupils great A level grades, but not necessarily equipping them to do any better beyond that point.

Phineyj · 12/08/2021 16:15

You can't tell students realistic grades at the end of year 12 unless you want 4 or 5 months of intense parental lobbying! And besides forecasting's not an exact science. Students can and do improve a grade from year 12 to the final exams - but not all of them and not in all their subjects. And some run into unexpected problems of course.

herecomesthsun · 12/08/2021 16:43

5 year old article about state school kids doing better than private school kids at university which has naff all to do with the thread

Oh well to spell out the connection further, the phenomenon has been observed previously of independent candidates getting so much special help and coaching for A levels that they don't perform as well as state school candidates once they get to University.

This is relevant to a thread about the massively over-inflated A level grades which were particularly an issue for independent schools this year.

5 years isn't that long ago.

herecomesthsun · 12/08/2021 16:45

Also, it was quite cool at some Oxford colleges to come from a state school or have a background not typical of Oxford - this was a few years back though.

So I can well imagine that there may have been a similar feeling at Durham.

herecomesthsun · 12/08/2021 16:47

You can't tell students realistic grades at the end of year 12 unless you want 4 or 5 months of intense parental lobbying!

I also agree with this.

Bryonyshcmyony · 12/08/2021 17:06

It would seem to indicate that private schools are very good at getting their pupils great A level grades, but not necessarily equipping them to do any better beyond that point

😂😂