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ARE GCSE's too easy!?

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Original post by justinawe
:eek: That's it? For the Maths IGCSE I did, you needed 94% for an A*...

Did mine back in November too :biggrin:

Yes, had to be a numpty not to get an A*. I'm now doing the FSMQ (Free Standing Maths Qualification), which cover areas C1 and C2 of AS Maths. Which isn't much different to GCSE, I'm finding it also very easy.
Reply 181
Original post by bax121
Straight As/A*s at GCSE

As in Biology, Chemistry, Maths and Physics for A-level.

I didn't work hard for it and I don't think I'm particularly smart but getting As at GCSE and A-level is easy.


Your a ****ing arrogant prick. Getting As at a-level is 'easy'? Shut the **** up! By the way, you've taken a very narrow set of subjects, maybe thats why you found them easy. And i bet you worked like a dog really.****.
Reply 182
Original post by matthurry
Your a ****ing arrogant prick. Getting As at a-level is 'easy'? Shut the **** up! By the way, you've taken a very narrow set of subjects, maybe thats why you found them easy. And i bet you worked like a dog really.****.

Oh.
Reply 183
Original post by matthurry
Your a ****ing arrogant prick. Getting As at a-level is 'easy'? Shut the **** up! By the way, you've taken a very narrow set of subjects, maybe thats why you found them easy. And i bet you worked like a dog really.****.


is there any need to insult people for their opinion.
you started the thread by asking are GCSE's to easy.
HE/she found them to be, you dont need to name call just cause you dont like his answer
Reply 184
Original post by matthurry
Your a ****ing arrogant prick. Getting As at a-level is 'easy'? Shut the **** up! By the way, you've taken a very narrow set of subjects, maybe thats why you found them easy. And i bet you worked like a dog really.****.


Haha - wow - that's quite a strong opinion......
I have to say that I found my GCSEs easy, and got away with minimal revision. As for ASs, I was LAZY-AS over Easter and did no revision then..... though in the 2 weeks before exams, all I did was revise History and learn dates - didn't touch my other subjects.
I don't think it can be denied that exams have got easier, even the length of time the exam lasts has been cut down..... how many of us can honestly say that we know what it's like to sit a 3 or 4 hour paper? the Physical and Emotional drain of such a long exam in itself makes the exam more arduous, let alone the more difficult content.
Reply 185
Original post by matthurry
... And it shows, they aren't great grades to be honest, if they are so 'easy' and even if they were harder, that would mean you would of gotten D's and E's? so why are you complaining?


I think you'll find they are, with no revision and no attention payed in class/not there very often.
I would appreciate it if you weren't so damn rude,
I am complaining because they are far too easy and It should be like a-levels = no revision = fail.
Original post by Madmia
I think you'll find they are, with no revision and no attention payed in class/not there very often.
I would appreciate it if you weren't so damn rude,
I am complaining because they are far too easy and It should be like a-levels = no revision = fail.


You shouldn't fail just because you didn't revise-revision should just boost your grades.Intelligence should count not just hard revision.A-Levels aren't necessarily no revision=fail either but it would be hard to get good grades without revision.
Reply 187
It's all down to the individual. There are many people across the country who find GCSEs a great challenge and even just a C, which some people on here would probably start crying about, is a massive achievement for them. From a personal point of view, getting an A for me is an achievement and I don't think GCSEs are 'too easy'

Technology has come on leaps and bounds in the past few years, I mean you can now go on YouTube and have people teaching you a lesson, there are dozens of apps for GCSEs, websites, etc. One of the reasons so many people are doing well, and therefore GCSEs are perceived as 'easy' is because of these fantastic revision tools.
Reply 188
Original post by Newbie123
Well considering a "pass" is a C grade, I know many people who have got a C or higher without revision.


True, I guess I meant a good grade. So many people get C's nowadays anyway, they're not really of much use.
GCSES are easier compared to stupid A-Levels. I spent my entire last year of year 11 moaning about how GCSES were the hardest things ever. They were a walk in the park compared to what im doing now!
Original post by matthurry
Your a ****ing arrogant prick. Getting As at a-level is 'easy'? Shut the **** up! By the way, you've taken a very narrow set of subjects, maybe thats why you found them easy. And i bet you worked like a dog really.****.


lololol you mad

some people find it easy. 80% is not a lot to ask from many people.
Original post by carpe diem 123
Yeh I agree. I really don't understand how people 30 yrs older than us can say that GCSE's are getting easier just because the pass rate is going up. Surely it's because teachers and students alike are getting better at answering the questions, revising, and because there are ever more materials to further a students learning.

