Dumbed down national exams? What do older people think?

[Lucia39]

To get an A* pass for GCSE English Literature now requires a mere 56%!

How do those old enough to have taken 'O' levels feel about this?

Is the Government right and are 16-18 year olds getting brighter year on year? Or have the powers-that-be simply dumbed down the GCSEs and 'A' levels thereby allowing candidates who would have failed 'O' levels (i.e. not gained a grade C) to now believe they are actually competent in their subjects?

Couldn't agree more! I tutor students in Maths and have O'Level papers for the June 1976 exam (London board). The questions are far tougher than GCSE and include topics not covered until A'Level these days (differentiation and integration). In fact, volumes of solids formed by integration was on the syllabus and this would now be regarded as 'A2-Level',i.e. you'd only meet it in 'Year 2' of your A'Level studies! Also, the modern-day student, with modular A'Levels, can 'cherry-pick'like never before! Doing all the easy questions in each of the 6 modules needed for Maths, would probably give a low-grade pass. In the old days, aggregate marks for low-scoring candidates were not looked at in isolation. No evidence of A'Level ability meant being awarded an 'O'-grade (O'Level pass at A'Level).

DJ, I took that paper for my maths o level (and got an A ) and would really like to show it to my son who is doing his AS now. Do you know if I can get hold of it on the web.