A level grades

[DolphinFC]

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.

@SureBorisKnowsWhatHesDoingNOT

An 'A' is fantastic but not exceptional though is it. That's the whole reason for the stupid A* system. So in old school terms there's been a massive shift of people getting Bs. Not so exceptional I think.

Btw my dc got the results they deserved IMO (teacher, proud parent, owner of mum-goggles but able to remove them, I HOPE. DH's dad ones are firmly attached to his face, never to be removed ).

Well exactly. Now we have:

A* - well above average
A - above average
B - average or below average
C - well below average

So anyone who got an A can only say they are above average. These kids will become acutely aware of this.

I just hate the belittling of students' achievements

Surely though, that’s the downside of every second child getting an A grade? It’s gone from meaning something quite special to an achievement that’s average-above average only.

I agree it’s a shame for individual students though, and a travesty for those who were in the top few percent of the year.

Snap, notbad

A is fairly average at the independents though, if over 70% of people there get them.

It will be very interesting to see what happens when they have to actually, you know, sit exams next year.

Or do you think they will teach the kids over zoom next year as well, given that it has worked so much better for them than face to face teaching?

Many, many moons ago, in the last century, before modular a levels, before teachers shared mark schemes and told you AOs, before the A*, I was in a boggier than bog standard comp. Class of 11. 40%of us got an A.

In the class I taught this year, 30% got an A or *. They were a v v good group. I'm getting sick of the 50% narrative, because there will be many, many schools who haven't seen this.

What 50% narrative? Just under 50% of the entire country got an A or A*. This isn’t a narrative, it’s a fact! It doesn’t matter if some schools always did this well, it’s a massive jump for the entire country to do this well.

It’s 50% of those taking A levels, who are normally even in the state schools those who did well in GCSE. Students are often advised in year 12 if they are not on track for Cs and above on alternative options or how to improve. So in a year without parties, pubs etc it roughly 50 of A to C students.

I thought it was 39%of state school students who got A/* this year. Doesn't the 50% come from adding independent schools?

I don’t know how this can be mysterious. Teachers were effectively told to be optimistic, and they were.

Who would give an A/B boundary student a B, potentially damaging their university chances? If they took exams 50% would get As, 50% would get Bs. This year, virtually 100% got As.

Teachers did this both because most teachers laudably want the best for their pupils, but also because schools look at grades teachers achieve, and this affects their career progression.

I think both the increase in grades and obvious reasons for this (above) make this a bit of a non debate for anyone with an eye for actual evidence.

but also because schools look at grades teachers achieve, and this affects their career progression.

In exam years yes. Even though they aren't supposed to.

But this year, no school should be doing this.

Nothing was consistent even within the same subject - loads of cheating took place (by teachers and pupils)...questions given out beforehand to some classes and not to others in the same subject. How the grade was arrived at changed with the wind. Head boy boasted openly about cheating still got 4 A* - the whole thing was a bit of a joke. Best thing that can be done is to put the sorry mess behind us - the school were totally crap, but they're patting themselves on the back now, telling us all how hard the kids and teachers have worked and how they should be super proud of themselves and their amazing results- they can gaslight away. We know it's nonsense.

Yet another one who has to put others down, are you jealous that kids do better now , a level grades have gone up year after year, many kids who take them are the brightest to start with
Ate people who say this jealous as they or there child got a B in previous years so it makes them feel bad or what
Teacher assessments prob fairer than one exam at the end , although these kids did sit exams just not in same way
People need to just get over themselves and stop being so nasty

Also people need to bear in mind that a* students aren't always the best employees , its about the person as well and how they work in that particular job.
The pressure of exams is different from work and even in work pressure in one job will be different from another job.
Doesn't mean your child who is great at exams will be better than the child who isn't and uni isn't even all about exams so if they only perform in exams , then uni may not reflect that , hence why btech students often find uni More similar and easy to adapt to than a level students

Cheating is a strong word, lime, when the Ofqual guidance permitted students to be given the questions that could be used in assessments and indeed encouraged this by publishing them online.

You should complain both to, and about, this school formally if you have evidence. What you describe wasn't the norm in my experience.

