I've just been talking to the Head of English at ds's school about the new Govelvels

[Hakluyt]

... And she says she reckons that to be on target for a 9 (the top mark) a year 8 would have to be finishing the year.on an 8c. She reckons that a child like mine, who has finished year 8 on a 6a and would have been on target for an A- possibly A*- will now be predicted a 7-possibly just an 8.

It will be very interesting to see how the press cover this when the time comes. And how parents used to their kids getting top marks deal with it!

But the same still applied at O level, I did an extra maths paper and so did DH.

Trying to seperate the very best students on the marks they get in the last two questions isn't a good system.

No Extra Maths papers in my day at GCE - and my school was fee paying selective

They had A/O levels in Maths and French when I was at school, the children who did O level a year early did A/O in the upper 5th. But I think they were a minority concern, I don't know many other people whose schools did them.

In my day (O levels 1981 A levels 1983)

In the fifth year the top Maths set always did O level and Ad maths O level.

6th form there were AO levels at the end of the lower sixth but not in many subjects, mostly it was just A levels Top maths set did further maths and the super boffins did S levels in various subjects

Whatever happened to S levels?

Yeah, I did AO maths in the mid eighties. Had never heard of it in any other subject before though.

(And I don't know when S levels stopped.)

Trying to seperate the very best students on the marks they get in the last two questions isn't a good system.

Well, I guess that's why the changes. I don't see why more able students should have do more exams. Maybe the new papers could have separated sections.

Eatyouveg, we must be the same age, O levels on 1981, A levels in 1983.

In my very bog standard comprehensive the year group was 240 strong. The top 3 sets for maths for example, did O levels. The next 3 or 4 did CSEs. The bottom set was 'non exam' and there were many Easter leavers who could leave at Easter without taking any exams if they had already turned 16. Maybe 10 out of the year would get an A grade. In my year 30 went on to sixth form, only 4 went to university.

It's a brave new world these days.

I was o levels 1983 A levels 1985. At our comp, for maths, the top 2 sets did O level, the 3rd set they decided after the January mocks (it was about 30:70 o level/CSE and the 4th set all did CSE. In my year, practically everyone in the top set got an A, very very few in the second set did, maybe 2 or 3, and 1 girl in the 3rd set, who was entered for O level, got an A. The A level groups were almost entirely those who had got an A. There was one girl who had got a B but she dropped out quite soon. They streamed the A level sets too, so the top 20 from the previous top set were in one group (15 of us got an A at A level) and the other set had probably the full range of marks. My school was very very good at maths (or rather, it had two superb maths teachers. I suspect the rest may have been no more than adequate - but I always had the good teachers). For French on the other hand, only the top 2 sets were allowed to do O level, the bottom two were CSE. And about 6 of us from the top set got an A, and none from the second set (although they all passed). I was always under the impression, because of this, that French was the most fiendishly hard subject there was apart from geog (where almost 50% of the takers actually failed the o level our year). But now I suspect that we were lucky with our Maths teachers and unlucky with our French teachers. And perhaps we were just a really odd year group.

About 30 of us eventually went to uni or conservatoire or art college, more went to poly, and several went to nursing college or teacher training college (that was in the days where strawberry hill etc weren't counted as 'universities' )

ladyIsabella,

I did Additional Maths (an O-level) and A/O French with Texts in 1984ish. One of the reasons I have so many O-levels is because I did French and Maths a year early - and the extra ones at the same time as the other subjects. Set 1 in both Maths and French did the extra qualification, and Set 1 Englsh did the Language paper 2 terms early to focus on the Lit and on other subjetcs.

Did Maths & Further Maths for A-level, but S-levels in Physics and Chemistry. My mind slightly boggles at what Further maths S-level might have looked like!

Cynically it seems as though the new grades are just to give scope to begin the process of grade inflation all over again

Herc, your school sounds much higher achieving than mine. Out of 90 taking O level maths only 12 or 13 went on to take A level, not all had A grades. I think 2 went on to Poly, 4 to university. The school was right in the middle of a huge council estate. I went to university thinking I was the bees knees. Soon found out I was distinctly average! I couldn't get over how 50% of my new friends had been to private schools.

Anyway, that's sidetracking. An A grade at O level wasn't common. Only one person in my year got 8 A grades, my friend got 6 and I got 5 and another got 4. We were the 4 who went to university. So out of 240 only one got straight As. It was more common at private schools and grammars, I guess. I think my school was probably below average as I think 5% went to university in general, rather than the ~2% from my school.

