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As someone who picked up results myself this summer, I really feel for anyone affected by this god-awful mess that has been created. Luckily for me, all my papers were marked by Edexcel (hardly a paragon of trust and reliability themselves) and was fortunate to miss out on it. Seeing that absolute muppet Estelle Morris (who failed all her A-Levels due to self-confessed "laziness" patronise people on TV really annoys me because as a student a lot of hard work was put into exams, and with university places dependent on grades, these crucial exams have been messed up, big time.
Has anyone here been affected?
Has anyone here been affected?
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I got a C and 2 E's for my A-levels. Fairly crap, but I expected it. Shoudnt be much changing there. I still got into my first choice UNI, so its cool.
All my exams were on AQA. They seem to be pretty decent.
All my exams were on AQA. They seem to be pretty decent.
A few things:
Exam grades are changed every year. End of story. The statistics say that only the top x% should get an A, therefore the grade boundaries are reflected by this. Whether it's right or wrong doesn't really matter. The fact is, it happens.
Second: Why are there loads of exam boards anyway? GCSE's and A-LEvels are National Exams, so therefore everyone over the whole country should sit the same paper, surely?
Third: I'm pretty damn sure that Exam Boards have not dropped Grade A's down to U's. If they did that, then everyone would have failed, and surely that should have been spotted a lot sooner.
Fourth: Coursework is easier than an exam. Courseword you can spend time on, make sure it's right, and make sure you can get the best mark possible. With an exam it's a one off shot. Because of this, just because you got an A for your coursework does not mean that you SHOULD get an A overall.
It really p!$$ed me off to see all these students being interviewed on the news saying "Well, I got an A for my coursework, and a D overall - I've been robbed!" Er, maybe you're just crap. Or maybe the exam counted for 75% of the mark, and the coursework only 25%.
At the end of the day, get on with it. If you get a degree then A-level results mean nothing anyway.
Exam grades are changed every year. End of story. The statistics say that only the top x% should get an A, therefore the grade boundaries are reflected by this. Whether it's right or wrong doesn't really matter. The fact is, it happens.
Second: Why are there loads of exam boards anyway? GCSE's and A-LEvels are National Exams, so therefore everyone over the whole country should sit the same paper, surely?
Third: I'm pretty damn sure that Exam Boards have not dropped Grade A's down to U's. If they did that, then everyone would have failed, and surely that should have been spotted a lot sooner.
Fourth: Coursework is easier than an exam. Courseword you can spend time on, make sure it's right, and make sure you can get the best mark possible. With an exam it's a one off shot. Because of this, just because you got an A for your coursework does not mean that you SHOULD get an A overall.
It really p!$$ed me off to see all these students being interviewed on the news saying "Well, I got an A for my coursework, and a D overall - I've been robbed!" Er, maybe you're just crap. Or maybe the exam counted for 75% of the mark, and the coursework only 25%.
At the end of the day, get on with it. If you get a degree then A-level results mean nothing anyway.
I pay little attention to A-Levels or whatever now. I had a paper of mine re-marked in AS Level, which took it from a fail to an A. I've never wanted my abilities to be judged by a few hours work that I don't enjoy, and to me, this is more laughable than anything.
I feel sorry however for those that did put the effort in, and really do need these grades as the only way of ever getting where they want to do. I'm lucky, I guess, but then, I wouldn't want it any other way. :0)
I feel sorry however for those that did put the effort in, and really do need these grades as the only way of ever getting where they want to do. I'm lucky, I guess, but then, I wouldn't want it any other way. :0)
VenomByte wrote:
> Personally I'm not sure there should've been such a fuss about it.
All of what you wrote is true but irrelevant. We are talking about an exam system where students can sit English with three possible exam boards, doing entirely different things and still come out with "comparable" grades. So trying to make exams comparable from year to another is a pointless exercise when they don't even achieve that in a single year.
Futhermore we aren't talking about moving boundaries; we're talking about wholesale lying by the exam boards. In my history modules I achieved full marks across 5 modules and a C, by one mark, in the last one, which I had thought, and still believe was my best paper of the 3 I sat. All of my year found the same thing, with some being downgraded to Unclassifieds, by what appears to have been an exam board that just systematically changed marks to lower the averages. I still got an A overall so I haven't complained.
