GSCEs - how many get all A grades?

[tatt]

Anyone tell me where I can find figures for the percentage who get all A grades or higher?

What I want to know what is all this stuff about everybody has passed (except the two per cent who forgot to write anything at all) because anything between A and G* is deemed a passing grade.
WTF? Now, I know I went to school in Ireland where the system was slightly different but in my day A-D were pass grades, E, F were fail and then at the very bottom was NG which stood for No Grade. But now G is a pass? What happens under G for krissake. Does it go all the way down to little grade Z?

Just want to say well done to my girls, They dis get As and Bs in the subjects they worked hard at in GCSE and A Level. However, there were a few Ds. I think they worked hard to achieve that. Attendance in school is as high as ever. If I did not bunk off as much then maybe I would have passed as easy as they did. Well done to all who got the grades they earned.

2kidzandi - I don't know about you, but I don't usually take a crap in buses...

wandered a bit from the question - I know what percentage of exams are graded A or A but not what percentage of young people get only A or A grades.

I took exams a long time ago and have seen some recent exam papers. They are different in kind. Todays exams require less rote learning and regurgitation of facts. They test whether students can apply what they have learnt. Therefore bright children do not have to work as hard, they have less to memorise.

What is intelligence? It used to be a good memory. Now the exams tests something else. Meanwhile the so called "top" universities look to recruit a social elite, not necessarily the most intelligent students. They favour the physically advanced and those who talk well.

Anyway I found something yesterday that showed a few years back it was 27% in independent schools and 13% in state schools. Can't locate it again today or find anything for the latest results.

tatt - a good memory has never been the definition of intelligence!

Modern exams seek to test valuable, transferable analytical skills (be they numerical or verbal).

Not the GCSE papers I see, BonsoirAnna.

You get so much information on the paper, with a little native wit you could probably scrape a C without doing the course.

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' I did the Oxford entrance exam and found it a lot harder than my A-Levels ever were. '

Me too.

LadyGlencoraPalliser. Yes A-G's are passes and have been for years. There are Higher and foundation papers in most subjects. A student entered for a higher paper gets graded A-D anything under that is a fail(U).those entered for a foundation paper get Graded C-G under is failed under that. They can't get higher than a C. In subjects like Art,Drama and Music there is only one paper and you get graded A-G.
I think the system of having 2 levels of papers is very unfair. Because even if a student gets 100% in a foundation Paper they can only recieve a C. Also if a student taking a higher paper only just misses a D mark they are failed completly,

BA you used to need a good memory to be able to pass O levels, A levels and get to university. Those who did so were considered the more intelligent.

The GCSE papers I have seen vary. I could have a good stab at some of them (ICT, business studies) but doubt I would pass others, since I have forgotten most of the information I "learnt" at school.

Would still like to know what the current percentage getting all A/A or at least 5 A/A grades is.

well in our schools ( ds and dd) eyebrows are raised at less than 4 or 5 A* now

the system has destroyed itself imo

many children are disappointed with A's

percentage of students getting all A/A wouldn't tell the whole story, one of DD's friends didn't get all A/A so would not be in that elite group but did get 13 A*/A

Thanks senua. It seems that "5 or more A*/A grades at GSCE" is one of the figures the independent sector like to quote to impress parents. However finding a national figure is hard.

The measurement of how many get all A grades does not tell you an awful lot. It depends how many were taken and which subjects. 8 or 9 A/A* all in traditional academic subjects shows a good all round student.

A young girl I know has just got 9A* and 4A grades for her GCSEs. Whilst I'm delighted for her, it just seems a bit over the top!

Back in my day - 10 o'levels was the maximum number I knew of anyone taking, and most people expected to get A grades in their top subjects, and Bs or sometimes Cs in the others.

yes some seem to take rather large numbers of GSCE now, which is why I'm not just interested in the point score. 5 or more A or A* grades would seem to be a figure that is available if I pay for the information but not otherwise.

that bit is exam inflation - say you are top set science - so entered for what is now known as triple science - in the old days known as biology, chemistry and physics - and indeed you get GCSE's in exactly those subjects, but providing the school wishes to pay the exam fees (which of course they do as you are top set and might boost their points scores) you also pick up another 2 science GCSE's along the way - science and additional science.
To try to explain a little better - science means you sit exams B1, C1, P1 (yes the letters stand for biol, chem etc), additional science you sit B2, C2, 23 , then for triple you sit B3, C3, P3 so where we would have ended up with 3 O levels, todays young person gets 5 (with no more work - i'm sure the original intention was to allow the less able to just do B1/C1/P1 and actually end up with a qualification rather than inflate the number a more able student may attempt). I think (not certain) a similar thing exists re sitting first a humanities GCSE then doing geog, hist or whatever

The main 'inflation' is caused by the fact that for A levels (and probably GCSEs) there is now no cap on the percentage allowed to get A, B, C whatever. Until the 90s only say 10% were allowed to get A, the next say 20% B and so on. In other words pupils were marked against each other as well as 'absolutely', and the A students were definitely 'the best'. When you add in the fact that a far higher percentage of pupils take GCSEs and A levels these days it's easy to see how a former C is now an A. And that's before the courses are dumbed-down (eg calculus diminished/taken out of maths A levels) - oh and AS levels are endlessly resat with only the highest mark counting towards the A level...

Personally I'm finding it increasingly difficult to put on my 'Oh wow that's amazing!' face when told of yet another string of As and A*s by some teenager - and I know that's not really fair because they don't have the chance to distinguish themselves. Tell me of a 40+ mark on the IB and I'll be impressed..

It's all crap and manipulated:
At my son't selective school they have just booted out 12 boys after AS, who they don't think will make the school's 'league table expectations' at A level . The rest of the boys are dropping or retaking anything they got less than a C in.
The local non-selective school isn't kicking anyone out after AS.

Of course the selective schools will get all those As, if they're using these devious methods to do so.

CRAP!