A level inflation - half to get A or A stars......

[mids2019]

So we have maybe up to half of A level students getting A or A stars this year due to teacher assesed grades.

This degree of grade inflation does seem unsustainable but are we prepared for significant grade deflation in future years to get back to pre pandemic normality?

How many students will now be deferring with the hope of entering a higher tariff institution?

Does this means newer universities are going to be losing out on students?

Should there maybe even other methods of identifying high achievers if courses are competitive?

DD was thinking of asking the school to remark her 2019 A level work using current criteria so she can get the three A* she was hoping for.
That year group was the lowest marked for some time.

All this is going to do is make university admissions requirements even higher. A star, A star, A will be the new norm, Oxford's AAA will be equivalent to their EEE offer of 30 years ago.

I think universities will move towards extra exams especially the selecting universities. Stand by for an explosion in the TSA, ELAT, HAT, MAT and PAT and LNAT.

Interesting that the US is moving away from aptitude testing towards something more like A Levels while the UK is destroying A Levels.

In my town, 3 non-selective independent schools got more A and A* grades than the selective independent which always has the highest, so some ibdrpendebt s hools sought to train their credibility.

My DD got her grades from a 6th form college and did very well but she'd have preferred to have sat the exams and done slightly less well and had grades that were valued - even though in reality she probably worked harder and was assessed more intensely than if she'd taken the A level exams.

It was obvious to all there would be gradet inflation, when assessments weren't standardised and schools were being told simultaneously to keep grades in line with 2017-2019 grades and also being told they had to award the highest grade they had evidence for, without stating precisely what that evidence had to be. Schools should have been told how many grades they were allowed in each boundary, left to examine their kids to determine ranking (which didn't galen for 2020 cohort) and given a period of time to submit evidence to show if their 2021 cohort would not fit historical data for whatever reason. Eg higher gcse results in that years A level candidates.

I think universities were naive not to set entrance tests for this 2021 cohort but I guess it was difficult with covid restrictions. They should have pushed for admissions to occur after results day.

I think universities were naive not to set entrance tests for this 2021 cohort

(a) Exams weren't cancelled in England until January, so there would have been very little time to set up valid & reliable antrance tests from scratch. While everyone with a brain (i.e. not Gavin Williamson) knew that they would be cancelled, universities would have got into big trouble with government and been flayed alive by the media for setting additional requirements on this basis.

(b) Many applicants would already have been made offers by then. Offers are legally binding as they form part of a contract. If a university has made an offer conditional on A-Level grades, they can't then add further conditions - e.g. passing entrance tests - and reject applicants who don't meet them. If they did they would be subject to multiple cases for breach of contract. Nor can they impose different conditions on a student made an offer in February friom those those for an offer made in January. Nor can they set entry requirements different from those stated before students apply, as this would be a breach of competition law.

It must be too late for most universities to change their entrance criteria for this year.

Who will mark all these HAT, TSA, PAT tests? I was reading up on the LNAT. lnat.ac.uk/registration/dates-and-deadlines/

It sounds like you book it like your driving theory test... pick a date, go your local test centre (Pearsons Centre), take the test, wait til Feb for the results.

Usually they are sat in October in school , and run by Cambridge Assessment Testing . There is a set date for most of them and they are turn by schools . Obviously they would have to be scaled up but I imagine that would be possible . But it would be another barrier to Inclusiveness as I think we had to pay ? ( I might be wrong)

It’s great that kids have done well. We have to ask ourselves why twice a year for GCSE and A levels we only complain that kids have done well.

I now think a rebranding of A levels with numbers will be the way forward. This avoids the political ramifications of deflation.

If this doesn't happen universities may use other testing systems more (what choice will they have?).

I don't know how newer universties will respond as surely a very high proportion of 6th formers will be aiming for RG places?

@Ritasueandbobtoo9

It’s great that kids have done well. We have to ask ourselves why twice a year for GCSE and A levels we only complain that kids have done well.

The whole point of the exams is to differentiate the kids. The top Unis/Employers want the top standard of applicants. The whole thing is diluted if the numbers of students isn't split over all the gradings available.

If everyone got A*, how would Unis/employers sort the wheat from the chaff?

@mids2019

I now think a rebranding of A levels with numbers will be the way forward. This avoids the political ramifications of deflation.

If this doesn't happen universities may use other testing systems more (what choice will they have?).

I don't know how newer universties will respond as surely a very high proportion of 6th formers will be aiming for RG places?

I agree. Next year, we now need either A** or a change to a numerical system. The damage has been done last year and this year. To go back to fewer students getting the top grades will be very unfair to them when they're competing against the 2020 and 2021 cohorts who got higher grades (for some, higher than they deserved).

@mids2019

I now think a rebranding of A levels with numbers will be the way forward. This avoids the political ramifications of deflation.

If this doesn't happen universities may use other testing systems more (what choice will they have?).

I don't know how newer universties will respond as surely a very high proportion of 6th formers will be aiming for RG places?

Has the Tory party asked you to post this comment? You are very in tune with their thinking.

My view is it is thick to scrap A-levels in a rush because of a crisis. If you want a review, do it properly, not some knee-jerk rubbish to appease the Daily Mail.

Oh - and this year the only correct response tokids sitting their exams is 'well done' - they have had an absolutely shit time of it. Start getting behind people, rather than trying to rain on their parade.