Pre-Us to be scrapped

[noblegiraffe]

Pre-Us are to be scrapped by the exam board because not enough people take it. Also there were concerns that too many people were getting the top grades compare to A-levels even though they were supposed to be tougher.

Only private schools took them so I’m not sure this is a loss.

I know of a state school where this is offered in a subject, so not just private, and a quick Google search has found others

I think only high achieving DC took them at independent schools. So I would expect a high number of high grades. Average DC wouldn’t have taken them. They were introduced before the A levels were revised. So almost certainly no reason now to continue them.

DD was interested in sitting a subject that her school only offered a Pre-U in and I said no find something else or study somewhere else. The subject is readily available in A level from a number of boards there is no reason at all for the school to be following the Pre-U syllabus.

As a private school parent you get sold a load of crap by HTs and I'm not swallowing anymore. When he first joined DS1's school was IB only and parents were continually lectures about what a superior qualification it was etc. If I had a pound for everytime I heard the words "academic rigour" it would probably cover his fees. Shortly after he joined the school introduced A levels alongside the IB. By the time he came to choose his options the school were hardselling the IB because it is much easier to get a 7 in an IB subject than an A in an A level. Before As were introduced a 7 was the A equivalent, no changes have been made to the IB grading system but a 7 is now treated as the equivalent to an A or even better. An IB offer at Durham for PPE is AAA for A level or 666 higher level IB subjects. With the govt removing IB funding for state pupils guess who is going to benefit from these lower offers?

I live in an area of outstanding state schools and if I want to waste my money to get nicer sports facilities and longer holidays that is my decision but the DCs should all sit the same exams. With the removal of course work most Indy schools are in the process of moving to GCSEs and I am pleased that the Pre-U will no longer be available.

DS did a Pre-U in Year 12 (state but super-selective).

Those who have taken preUs seem much better prepared for university degree learning. Maybe because the style of exam and marking is more open ended and less dependent on repetitive practice and exam technique. That encourages a less prescriptive type of teaching and independent extra learning just as for a degree. .

I think the writing was on the wall when Eton and Winchester were discovered to be cheating at pre U. The brand could not really recover from that. It completely undermined the argument that it was an exam for the super talented and that the results were somehow better than those achieved by students taking IB and A level.

Add to that the decision to reintroduce linear A levels and there was suddenly no added value to pre U.

www.independent.co.uk/news/education/public-school-cheating-exams-questions-papers-ofqual-eton-college-winchester-radley-charterhouse-a7922976.html

Part of the problem with the "cheating" was that so few schools offered Pre U, that there was a very small pool of teachers to be "examiners". Therefore unlike A'level it was much harder to separate examiners from their own pupils or the pupils of friends. And then the pupils had connections (including friends from Prep school)...

Pretty sure there was no cheating at DS's school but annoying that many of the private school students who took it may have been given a clear advantage.

very small pool of teachers to be "examiners".

But they weren’t in really obscure subjects, it didn’t require teachers teaching the courses to actually set the questions. Maths GCSE teachers don’t normally write the maths GCSEs.

I’d forgotten about the cheating issue.

noblegiraffe have you ever had the time to look at maths and FM preU papers and compare to present A level ones. Would be interesting to have your view on differences if any.

I found the whole cheating thing to be really odd. I don't know why any school would allow a teacher to be an examiner - as parent I want the staff to be advising my child where best to spend their revision time, based on their experience of the exam, and if the teacher were an examiner, knowing the paper, they would be utterly unable to give any revision input.
I had rather assumed that once A levels had reformed to be linea, pre-us would wither away, as presumably much of the point was gone (I don't know how much the syllabuses and style of examination varied otherwise) and was a bit uncomfortable with such small numbers sitting, and from such an atypical group of schools, as it surely had to make grading tricky. Having an a star star option was also a bit boring.
I was still suprised by this move - thought there would be a few more years of schools withdrawing - DC1 (year 12)'s school is down to just 10 subjects out of 38 Pre-U before the it all finished.
Will be a big stir for Winchester who only do pre-u - that is going to be one busy staffroom!