Our youngsters are sitting GCSE and A Levels. Do they get a fair deal?

Question

In August we wil have the results and i cry will go up that the exams have been dummed down. Many in education will agree and others won't.
Would it not be a better idea to make them competative onlt a certain percenrage to gain an A grade etc. Thuis wioll stil reward the most able whilst indicating to the aurthorities wether or not standards are reducing or getting better. It would even out and enable standards to gradually rise to the levels of past years. ps I am a GSE failure from the 1960 nightschools I blame no one but myself

Answer 1

It is very much a catch 22 as previously stated. Teachers are criticised for falling standards, exam boards are criticised for rising ones. I think league table force teachers to put more pressure on students, and for many pupils such as my previous answerer do actually find this pressure very hard, but with nothing in sight but high grades you have to push that much harder.

Another thing is I hear it much touted how the lower end (I can't think of a truely PC way to say this) of the academic scale were 'abandonned' so to speak in the days of O-levels, and how the high acchievers were the ones who would be concentrated on. It is not thought however that rising standards of the modern day could be due to a reversal in attitude to which those who struggle the most get extra attention, in smaller classes or even on a one on one level, in order to raise their grades. The high acchievers are still concentrated on, and I'm not saying its perfect, but I know the low acchievers do get a lot of help, this can only raise overall standards.

I think a key thing is pressure, it is not thought throughout secondary school until GCSEs that any one should be aiming for anything less than a C, then A-levels, then university; that mindset is installed. At GCSE they start to concede not all can acchieve that, and there are alternative options, but the way it is done certainly pressures towards the goals of A-levels and then university.

I think percentiles of general population would be a better way of doing it in theory in practice I feel not. I know to an extent the grade boundries move up or down depanding on the average results which is a good way of doing things. If doing it on set percentages, then you are only being compared to those of your singular year, you got an A* of 2007 standards, thats it, 2008 A* the people could have been much better and had to get a lot higher results. The standard required to meet should be pretty much the same year on year, in order for grades to have a standard meaning.

Answer 2

Obviously you didn't therefore how are the standards falling. Its a Catch 22 situation as if standards rise exams are dubbed down whereas if standards were to fall teachers are bad. I have to admit the pressure they put on you to get the A and A* grades is unbearable as i am doing mine this year and i cried coming out my Geography exam as i said good bye to my A* grade. In retrospect, Maths cheered me up as it was easy and had an hour to spare. I really need to get 6A's, 6B's and a C as this is what i want and the pressure is unbelievable. But no standards are not falling as GCSE's are hard and the people who dont agree are the ones who done O level so i recon these people should sit the GCSE and see what fail they get.

Answer 3

seems like you need to learn how to spell first before you complain about standards slipping!
In answer, I think the standard of education is generally lower than it was, but then again when I left school 15 years ago I remember politicians preaching about falling standards whenever results were good which was really irritating for those of us who worked hard - everyone seems to look back with rose-tinted glasses to a golden age in the past that never existed, its just human nature to be nostalgic.

Answer 4

GCSEs are difficult... really, I find it so. Apart from french, that was bloody easy, did it a year early and got 99% lol. Also IT was pretty simple.

The rest are hard though, expecially chemistry!