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A level grade "boundaries" leak
What a farce. 55% gets you an A grade in Maths!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-49347539
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
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Originally Posted by
Gofer Blue
A certain percentage of people get each grade. A isn't the highest anymore either. The exam was probably solid!
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
Yes. I bet there were many unhappy people after the exam all thinking they'd blown their uni place.
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
As a person who took the test. It is solid. Don’t comment unless you have tried the paper. It is a lot harder than back in your day
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
Quote:
Originally Posted by
CardiffCitySince1927
As a person who took the test. It is solid. Don’t comment unless you have tried the paper. It is a lot harder than back in your day
Have you taken the papers that people sat back in our day?
If so did you sit them without the use of a scientific calculator? Did you use log books?
Good luck with your results
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
Quote:
Originally Posted by
CardiffCitySince1927
As a person who took the test. It is solid. Don’t comment unless you have tried the paper. It is a lot harder than back in your day
Whatever the degree of difficulty was "back in my day" (mid 1960's) all I know is that to get one A grade at A level was quite an achievement and to get three A's was almost unheard of! You would have been looking at a 90%+ mark in each subject. I am not denigrating the achievement of today's youngsters at all, as it is not their fault that the standards have been dumbed down over the years and finally the education authorities have realised that something had to be done. Unfortunately it may be that the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction and the exams are now so difficult that they have to reduce the pass mark to compensate! Hence my comment, what a farce.
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
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Originally Posted by
Gofer Blue
"Exam boards set grade boundaries once all the results are in.
They take into account the predicted achievement levels of the cohort taking the exam and the difficulty of the paper, in an attempt to keep standards the same from year to year."
The English word cohort comes from the Latin word cohors, which meant "an enclosed area" or "a pen or courtyard enclosing a group of cattle or poultry."
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
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Originally Posted by
Gofer Blue
Whatever the degree of difficulty was "back in my day" (mid 1960's) all I know is that to get one A grade at A level was quite an achievement and to get three A's was almost unheard of! You would have been looking at a 90%+ mark in each subject. I am not denigrating the achievement of today's youngsters at all, as it is not their fault that the standards have been dumbed down over the years and finally the education authorities have realised that something had to be done. Unfortunately it may be that the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction and the exams are now so difficult that they have to reduce the pass mark to compensate! Hence my comment, what a farce.
If anyone should be annoyed, it's me who got an average of over 95% in my Maths A level. I've now only got an A instead of the A* :hehe:. I really don't care, also this "standards have been dumbed down" is rubbish, look at what young people are achieving now. If an exam board writes a paper that is outside of the curriculum (which has happened) it is deeply upfair to judge someone on it.
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
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Originally Posted by
Pedro de la Rosa
If anyone should be annoyed, it's me who got an average of over 95% in my Maths A level. I've now only got an A instead of the A* :hehe:. I really don't care, also this "standards have been dumbed down" is rubbish, look at what young people are achieving now. If an exam board writes a paper that is outside of the curriculum (which has happened) it is deeply upfair to judge someone on it.
If that is what has happened here, then I absolutely agree, that is just crazy. Is that how they make an exam harder? Once again, what a farce!
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
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Originally Posted by
Gofer Blue
It’s always been like that and I’m university too. Everything is graded on a curve, if an exam is easy you could get 85% and still get a C.
It just depends how many people score in a certain range.
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
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Originally Posted by
rudy gestede
It’s always been like that and I’m university too. Everything is graded on a curve, if an exam is easy you could get 85% and still get a C.
It just depends how many people score in a certain range.
When subjected to a bell curve, it helps if the majority of your fellow students are bellends!
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
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Originally Posted by
Wales-Bales
When subjected to a bell curve, it helps if the majority of your fellow students are bellends!
Very true, spent many an exam praying everyone did worse :hehe:
I remember being sure I’d got 100% on an exam once and got a B, which meant rather than being the genius I thought I was it was actually piss easy.
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
Quote:
Originally Posted by
rudy gestede
Very true, spent many an exam praying everyone did worse :hehe:
I remember being sure I’d got 100% on an exam once and got a B, which meant rather than being the genius I thought I was it was actually piss easy.
How is that even possible? How do you get an A?!
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
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Originally Posted by
delmbox
How is that even possible? How do you get an A?!
It would happen if 20 percent of the cohorts got a higher mark. If the exam was easy, you would need to be in the top 20 percent to get an A.
For example, say you scored 98% and 20 percent of the class got 99% or more, then you would get a B!