In French my coursework, a discursive essay on a film called "La Haine", was given one mark off full marks by my teacher, and it didn't have a single error in it - gender agreements, tenses, spellings, phrasing, the lot. So I was quite surprised to see on results day that I had only just scraped a B, by 3 marks, in it after moderation. This really annoyed me because I spent the best part of half a term writing and researching that essay only for some stupid exam chief to randomly downgrade me to a B. Again I could have payed to have the mark contested, but I decided not to because I still got an A.
The exam boards are payed by me and many others to provide a reliable service that will fairly grade pupil's papers. They clearly failed to do this and deserve to be fined and taken to court for it.
> Personally I'm not sure there should've been such a fuss about it.
All of what you wrote is true but irrelevant. We are talking about an exam system where students can sit English with three possible exam boards, doing entirely different things and still come out with "comparable" grades. So trying to make exams comparable from year to another is a pointless exercise when they don't even achieve that in a single year.
Futhermore we aren't talking about moving boundaries; we're talking about wholesale lying by the exam boards. In my history modules I achieved full marks across 5 modules and a C, by one mark, in the last one, which I had thought, and still believe was my best paper of the 3 I sat. All of my year found the same thing, with some being downgraded to Unclassifieds, by what appears to have been an exam board that just systematically changed marks to lower the averages. I still got an A overall so I haven't complained.
In French my coursework, a discursive essay on a film called "La Haine", was given one mark off full marks by my teacher, and it didn't have a single error in it - gender agreements, tenses, spellings, phrasing, the lot. So I was quite surprised to see on results day that I had only just scraped a B, by 3 marks, in it after moderation. This really annoyed me because I spent the best part of half a term writing and researching that essay only for some stupid exam chief to randomly downgrade me to a B. Again I could have payed to have the mark contested, but I decided not to because I still got an A.
The exam boards are payed by me and many others to provide a reliable service that will fairly grade pupil's papers. They clearly failed to do this and deserve to be fined and taken to court for it.
Personally I'm not sure there should've been such a fuss about it.
In one year, pupils have not suddenly gotten smarter. If the A-level system is to be equivalent to the previous one, they should therefore have similar grades. If the marks have to be put down to avoid this, then that's fine. You don't deserve a high grade just because you got a high mark. You deserve a high grade for being very good at the subject, in which case you'd get an exceptionally high mark on an easy paper.
If you weren't in the top x%, it's highly unlikely you'd have gotten that grade on the old system.
Wouldn't want you sll to undermine my A-levels, after all :)
In one year, pupils have not suddenly gotten smarter. If the A-level system is to be equivalent to the previous one, they should therefore have similar grades. If the marks have to be put down to avoid this, then that's fine. You don't deserve a high grade just because you got a high mark. You deserve a high grade for being very good at the subject, in which case you'd get an exceptionally high mark on an easy paper.
If you weren't in the top x%, it's highly unlikely you'd have gotten that grade on the old system.
Wouldn't want you sll to undermine my A-levels, after all :)
RM18 wrote:
> You saying that A-Levels isn't worth as much is not is not down to
> students, it's down to the inefficiency and meddling of governments and
> exam boards
I believe I said that.
> You saying that A-Levels isn't worth as much is not is not down to
> students, it's down to the inefficiency and meddling of governments and
> exam boards
I believe I said that.
Passing A levels is no small feat.
Most of the people sitting them are intelligent, it's not like you get complete morons passing them... except in my case
So I think A levels are still worth quite a lot, just not what they were
Most of the people sitting them are intelligent, it's not like you get complete morons passing them... except in my case
So I think A levels are still worth quite a lot, just not what they were
I disagree Wookie - with the recent implementation of the AS Levels, work for students has definitely increased. You saying that A-Levels isn't worth as much is not is not down to students, it's down to the inefficiency and meddling of governments and exam boards - the work we do is the same as its always been - it's just a shame that bureaucracy undermines it.
I'm just glad I got my exams years ago, when they actually meant you'd achieved something!
No disrespect to any of those taking them now, because it's not your fault - but I just feel, with all the recent c***-ups and marking up/down, that exam results these days aren't worth the paper they're printed on.
No disrespect to any of those taking them now, because it's not your fault - but I just feel, with all the recent c***-ups and marking up/down, that exam results these days aren't worth the paper they're printed on.
Two units that will be marked again...
History Unit 3 - I know of some dodgy results from that!
Computing Unit 3 - I got marked from 78% to 63%!
History Unit 3 - I know of some dodgy results from that!
Computing Unit 3 - I got marked from 78% to 63%!
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