to think that old people

[ethanchristopher]

should not bang on about how gcse's are getting easier (and as/a2/degrees)

1. kids take about 11-12 gcse's now istead of the 6-7 o levels
2. they sit exams year round from the start of year 10/4th year
3. they do exams in year 10 which means less time to prepare and learn the topics
4. coursework isnt written for you by your teachers and you cant get much help off them
5. it is moderated so thoroughly it is impossible for teachers to bump your grade
6. the percentage of A/A* students might be rising but so is the percentage of U/G/F/E/D students

and im working my poor little arse off trying to pass them and my bloody grandfather (and other family members) keep telling me that they are really really easy

bet he wont be saying that down the golf club if i get straight A's, he'll be like "my granddaughter got straight A's"

idiots

sorry this is more about my grandad than old people in general lol

i just needed a rant

its okay, thanks for asking

and sidge and other people who think that the gcse's are getting easier

why do you think this? i mean like is it the media's input or is your dc studying and you find it really easy or what?

just interested to know

YANBU. It's been going on for years though

I often come across pissy smelling oldies (line of work) they are often in a house that is heated to about 100 degrees which makes the ammonia even more pungent. Almost to fainting levels. MMmmmm can't wait to get old

I suppose it's unfair of me to say they are easier, as they are incomparable really. The whole system is different - GCSEs have so much more continual assessment, coursework etc. GCEs were passed or failed on the result of one or two three hour exams, so you could have been blinding for two years then totally stuffed up in your exams.

I do think that GCSE content isn't as difficult as GCE papers were - but I admit I haven't seen all subjects. I suppose I don't understand how the pass rate can have increased so much over the last 10 years - I don't believe that teaching is so much better or that children are so much cleverer, so I can only put it down to the content being less challenging.

Does anyone remember that TV series a while ago where they had kids going back to school as it used to be in the ?1950s. Some pupils who were predicted As and A*s in their GCSEs couldn't even finish GCE papers, let alone pass them.

ethanchristopher -

I live cambs way as well. Might be able to find somebody who could meet you actually in cambridge - but will have to ask around first. (Sorry! Just trying to think of who I know that will be around this year...)

i beleive the program was called that'll teach em

and they did a spinoff a couple of years ago and the parents of those kids couldnt finish the A/A* exams for gcse's etiher

the ongoing exams and coursework mean you have to revise and study all the time and that you cant ever have an "off month" and there is lots more content to cover

the pass rate isnt actually increasing that much, the media puts its own spin on it of course and then the whole public think they know the full story

i've no doubt that gce/o levels where difficult but so are these

I took 7 O'levels at almost 16 (I'm a summer baby so birthday after exams) and an 8th a year later, as Latin was fitted in after school and then exam preparation in the 1st year of 6th form. I was I think the last year to do O levels, possibly last but one. At my school everyone did 16+ maths, and to get top grades you had to do an extra really hard paper in two topics (chosen by the school) - as one of our two was my most difficult bit of maths (trigonometry) I was relieved to do well, but I don't believe that the structure of the paper was any easier than O level. And the only person who got an A in A-level French had been in the 16+ group and never did German, I think their syllabus may have actually been a better preparation for further study.

I don't believe the theory that exams must be easier because grades are going up. I think it's because for whatever reason teaching is improving, and pressure for grades is going up.

I actually think a system premised on the idea that to be credible a huge proportion of entrants must fail their exams is pretty disgraceful.

I did o levels and gcse's.
O level was a significantly higher level and this had proved difficult especially in terms of science and math based subjects moving to A-Level and degree.

I think my difficulty with GCSE is that in some cases it has become an excercise in examination passing and not independent though.

Just mho though

I think it's crap to hear for students taking exams just now, but there was at least at the start a huge difference between O'levels and GCSE - I did RE O'level in (old money) 4th year, and then 9? GCSEs afterwards. Noticed a big difference, and then went to a diff school for 6th form where they'd done O'level maths, took A'level Pure Maths and Mechanics, and were miles ahead of anything I'd done. It must be so dispiriting for today's students, though - you don't get to pick your exam system, you do as well as it's possible to do, and the media just pick up on "things being easier". Good luck, ec - hope it all goes well.

I did 8 GCSEs which was pretty standard at my school. Being as we were the guineapig first year to sit them, the teachers were none too sure how hard they'd prove to be in practice.

I think the access course I sat to get into uni was harder than first year undergrad though but that was more as I was learning how to learn and the issue of time management as I was working fulltime then.

i agree with hedgewitch - i hadnt actually thought about it like that but they actually do!

the way my maths work is in modules, so last december i took paper D/C grade, last june i took paper C/B grade and this december i'm taking B/A grade. next june i have to take a D to A grade paper, the marks all add up and i have to get like 80% of the total mark over all the papers to get a B and 92% to get an A.