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Wales-Bales
It would happen if 20 percent of the cohorts got a higher mark. If the exam was easy, you would need to be in the top 20 percent to get an A.
For example, say you scored 98% and 20 percent of the class got 99% or more, then you would get a B!
I see, I was more wondering how you could get 100% in an exam and get a B but I now realise he might have just thought he'd got 100% :hehe:
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Wales-Bales
It would happen if 20 percent of the cohorts got a higher mark. If the exam was easy, you would need to be in the top 20 percent to get an A.
For example, say you scored 98% and 20 percent of the class got 99% or more, then you would get a B!
^^^^ 20 percent is an arbitrary number, it's whatever the examiner decides the grading bands should be.
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
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Originally Posted by
delmbox
I see, I was more wondering how you could get 100% in an exam and get a B but I now realise he might have just thought he'd got 100% :hehe:
As you say, Rudy probably dropped the odd mark and as it was easy, his UMS mark dropped. I needed 90+ in some of my exams to get an A but again, that wasn't reported in the papers cos kIdS hAvE gOt It ToO gOoD tHeSe DaYs is a quick win to sell papers.
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
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Originally Posted by
Pedro de la Rosa
As you say, Rudy probably dropped the odd mark and as it was easy, his UMS mark dropped. I needed 90+ in some of my exams to get an A but again, that wasn't reported in the papers cos kIdS hAvE gOt It ToO gOoD tHeSe DaYs is a quick win to sell papers.
snOWflaKE GeNEraTION theY diDN'T FIghT iN tHe WaR lIKe NoNE Of US DiD eITheR
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
How times have changed. In my day even those who got 3 good A levels couldn't get a University place even though relatively few managed to get 3 A levels. There was a huge shortage of University places which enabled only around 2% of the school population to attend. By contrast you only needed 5 O' levels to secure a place at a Teachers Training College which would never happen today. Jobs for school leavers were plentiful.
When you think back it's amazing that we used to get paid to go to University in the form of a grant but today kids have to mortgage their futures to get a degree and many find they can't find a job with career prospects afterwards. Basically there are too many people with degrees chasing too few decent jobs making it difficult for employers to sort the wheat from the chaff. It's much harder for kids today but I hope those who decide to go to University on the back of today's results study for a degree that is of use to them in helping to secure a job afterwards.
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
When I was at school I remember my father telling me that exams had got easier since 'his day' i.e. the 1940's!
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
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Originally Posted by
delmbox
How is that even possible? How do you get an A?!
Exaggerating with the 100% but I thought I’d done really well. Have also done shite and came out with a good mark, just lucky if you’re classmates are stupider!
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
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Originally Posted by
rudy gestede
Exaggerating with the 100% but I thought I’d done really well. Have also done shite and came out with a good mark, just lucky if you’re classmates are stupider!
More stupid, not stupider 🧐
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
Stupid, stupider, stupidest! Innit?
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Gofer Blue
Whatever the degree of difficulty was "back in my day" (mid 1960's) all I know is that to get one A grade at A level was quite an achievement and to get three A's was almost unheard of! You would have been looking at a 90%+ mark in each subject. I am not denigrating the achievement of today's youngsters at all, as it is not their fault that the standards have been dumbed down over the years and finally the education authorities have realised that something had to be done. Unfortunately it may be that the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction and the exams are now so difficult that they have to reduce the pass mark to compensate! Hence my comment, what a farce.
That's my recollection 3 A levels in the day was exceptional, now it's 8 or 10 , sorry it doesn't make sense in today's dumbed down society .
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
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Originally Posted by
life on mars
That's my recollection 3 A levels in the day was exceptional, now it's 8 or 10 , sorry it doesn't make sense in today's dumbed down society .
It's still 3 or 4 A levels. Why does everyone fall into this trap of the new generation is stupid and mine wasn't, do you not remember peple saying this when you were younger too? How have you not cottoned on that it's all nostalgic bollocks?
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
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Originally Posted by
Vindec
Basically there are too many people with degrees chasing too few decent jobs making it difficult for employers to sort the wheat from the chaff
This.
It's been an absolute mare for around 10 years of so. We take on 3 graduates / year and none of our 2017 intake lasted past Christmas. These are the ones who have got through the interviewing process & aptitude tests!
So many with text book answers who crumble when faced with reality. We're taking a different approach this year and have offered apprenticeships to students with degrees, based on the intent to add practical knowledge to the theory gained at University.
