And so the 'A-level misery' starts…

[HappySonHappyMum]

So nice of The Mail this morning to start preparing us for the massive grade deflation our DCs can expect next week😡

@Postapocalypticcowgirl, OP has said that it was an academy.

I would assume private or one of the richer acadamies. I went to a private school and they are awful for this - 'encouraging'students to not do certain subjects (or even leave) so the schools high grade standards aren't affected. At my school anyone who got less than a C in the year 9 french exam was told they couldn't do it for GCSE (this was after options were chosen) and only relented when all the parents kicked off.

Weren’t 2019 worse across all subjects? Was that when they became linear?

Mainstream subjects went linear in three waves, so it was the first year that they were all linear but some subjects already had been for a couple of years by then! I think I've got that right.

No,linear was staggered wasn't it? Or reformation certainly was. Maths was in fact one of the last subjects to be reformed.

I can't remember all those things but know that new , more challenging specs were introduced to different timescales ie not all in the same year.

The Times started their annual articles last week - always entertaining to read the comments in the online version from their elderly readership.

Lord knows how they're going to keep pumping these stories out for the next 10 days

There seem to be a fixed number of university places for home students. So it is a zero sum game of relative grades between home students.

Having “too many” A* grades just increases the likelihood that schools won’t be able to distinguish who the highest performing applicants are. In that case, less able students benefit while more anle students lose out on places.

Being lenient about dropped grades can only happen at a cost to the student who did make the grades but now won’t get a place because the university is being “nice” to someone else who did not make the grades.

Going back to 2019 grade standards us the fairest thing that can be done given the squeeze on places.

@SerenadeOfTheSchoolRun Yes, exactly this. They say back to 2019, but presumably how it works is that they set a % for the A* and that will be at a similar percentage of the cohort to 2019. Then they work with the bell curve down from there. I'd heard re GCSE - on MN - that the high level answers for GCSEs this year are very few and far between. I'm sure it will be the same with A-levels.
Likelihood is that grade boundaries will be lower as so many students have gaps in their learning due to Covid.
Guessing most teachers will have worked to 2019 boundaries but that actually, due to the gap in knowledge but still being asked to cover the full curriculum and without advance info (as in 2022) the grade boundaries might end up more similar to 2022 than 2019.

It might just be quicker to ask why the Daily Mail exists.

For most subjects in England universities can take as many students as they want. There is no longer (since if I recall 2013) a fixed number of places for home students on each course at each university.

But tuition fees have not risen for home students in line with inflation over the past ten years. What that means is that universities need a higher proportion of overseas students to make the books balance. Simaltaneously the government is trying to make the UK less attractive to students because immigration.

Best to never give a shit about what the Mail says about anything

What is meant by the exam boards returning to "linear marking"?

All modules are now terminally assessed. AS still exists but doesn't count towards a final grade. No resitting of modules. High stakes stuff....

AS levels grades count towards A level (A2) grades in NI @Piggywaspushed - think its a 40/60 split

@ladida76 could you say more about what was said in here about few high level GCSE answers?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-62463451 - as expected, grade deflation

Yes, I know.. was replying to the PP who was asking after a conversation between me and NotDonna, I think!

@Piggywaspushed - my apologies. Lesson to not jump in and reply to latest message without reading thread. Especially before coffee

I'm sure that there will be a further drop today, but that article is from last year!

Being lenient about dropped grades can only happen at a cost to the student who did make the grades but now won’t get a place because the university is being “nice” to someone else who did not make the grades

No, because the offer of a place is confirmed if the conditions are met - so someone holding an offer of e.g. AAB from the university they have made their firm choice will have that place confirmed if they meet those conditions - the university won't not confirm the place in order to give it to someone who was predicted AAB but only got ABB. However, if there are still places unfilled, because not all offer holders have met or exceeded their offer grades, then those who have not quite met them will (probably) be accepted anyway.

If all students are treated the same it doesn't really matter, universities will simply accept lower grades, they need the money! Slightly more troubling is if the Welsh board is applying different standards and if they are doing so to England based schools (my kids took wje as their school used them

If they are in England, it will be Eduqas.This is the branding in England. English 'standards' apply.

Aargh-second pre 8am brain fart today. Surely a sign I should go back to bed

I completely agree. No cohort ever before has sat A levels without having ever sat GCSE’s. DS said he feels he has done well (despite him having to basically teach himself the second year of his Psychology A level due to no teacher!) but he has absolutely nothing to compare it to as has never sat an exam before.