I think i'd be happy with a B tbh but i'll try for an A

I think the exams of GCSEs are easier than the exams of O Levels but they seem to be doing a huge amount of course work these days, and like ethanchristopher says, they are constantly moderated.
I would have found that hard ...
I liked exams. In the 'old days' you mucked about for 18 months and then crammed and crammed and crammed in the last weeks for the exams (or, at least, I did) and ended up with an O Level (same went for A levels)
I had a big shock at Uni when half of my degree was assessed through coursework and I had to produce something that counted just about every term ... I got my degree obviously but my best marks were from the 4th year exams.

I do agree that some exams are easier (well in my day anyway 2000).

I did maths A-level and we used to do old O-level papers to revise. Although chemistry and biology A-levels were fine. We did the A-level maths exam and it was way hard I mean ridiculous. Our maths teacher was even at the door of the exam hall saying that it was too hard and we would all be marked up lol. I struggled, I mean by the time you worked out what the fuck they wanted you to do you were out of time lol.

(Needs to grow up I'm 27 ffs)

PS ... I was the last year of O Levels (1986)

And btw at my crappy school they didn't allow anyone to be entered for the higher maths paper, only intermediate. Same for separate science subjects, only dual award.

It was odd actually,some people who got an A in GCSE maths struggled with the syllabus at A-Level. I got a B and was fine, ended up with a B at A-Level, my friend who was tutored through GCSE got an E at A-level but an A at GCSE. There was actually one girl who basically had a nervous breakdown and transfered classes because she had gotten a C in an internal exam.

Mental.

There was also another girl who was so used to getting the top mark in biology, she came up to me and congratulated me for beating her. .

ethanchristopher...you said something on the maternity leave thread about being 15 that I thought was a joke...are you really only 15 and doing your GCSEs?

I used to teach GCSE English at an FE college. Most of my students were adults with poor basic literacy, or with English as a second language (or both!), and teenagers who'd muffed English at school.

I got pass rates of around 70%, despite the fact that the vast majority of my students couldn't write in properly constructed sentences. Actually, scratch that. Those students who didn't have English as their mother tongue generally had pretty good syntax and punctuation. It was the native born speakers who wouldn't have known what to do with a semi-colon if it had come up and bitten them on the bum.

I taught entirely to an exam syllabus and spoon fed the course-work. I regularly got extremely weak people through the exam by accurately predicting what the questions would be each year (by analysing previous years' papers) and drilling my students in exam skills.

Standards of basic literacy are very poor now, even among graduates. I've been told that at Roehampton University they've had to start offering a literacy skills module, even for students on literature and education courses, because so few of them have a good enough grasp of grammar and punctuation to allow them to produce academic essays of a reasonable standard. I think that's shocking.

yep im 15

but im 16 this school year, im not like early or anyting

its just nowadays you start doing your exams in year 10/4th year. everyone does. its not just me

im so lucky that im natural quite clever though or having my ds would have completely messed up my results

gabygirl - do you not agree that the focus of english in schools is compeltely wrong

i mean, english literature we do 5 pieces of coursework incuding writing a short story, shakespeare, a play script (we're doing the crucible), media and a pre1914 novel (im doing pride and prejudice) and an exam where we have to write something to inform, expain describe e.t.c

so basicaly nothing to do with good english or grammar

english lang is about being able to analyse and compare poetry

so again nothing to do with good english or grammar

i think this is rediculous. we should be learning how to write letters properly and punctuation e.t.c

it wasn't that; your posts are very well thought out and intelligent sounding for a nipper

what brings you to MN?

Ghosty - actually 1987 was the last year of O levels. I sat O levels in both 1986 and 1987. My sister sat the first year of GCSEs in 1988.

To answer some of the P's points:
Kids take about 11-12 gcse's now istead of the 6-7 o levels
I sat 11 O levels/CSEs
They sit exams year round from the start of year 10/4th year
I also sat exams in my 4th year
Coursework isnt written for you by your teachers and you cant get much help off them
My O levels/CSEs had NO coursework element so were graded entirely on what you could remember in exam conditions. Surprisingly, not only could the teachers not give you much help - they couldn't give you any!
It is moderated so thoroughly it is impossible for teachers to bump your grade
Yep, ditto with o levels and CSEs
The percentage of A/A* students might be rising but so is the percentage of U/G/F/E/D students
Well, I hope the percentage of B and C graded students is falling dramatically, otherwise there are some serious problem with the teaching of mathematics

Lacka - Thanks, well cause im quite young nobody i know has kids except my family and they are a bit judgemental. i like on mumsnet where you can like share problems and have a larf with other mums an that (see banana protecting thread HAHA) basicaly same reason as you all go on

MummyTubb - fair enough but we actually sit exams all through the two years and with regards to moderation if the moderator decides one piece of work has been marked too highly every single piece of work in that class is put down a grade.