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
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Originally Posted by
Des Parrot
This.
It's been an absolute mare for around 10 years of so. We take on 3 graduates / year and none of our 2017 intake lasted past Christmas. These are the ones who have got through the interviewing process & aptitude tests!
So many with text book answers who crumble when faced with reality. We're taking a different approach this year and have offered apprenticeships to students with degrees, based on the intent to add practical knowledge to the theory gained at University.
Maybe it’s the recruitment process, I’ve had 2 different graduates working for me changing every 8 weeks and all have been hard working and really smart.
I think the company I work for does have a very strict recruitment process for grads though. I probably wouldn’t have got in that way :hehe:
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
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Originally Posted by
rudy gestede
Maybe it’s the recruitment process
That was of course the predictable response. I'd summarise the issue as follows, in admin. jobs, such as purchasing, finance, HR etc. there is some latitude / freedom regarding working practises, graduates in these areas tend to last the course. However, the manufacturing / technical graduates really struggle with the strict working times, dynamics of problem solving, intensity of manufacturing environment but the over-riding problem is leaving Uni. with very limited practical skills. Our prime feeder University is Warwick, acknowledged as the leading Automotive University in the UK, probably less than 5% of their applicants pass the aptitude tests.
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
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Originally Posted by
Croesy Blue
It's still 3 or 4 A levels. Why does everyone fall into this trap of the new generation is stupid and mine wasn't, do you not remember peple saying this when you were younger too? How have you not cottoned on that it's all nostalgic bollocks?
I humbly disagree I think education has been watered down to enhance and hide problem's, the exam passes are greater due to that process as it provides a pat on the back of government.
Not nostalgia just realism.
Bloody hell the way this thread is going we will be cheeringthe recent Tory government policies .
Hilarious.
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
Quote:
Originally Posted by
CardiffCitySince1927
As a person who took the test. It is solid. Don’t comment unless you have tried the paper. It is a lot harder than back in your day
How do you know it is harder. Has basic mathematics changed noticably in the last several hundred years?
But shirley 51% should be a minimum pass mark in any written examination. If something like 53% is an A whats a bare pass FFS, 20%?
You could almost get that by accident!
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
It seems modern education is more about memorising and step processing the student through at the sacrfice of deeper details .
Quantity v quality perhaps.
This quote might help from a university education expert :
""The thing to remember is that 40 or 50 years ago, the syllabus was about two pages long,” .
“Today the content is about 20 pages.
""What we have sacrificed in the move from O-levels to GCSEs is depth for breadth."
“So our children know a lot more science but they don’t know it in as great a depth as someone who might have done O-level biology, chemistry or physics.”
I do agree though the race for qualification is harder now than in my day.
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
Quote:
Originally Posted by
rudy gestede
It’s always been like that and I’m university too. Everything is graded on a curve, if an exam is easy you could get 85% and still get a C.
It just depends how many people score in a certain range.
To me that is just plain bonkers. If I got 85% in an exam I would expect at least a B grade, regardless of what % others get or how many others got 85% too! Others in this thread must be of similar (or close to) vintage as me as they are more or less saying what I stated earlier: "back in my day" to get one A grade was pretty good, to get three A's was very rare.
I understand that things have gone full circle now in that the final exam is what counts (i.e. not modular course work), which is how it should be. If I had had the opportunity to be assessed by course work rather than a final exam I would have got three A's as I would have been able to forget vast chunks of the curriculum and move on to the next section - what a marvellous idea!
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
Quote:
Originally Posted by
xsnaggle
How do you know it is harder. Has basic mathematics changed noticably in the last several hundred years?
But shirley 51% should be a minimum pass mark in any written examination. If something like 53% is an A whats a bare pass FFS, 20%?
You could almost get that by accident!
I agree It just doesn’t add up
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
Look don’t get me wrong, I didn’t have to use log books to work out the answers mid exams but we have the hardest life through the school system yet.
The percentage of mental health illness are deplorable within the school system and the austerity plan applied by the government has reduced the pastoral services within schools to basically nothing in a time when it is arguably needed the most. I understand that in the previous generations mentak health isn’t as recognised as it is today with many remaining undiagnosed throughout their lives.
The difference between our generations is the volume of content and the depth. The syllabus (or spec as it is known today) for the A-Level maths is a 49 paged long document covering everything we could be expected to pull out at a moments notice under the intense strain of the exam (https://www.wjec.co.uk/qualification...rom-2017-e.pdf). I have no clue about how long yours was however I am told (by my maths teacher) that it was shorter by a lot - although one could take that as bias or nostalgia reducing the load.
