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March 28, 2024, 04:52:51 PM

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exam results, anyone?

Started by wu be eel, August 19, 2004, 01:26:46 PM

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Jemble Fred

Quote from: "mikeyg27"English - A
Media - A
History - B

Results are going up because of cunts like me taking up subjects like Media where they give you an A for writing your name. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Fuck off! I got a C (boo hoo etc) when I took mine 8 years ago. To be fair, I did blow up the very expensive recording equipment. Technologically dyslexic, me. My Theatre Studies C grade I put down to deciding to direct King Lear, choosing mates for my cast, who couldn't handle Shakespearian dialogue, and then being too shy to ask people to rehearse, even once.

Excuses, excuses, eh? My only A was for English, and I couldn't fucking stand that. Makes no sense.

mikeyg27

Oops. I seem to have hit a nerve with my spelling your name comment. Sorry.

To be fair, I suppose it also depends on what facilities you have for Media coursework, cos my school had pretty good ones. Still, it was pretty damn easy. I went into the last exam needing 22/90 for the A (and a lot of kids already had their A) which meant I was free to write shit about "Facts X Importance =News" on the debates paper, and still get the A comfortably.

Sorry, I've just realised how smug this all sounds.

What are you all going to do now with these results?

Jemble Fred, getting the A in English is a pretty damn good feat. Doing it whilst not liking it is even more impressive.

Jemble Fred

Oh it's all many years ago now matey. I can't hear people debating exam results without thinking about the Mary Whitehouse Experience sketch:

QuoteI bet I've done really badly, but I don't care because I didn't do any work!
(opens envelope)
Oh no! I have done really badly! I did loads of work as well!

Still Not George

Quote from: "Almost Yearly"
Quote from: "A university lecturer"Once again the government is telling us that black is white and we should just accept that it is so. I've worked in HE for 15 years and there it is clear that many of the first year biology students I've taught have a poor understanding of basic science. Like many of my peers I come from a working class background and got into university on merit in the early 80s. I certainly have no interest in elitism in any area of society and I fully support open access to HE for all but equality is not served by lowering standards. We've already heard strong warnings from an industry no longer able to trust the ability of recent graduates. What exactly is this super educated generation of the future going to do for a living I wonder? Well the government could use a few more think tanks.

So, the massive lowering of A-level entry grades across the board to cope with competitive funding and constant pressure to take on more undergrads has nothing to do with your lower standards, then?
Or the fact that your Uni probably takes on a shitload of Clearing students with Es? "I certainly have no interest in elitism" my hairy arse.

Harfyyn Teuport

Dear Verbwhores,

My name is Caroline Walker, and I'd like to make a few points which I find alarming about today's Marathon records. When I broke the world record for women's marathon in February 1970, my time stood at 3h 2m 53s. Naturally I was delighted. For a while afterwards I took a lot of pride from knowing that I, Caroline Walker through determination and skill had succeeded to the point of achieving that - let's agree - amazing time.

Imagine then my disappointment every subsequent year to see the standards of the quality of marathons diminishing so disasterously. Within a year, my compatriot Beth Bonner had broken my record with her time of 3h 1m 42s, within 5 years, fellow American Jackie Hansen had been awarded the record after her pretty suspiciously good time of 3h 1m 42s. By 1983, Norway's Grete Waitz had sullied the record books forever with her entirely meaningless time of 2h 25m 29s. Today we face a situation where Paula Radcliffe of Great Britain expects us to take her current world record time of 2h 15m 25s seriously.

Clearly, the marathon has been made shorter and easier and the entire contest devalued by marathon organisers in their pursuit of faster and faster record times. I don't necessarily blame the athletes themselves, who are of course merely trying their best and are obviously happy with what are claimed to be respectable and worthwhile achievements. We who know better, however take such 'achievements' with a pinch of salt.

As such, any right thinking person will therefore acknowledge that the current world record for the women's marathon is my time of 3h 2m 53s, achieved in 1970, back when marathons were hard, but fair and the organisers untainted by today's lax standards.