@MrsElijahMikaelson1 how do you know you dd deserved it more than the next child , simply because she worked her socks off as I am sure did many others.
Maybe the exams might not have gone as well who knows.
Its ironic that you think your dd deserves the grades but others don't , because in your judgement she doeS, and maybe she does but how can you know others havent

Teacher assessments prob fairer than one exam at the end
Not really fair. Exam given to Class A on Monday 9am morning - same exam given to Class B before lunch and class C last thing. Class C has distinct advantage all assessments were run like this - we complained and we are told it's absolutely fair - even though Class C knew all the questions beforehand for every exam - they apparently had no advantage.
Teacher told the kids in Class A the questions kids in class B didn't get the questions.
Teacher put answers on the walls in big writing, poster style.
Teacher ran the exams like the A levels were run.

There was no consistency - within and across subjects, nevermind schools.

I have twins - their experience - they observed that there was nothing fair about how this process was run. They got what they needed to move on but fair - no, fair is not a word they'd use.

@Phineyj,

I think cheating is the apposite word.

There is a massive difference between saying questions will be drawn from the past 5 years with the following topics omitted (as they had been missed through lockdown) and the exam next week will consist of the following questions, let’s go through it, together with the mark scheme.

I think there was a massive variation between schools and even between departments within the same school.

The boards should have done their jobs and set actual exams, which could have been adapted to the situation (greater choice of questions, more flexible mark schemes etc).

@Theredjellybean why don't you ask school or college how they come to those grades then as they should be able to justify them and every year there are kids who have a good exam day and then those who don't so sometimes that a student gets a b and that b gets an a even with exams .
Also you have no idea how one may cope with uni over the other , many a* students drOp out too

You could all look at this another way , maybe it shows that exams are not the best way to mark kids
Are uni courses one exam at the end of the three years ? No
My ds predicted grades and work he worked at for gcse was 6 in most subjects on exams he got , 3,4's as it all went wrong for him on the days due to various external factors
He went onto college and smashed it as he completed a btech so work was continuous assessments etc so suited his learning , he can go to uni and Im sure will do ok as hes capable and one exam won't define him.

I don't disagree with there being massive variation and inconsistency between schools (if there was within a school and definitely within a subject, the management have got a few questions to answer...).

I just don't think you can use the word "cheating" about a bodged together system that lacked clear guidance or monitoring.

The blame really does lie firmly with the government. You cannot change a huge complex formal exam system by issuing vague guidance 2.5 months before the grades are due and not expect suboptimal outcomes.

@Limewine not how my sons gcse were run at all and I am taking in general every year , I think sitting couple exams at the end of 2 yeat and that snapshot defininG you is not fair and the way we do it needs a shake uo , coursework and exams , like uni can be , sets them up for that as well.
How your childs school done this seems strange and not how it should of been done and thats what nakes it unfair as you have people saying they didn't deserve it , yet many schools ran it very well , if some didn't maybe report them

@Limewine yes you should report school as not the experience I am hearing from others and not how my ds gcse were at all .
Lots done under exam conditions whole school, candidate numbeRs so blind marked, I assumed A levels were done very similar

The thing is that the kids felt that they were cheating and felt they had to cheat because all the other kids were likely to be cheating and they'd be marked against their peers - they were even encouraged to cheat in more strategic way ie don't follow the mark scheme too closely as it's too obvious and the kids who didn't cheat were disadvantaged.
I'm glad my kids got through it - it was a tough couple of years - but what did it teach them? After all the years thinking cheating was wrong and it got you nowhere.

@Phineyj,

It is really hard to manage!

Some teachers hint far more aggressively than others what is coming up.

When you know what is in the final assessment, do you cover topics you know are not coming up or what is coming up?

How can management even know? If one teacher’s class perform half a grade higher than expected, maybe just great teaching, who is to know?

Even the guidelines were so vague that different departments interpreted them differently.

It was an impossible situation for all concerned.

@TheReluctantPhoenix aren't exam grades not being taken into account this year for schools tables etc which makes your second point totally mute
So many people spouting off without knowing the facts