The main difference is how we revise. I am told that people just used to do past papers, buy books and write out the specification persistently. Now we have an ability to access websites such as Quizlet or for GCSE students GCSEpod which help teach people topics consistently. Teachers are also contact able at almost any time through emails as we can fire them off and recieve them as we work. However, just because we have internet when we revise it also can prevent some from revising as many possess the fear of missing out on social media apps like snapchat or instagram. This isn’t necessarily their fault as they are inherently made to be addictive by the previous generation without thinking about consequences or without the step in of the government. However, specifically with this Maths A-Level as it was new, means there is not enough (only 1 per exam we did) so we couldn’t use the primary and most common method of revising: loads of past papers. Thus further lowering the percentage.
The pressure is also more immense us students too as there is only a certain amount of university places available which access are at inflated rates. Whereas you could have gone to medical school with 2 Bs and 1 C, now you’d be laughed off the application process. We are also forced to take more tests (such as the BMat or UCAT) at our own cost during the period where students are gearing up to start revising for the vital end of year exams. But this isn’t our main worry, most students who leave university are unable to find a job in their preferred area.
This is why they are so low. Without that, genuinely 100 children will be able an A* or A within Wales and therefore nearly half wouldn’t get into university. I don’t know the specific % but we are taught that it is something similar to this:
A* - top 5%; A - top 10% after that; B - next 15%; C - next 40%; D - next 10%; E - next 8%; F - next 5%; G - next 4%; U - last 3%.
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
Quote:
Originally Posted by
xsnaggle
How do you know it is harder. Has basic mathematics changed noticably in the last several hundred years?
But shirley 51% should be a minimum pass mark in any written examination. If something like 53% is an A whats a bare pass FFS, 20%?
You could almost get that by accident!
They use, wait for it, maths, to work out the boundaries. This way, a certain number of people get an A, B, C, D etc. That way, if an exam is unreasonably difficult, it doesn't impact those doing the exam. Also, with the number of past papers being available online, exams vary a great deal more than they did 10 or so years ago because they need to.
Mind you, there's people in this thread whining about the younger generation being thick, while making multiple basic punctuation and grammar mistakes. You couldn't make it up :hehe:.
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Pedro de la Rosa
They use, wait for it, maths, to work out the boundaries. This way, a certain number of people get an A, B, C, D etc. That way, if an exam is unreasonably difficult, it doesn't impact those doing the exam. Also, with the number of past papers being available online, exams vary a great deal more than they did 10 or so years ago because they need to.
Mind you, there's people in this thread whining about the younger generation being thick, while making multiple basic punctuation and grammar mistakes. You couldn't make it up :hehe:.
Indeed. It's a bit like how City used to work out away ticket eligibility prior to dumbing it down for Reading.
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
Quote:
Originally Posted by
xsnaggle
How do you know it is harder. Has basic mathematics changed noticably in the last several hundred years?
But shirley 51% should be a minimum pass mark in any written examination. If something like 53% is an A whats a bare pass FFS, 20%?
You could almost get that by accident!
If you can't understand how grading on a curve works and makes sense maybe exams aren't for you anyway?
If someone gets an A for 53% it's because the highest mark on the exam would have been in the 50s because the exam had questions that were harder or outside of the curriculum. It's to limit variation of difficulty between the different exam boards.
It doesn't mean it's getting easier to pass, the same percentage of people would have passed and got the same grades as any other year. That's how grading on a curve works.
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
Quote:
Originally Posted by
xsnaggle
How do you know it is harder. Has basic mathematics changed noticably in the last several hundred years?
But shirley 51% should be a minimum pass mark in any written examination. If something like 53% is an A whats a bare pass FFS, 20%?
You could almost get that by accident!
It must take a special kind of stupidity to get annoyed about something you don’t understand.
We are now at “old man yells at cloud” levels of faux outrage.
The same people who call people snowflakes for getting annoyed at racism are spitting about bell curve grading.
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak
Quote:
Originally Posted by
rudy gestede
It must take a special kind of stupidy to get annoyed about something you don’t understand.
We are now at “old man yells at cloud” levels of faux outrage.
The same people who call people snowflakes for getting annoyed at racism are spitting about bell curve grading.
Let's be honest the man is a complete bell curve.
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Re: A level grade "boundaries" leak