Jump to content

Featured Replies

  • Author
maybe... but if 55% is considered an 'a' pass... surely things must be easier now?...

 

 

agreed, in my day 55% would only earn you just a "c" grade

  • Replies 66
  • Views 6.2k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Btw that 55% is just Maths GCSE too. In Geog 65 is an A and 80 an A*.

But the grade boundaries are not set - they change every year as the standard is set - therefore, if there are a lot of poor results the grade boundaries will be lowered slightly and if there are lots of amazing results the boundaries will be made higher. is this fair? probably. does it give us a good measure of whether this year was better than the last? No.

And as ICR said - it's insulting to the hard working students that hear year on year that their results are fine, but the exams were easy anyway.

I think that the main reason that results are better is because everything is now geared towards passing those exams. You are taught to pass exams to learn independantly.

I don't think they are easier.

 

I just think the statistics are manipulted - by school / colleges / and mainly the media!

 

I mean - it wouldn't make much of a story to say everything was ok :unsure:

 

for the next couple of weeks we will hear about how the exams are easier .....which is insulting to all the students who have worked hard.

 

 

But if school exams aint easy, then why does it not prepare many kids for the standards expected of them at Uni, why are so many of today's school-leavers doing so badly in Uni coursework and exams, whereas it's the opposite for many Mature Students and Foreign Students who are doing better... Something has to be wrong with the system somewhere, if I can go into Full-time education after almost a decade and continually get As and Bs in my coursework, and the majority of kids who've just left college with these "great exam results" are barely scraping through with Cs or Ds, what the hell does that say....?

Surely people just get the shock of their lives at uni because they see the uni image as being one of go out and get plastered, eat cold pizza the next morning and go to lecture when you can be arsed - they don't expect the workload!
But if school exams aint easy, then why does it not prepare many kids for the standards expected of them at Uni, why are so many of today's school-leavers doing so badly in Uni coursework and exams, whereas it's the opposite for many Mature Students and Foreign Students who are doing better... Something has to be wrong with the system somewhere, if I can go into Full-time education after almost a decade and continually get As and Bs in my coursework, and the majority of kids who've just left college with these "great exam results" are barely scraping through with Cs or Ds, what the hell does that say....?

 

I go to Reading University - which is in or around the top 25 universities in the country and I wouldn't say any of my friens are scraping bad grades.

I think that the main reason student's are struggling at university is not because of the level of work, but firstly because of the work load.

Whereas at A Level you study (in English) one or two novels, a play and a book of poetry in a term, at degree level you study one novel, one poetry anthology and one play every single week. Also, there is noone to stop you not doing your work until its too late and you've come around to exam time and you regret not working!

Another thing is that there is so much made of going to university for the experience and people are so caught up in having left home and being able to go out drinking whenever and do whatever they like they lose focus on why they are spending £3000 a year on education.

For foreign students and mature students it is so much more important for them to suceed - they are going to uni to get a degree first and foremost whereas kids seem to think they will get a degree on the side.

Edited by Bry

But if school exams aint easy, then why does it not prepare many kids for the standards expected of them at Uni, why are so many of today's school-leavers doing so badly in Uni coursework and exams, whereas it's the opposite for many Mature Students and Foreign Students who are doing better... Something has to be wrong with the system somewhere, if I can go into Full-time education after almost a decade and continually get As and Bs in my coursework, and the majority of kids who've just left college with these "great exam results" are barely scraping through with Cs or Ds, what the hell does that say....?

 

 

as Bry says - kids today are trained to pass exams ...... which doesn't help at uni when they actually have to have the skills to study.

 

revision / study aids are excellent and plentiful - and the support and efforst teachers put into the kids far outweighs anything I had.

 

I went to a "prestigious" grammar school where high results were expected - but we weren't given any of the lunchtime / afterschool / easter holiday extra lessons that my son was offered.

 

having said that my son worked far harder than I ever worked for exams (:blush: ) and will have earned every grade he gets.

Create an account or sign in to comment

Recently Browsing 0

  • No registered users viewing this page.