Thank you.

Caroline Walker, World Record Holder Women's Marathon



Thank you to everyone who's argued the case for students today having succeeded at a real achievement with their grades. Yesterday I got an A in English, an A in History, a B in Politics and a B in German. And I did work hard, so there.

mikeyg27

As did I (well, for most of it). Maybe the exams are becoming easier, but isn't this counter-balanced by the ridiculous pressure heaped on kids now? I know kids who took in excess of 14 exams. That's just too fucking much. The AS system is particularly shit, forcing me to have taken 3 exams in a row (that's in one afternoon session). There were times during the AS exams that my mind felt like it was melting, and it's no coincidence that I did a lot better this year when my exams were more evenly spaced out.

Almost Yearly

So why is there this "national disease" of being cynical about improved exam results, with which I have evidently become infected? Why has the government launched an A-level of Pride campaign with Graham Norton? I mean, you know what they're like. Why has some industrial collective or other voiced "serious concern"? I don't remember anyone running around trying to devalue my A-level results, way way back then, and my being obliged to defend my hard work.

(I haven't once said anyone hasn't worked hard, although I personally did the least I could get away with, and I'm fairly sure people like Harfyyn Teuport are easily smart enough to breeze through if they wished.)

Quote from: "A student"A levels are not becoming easier at all. As I only finished my A levels a year ago I know.
I just thought that was funny, 'sall.

Purple Tentacle

Quote from: "mikeyg27"I know kids who took in excess of 14 exams. That's just too fucking much.

In all fairness at my school the kids who took a ludicrous amount of exams did so out of their own choice, nasty little squits.

"Ooooh look at me, I've done 5 A-levels"... yes, but I can hold a pint, speccy.

mikeyg27

Quote from: "Purple Tentacle"
Quote from: "mikeyg27"I know kids who took in excess of 14 exams. That's just too fucking much.

In all fairness at my school the kids who took a ludicrous amount of exams did so out of their own choice, nasty little squits.

"Ooooh look at me, I've done 5 A-levels"... yes, but I can hold a pint, speccy.

True. Most kids did bring it upon themselves by insisting on doing retakes. But then were they doing retakes because they snapped under pressure last year?

Oh, and sorry about sounding so smug about my results earlier, folks.  It's just that I go to a grammar school, and if i hadn't got those grades I would've been lashed or something. And it also means I'm off to my Uni of choice.

Damn it, I've done it again...

Harfyyn Teuport

Quote from: "Almost Yearly"So why is there this "national disease" of being cynical about improved exam results, with which I have evidently become infected? Why has the government launched an A-level of Pride campaign with Graham Norton? I mean, you know what they're like. Why has some industrial collective or other voiced "serious concern"? I don't remember anyone running around trying to devalue my A-level results, way way back then, and my being obliged to defend my hard work.

I think it's because society was in a position were good results were harder to come by, but just like the marathon results of the seventies and eighties, it's not because the course was harder or more stringent then, it's because the structuring for the exams is just a lot more workable today. Modular examinations and the chance to repeat more frequently just put the same quality of questioning, research etc in an easier package. The questions then were no harder, no more searching or demanding, just stuck in an exam you had to do a whole year after you'd learned the requisite information.The reason we know this is because every A-Level student uses practice papers from the mid to late eighties up to last year in preparation. Those who criticise the curriculum, the examining boards and occasionally the smug, self satisfied eejit students themselves are less likely to have seen both papers. Also the papers then were much harder to repeat, meaning that you'd have one shot to blow your entire wad of knowledge from 2 years worth of a course. The ability to repeat is fairer, and the idea that it isn't is so fundamentally flawed it angers me almost to tears. Do people say, "That Ian Thorpe, what a prick, he got silver in Sydney and there he goes getting a Gold in Athens." No. He's applauded. And why? Because he resolved to take a negative and use it as impetus to show his true potential next time round. And unlike in exams it's not like he swam a completely different race, it was the same type in the same standard sized pool in his own little lane. A repeat exam is completely different and possibly with no real relation to the area of the course your last question came from.