I think that splitting the A* up into 2 levels is a good idea as those who really are high achieving can be differentiated. I think the higher grade being a 9 gives room for extending it higher if that's what the govt want. Not so sure about that. It would mean that those taking it first would never be able to score a '10.'

Bollocks.

I failed my Maths O level in 1984.

A combination of doing KS3 with DS, a love affair with DragonBox putting paid to my AlgebraPhobia, doing GCSE past papers in the evening so I'll know where to prod DS in the next phase... and I was all set to retake Maths when he does his iGCSEs. Since I have to fly over with him anyway, why not.

And now they going to go and and made it hard and scary again so I'll just get another fail.

Bastards.

DD2 loves dragon box. :)

Herc

So does DS... when I let him near it. It's worse than Tetris for late nights of the "I just want to beat this level first" variety.

Has she tried the new geometry one they've put out ?

I'm desperate for a go but have to face The Queue From Hell that is the Rural Italian Post Office on Summertime Hours to charge up my card first. Which is putting me off.

Have just bought dragon box for DS3 on the back of this thread. Thanks!

Geometry is not for her. She's dyspraxic. Although, maybe it might help...she is fab at the mental stuff relying on knowing rules and being able to work stuff out, but if it's draw that line measure that angle then she's stuffed. But I suppose an iPad app couldn't require ruler or protector work, could it? It must be all application of theorems. So maybe I'll get it for her. Ago thing is better than cut the bleeding rope (I do have a certain limited fondness for plants v zombies though! because (a) zombies (b) the little tune).

Ellen just don't come and shout at me when you stumble to bed at 2am, only to see Xs and -7s flying about when you close your eyes and try to sleep. I did warn you

Herc I could really work out what they were up to with the geom. one in the little video they put out. But then I had no clue what DragonBox was going to be like from its promo either. So I think I'll get it... cos I mainly skip the geom. questions of the GCSE past papers. I'm fine with right angled things. Just...then they go and get wonky and off putting with random lines pootling off here and there. I may never get my maths GCSE due to New Stringent Nasty Grading, but they can't stop me enjoying the subject in my own time.

edit

that should read.... couldn't really work out...

A lot of it is rules, which is fine, but some of it needs visualising which DD2 can't do. And then there's the supposedly easy marks for ruler protractor compass work. Sigh. Ah well. She's shit hot at algebra.

Mammuzza, if he's sitting IGCSE then it will be unaffected by the new changes and gradings, so you can still do it!

I think they are planning on dropping IGCSE from the league tables though, to discourage schools from taking it instead.

Oh yeah, Dragonbox is great - my dd3 loves it and git quite huffy with a friend of hers who glanced over and said (in sneery voice), "oh, is that an educational game?" "No, it's really fun puzzles!"

Neither of us have got very far with the geometry one yet though - so far mostly drawing triangles :)

Noble

I was going to make him do the IGCSE and me do the GCSE. Apparently the GCSE is better for people like me who like their maths wrapped up in real world contexts.

I've been practicing and everything. It is so much more of an accessable exam than the O level was. And just as I get within a sniff of it... they start mucking around with it.

God only knows what the fate of the IGCSE is going to be over the next couple of years. Big hoo har in some circles at the moment about one IGCSE subject and HE colleges/Unis turning their nose up at it.

The new GCSEs won't be available for first sitting until June 2017, when is your DS planning on sitting his? Can you get in before then?

No, it's really fun puzzles!

That ^^

I have a sneaking suspition that the people who are good at maths off the bat... are the ones who can access the game in it naturally. With no helpful app being required.

See, drawing triangles is what I saw in the video, and it put me off a bit. But then I read the teacher's guide and apparently it's full of educational... geometry stuff. I reckon next time in town I'll brave the post office and give it a whirl. Can't hurt.

Dragonbox fans- is it good for older kids? I want something to keep ds's brain ticking over- he's 13. I know people who use it with younger ones and rave about it.

noble

Yup.

I don't want to be spending 2 consecutive summers flying back and forth for edexcel exams which is exam board his exam uses.

But I guess if push comes to shove I could see if anybody here would let us sit a Cambridge GCSE spec. as external candidates in 2016.

Is it my failing memory.... or were O levels over and done with in a three week or so wollop ? Cos It looks like I am going to have to spend about six bleeding weeks in the UK when he sits his exams. They are all spread out and each subject has more than one exam.