Quote(I haven't once said anyone hasn't worked hard, although I personally did the least I could get away with, and I'm fairly sure people like Harfyyn Teuport are easily smart enough to breeze through if they wished.)

I recognise you haven't, and very few people have come out and said that they haven't worked hard, but the question of the papers being dumbed down arises every single year. It still undermines the abilities of those who do succeed.

The reason there's a movement afoot to counter this is because every news bulletin yesterday showed 5 minutes worth of a breakdown of the results and prsented the statistics is a snide and sarcastic tone. Then came 10 minutes worth of reporting and analysis from naysayers who wanted to piss on them. Again. The law of diminishing returns shows that, just like with the marathon records, the increases in numbers of passes and the improving of grades will slow and will come to a halt at some stage but not until schools, examining boards and students themselves have managed to insure that every single person who should pass their exams based on their abilities does. As for breezing through, some parts of the exams I did find quite easy, like german orals or english coursework, but for others they're the hardest parts of their courses, so it does balance out.

untitled_london

Quote from: "mikeyg27"
I would've been lashed or something. And it also means I'm off to my Uni of choice.

Damn it, I've done it again...


hahahaha

...

& well done - in equal measure

Purple Tentacle

Harder or easier is subjective... the exams have CHANGED over the years, however.

Take English Literature, for example.... there is so much more scope nowadays for personal interpretation and alternative viewpoints, wheras in papers 20, 30 years ago they were more concerned with an knowledge of the content of the text, rather than its meaning.

Physics and Chemistry also have more grounding in "the real world" rather than dry theories, which may make them more important... but also easier.

The fact that exams are more accessible than before may have made them more relevent, which has pushed the pass mark up.



However, Ms_Tentacle has also been instructed to ignore spelling mistakes and grammar errors when marking GCSE History coursework, because she'd be at it all night if she didn't, and it's fighting a losing battle.

Depressing.

wheatgod

Economics - A
Geography - A
Biology - A

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

chand

Someone in the Metro mentioned an interesting point, that the huge percentage pass rate can be in part explained by the fact that schools do everything they can these days to stop you taking an exam if they think you're going to fail. I remember being 'advised' by 3 senior teachers and the headmaster in a tiny room, in very serious tones, that I should 'consider dropping' GCSE Art. This was entirely based on the mock exam results. I was getting 90% in my art exams in previous years, but the shit I was asked to do that year with fucking pieces of string and glitter like a five-year-old caused me to lose interest, and after getting an E in the mock exam they told me they were not prepared to pay for me to take the exam. They essentially made me drop it, and when my classmates were in Art class I was sat in the library being made to do extra History revision, which helped bring my grade up to a B from a predicted D.

Vermschneid Mehearties

Congrats wheatgod! Anthropology and Broadcast Journalism, here you come.

I don't think I've posted mine in here yet, but I got three B's, and an AS with a grade B too, the shiny product of being idle and not trying very hard.

Braintree

Quote from: "Purple Tentacle"However, Ms_Tentacle has also been instructed to ignore spelling mistakes and grammar errors when marking GCSE History coursework, because she'd be at it all night if she didn't, and it's fighting a losing battle.

Depressing.


This is why people like me get 50/50 on coursework but ruin grades by being scared of exams.

I get my GCSEs next Thursday, which will be fun.

VorpalSword

thank god there's someone else on here getting their gcse's next thurs. anyone else?

Rev

Quote from: "Harfyyn Teuport"
every A-Level student uses practice papers from the mid to late eighties up to last year in preparation

This is a very good point, and one that I'd completely forgotten about.  As I mentioned, I did my A-levels a decade ago, but we too had to sit older papers in the run-up to the exam.  If we didn't blitz them, we had to try again with other papers from a similar time.

Quote from: "chand"
Someone in the Metro mentioned an interesting point, that the huge percentage pass rate can be in part explained by the fact that schools do everything they can these days to stop you taking an exam if they think you're going to fail. I remember being 'advised' by 3 senior teachers and the headmaster in a tiny room, in very serious tones, that I should 'consider dropping' GCSE Art.

Another excellent point.  I had an identical 'talk' about Physics, which came far too late in the day for the possibilty of transferring.  It was extremely intimidating, but I'm extremely stubborn, so I stuck to my guns.  Quite a few people in the sixth form dropped out after similar chats, however.

Hans

Quote from: "Purple Tentacle"Harder or easier is subjective... the exams have CHANGED over the years, however.

Take English Literature, for example.... there is so much more scope nowadays for personal interpretation and alternative viewpoints, wheras in papers 20, 30 years ago they were more concerned with an knowledge of the content of the text, rather than its meaning..
I'd argue heavily against that.  I just took Lang/Lit and it seems to me that we were being told the meaning of the texts rather than recognising them ourselves.  During the last year we're practically told what are the right interpretations to write down in the exam to get the marks.  Any attempts at personal interpretation I made during homework essays were marked as wrong no matter how much evidence I used to back myself up from the text.  These were sound observations that I put a fair amount of thought into as well, not just some far-fetched and tenuously linked idea.

The problem is that there's no other way to go about it.  Hundreds of exams littered with students' own thoughts on the studied texts would be near impossible to mark so it has to be this way.  Unless the courses focus entirely on coursework and become continually assessed (which would be a lot fairer on everybody as far as I'm concerned as coursework often relies on a student's own work which they have time to consider rather than "here's a question you had no idea was coming, you have two hours").

Exam results have probably got higher because teachers have become a lot more knowledgeable of how the exams are set out.  In each of my subjects I was definitely being taught to an exam.  In psychology there were even after school lessons on how to structure the essay and nothing else.  The essays had to follow an exact structure which was taught, it wasn't just a general essay writing skills leson.  Although I don't know if psychology counts anymore.

It isn't a matter of "here's the information you need, learn it, study it and come up with some good points to write about".  It's become "here's the texts/studies/films and here are some good points which will give you marks".

I hope that made sense and I didn't repeat myself too much.

Krang

I thought A-C pass was for GCSE

A-E for AS/A. Thats what id been told anyway. Still, im happy enough with what i got.

Braintree

Basically for me and others I expect to get into college I need 5 A*-Cs but officially A*-G is a pass. The majority will achieve A*-G so they make A*-C the general pass rate to narrow down candidates for colleges.

Emergency Lalla Ward Ten

Isn't the increase in A-level passes down to the streamlined, clinical, focussed way they're taught nowadays? You don't just cram a load of stuff into your head and 'hope it comes up' like people did in the past. So you can be very good at doing A-level history without actually knowing much about history. Is that true? If the exam paper asked a question from a strange angle, or required knowledge from outside the syllabus, would students be fucked?

MInd you, ever noticed how people who complain about A-levels getting easier are never preapred to sit an exam themselves to prove it?

I've no idea if they're getting easier. Although I do see a lot of CVs from 18 year olds in my job, and I'm always staggered at how bad the spelling/punctuation/grammar is from people who have an A* in English. I mean, how is that possible? Are people no longer docked marks for spelling mistakes?

mikeyg27

Quote from: "Emergency Lalla Ward Ten"Isn't the increase in A-level passes down to the streamlined, clinical, focussed way they're taught nowadays? You don't just cram a load of stuff into your head and 'hope it comes up' like people did in the past. So you can be very good at doing A-level history without actually knowing much about history. Is that true?
Not really. We had to cram a lot of shit for History, and only a little came up. However, we did get an exam where the question wasn't really relavant the syllabus. Funnily enough, it was also the only History exam in which I got an A . I think teachers may have got good at guessing what  comes up.