I think GCSE's are quite narrow i.e, you are expected to write in a certain way for the humanitarian subjects, which is quite different, and above all doesn't really prepare you for the way you need to write at A level.

I say give the people that complain a few GCSE papers, and make them go through the education system, and have to endure some frankly appalling teachers - who usually don't even want to be in the job.



A lot of it is tabloid hype that conveniently forgets changes in the administration of testing, such as the change from norm referenced grading to criteria based grading. In 'pure' norm referenced grading and marking you can control or eliminate grade inflation because your grade boundaries are set solely with reference to the performance of that cohort , however most norm referencing includes a degree of moderation and comparison with previous performance , this will still control grade inflation.

If you move to a solely criterion based marking and grading system , grade inflation is almost inevitable the moment any part of the criteria is published - therefore once syllabi and course specs are published there is the means to interpret the standards required for each grade , if you have a number of sets of sittings under the same course spec even more inflation is likely as teachers get wise to the nuances of the specification and marking schemes.

Exam also test different things - Geography is a classic example , being aobut to regurgitate Lists of capital cities, longest rivers, highest mountains etc is not really geography, but because that is how it was taught in the press can say ' knowledge of Geography is dire because n % of people can't point out where Burkino Faso, or mt Killamanjaro are on a map )

GCSE and A level Geography teaches much more of the stuff that professional geographers would recognise as geography whether than the stuff that crosses with geology and meteorology in physical geography i.e. how the landscape is formed and how the weather happens or the human geography / stats / socio-geography stuff e.g. in the minds of the tabloids " Irrelevant clap trap about how digging wells and putting village pumps in bongo-bongo land means 'native' children can now go to school rather than spending all day humping large pots of water about "

then there's stuff about what do we actually need to teach in 'Maths' at GCSE / level 2 do we turn people off with too much and too 'pure' too soon ? rather than focusing on numeracy ?
Reply 192
Original post by matthurry
Your a ****ing arrogant prick. Getting As at a-level is 'easy'? Shut the **** up! By the way, you've taken a very narrow set of subjects, maybe thats why you found them easy. And i bet you worked like a dog really.****.


There's no need to insult this person. You asked a question and they answered it. Personally, I don't think those A-levels are narrow because science includes many different issues such as history, geography and even religion and ethics. Maybe this person worked very hard in class that they understood the concepts quickly so did less revision outside lesson
Original post by Harveys
Here are a couple of O'level maths Questions, sorry GSCE's are far easier
olevel.jpg

sorry not sure how to make image bigger on here, click it to see full size


Question 9 sounds pretty much like the questions that were in higher tier maths GCSE and physics modules of science GCSEs in the mid 1990s , just written rather differently ( as if Mr Chomondley-Warner were writing the questions )

Question 10 again fairly straight forward graph drawing and interpretation question again not beyond what was asked at higher tier GCSE in the mid 1990s but again written in a rather different style to GCSE questions which would have spread the content ( and marks) over a few questions ...
Original post by matthurry
Your a ****ing arrogant prick. Getting As at a-level is 'easy'? Shut the **** up! By the way, you've taken a very narrow set of subjects, maybe thats why you found them easy. And i bet you worked like a dog really.****.

If you were expecting a unanimous agreement that GCSEs were difficult you really shouldn't have asked on TSR; it's a non-representative sample of students in general and is skewed towards the higher echelons of academic achievement.

On-Topic: Whilst I haven't seen enough of the old O-Level structure to make an informed decision, I do think a modular structure makes life easier on candidates. Whoever claims that multiple fragmentary exams in which one can revise a fraction of the course content to twice the depth for each module (as well as simply resit if they aren't happy) is a more difficult arrangement than having one lengthy examination requiring a thorough revision and understanding of the entire course syllabus is beyond me.
My personal opinion is GCSEs are pretty easy. I have helped students with their GCSEs (did it last year after my exams finished) and they are not difficult. I have seen past O papers and they are harder (for example you don't cover integration in GCSE whilst you did in O levels). Having said that, the majority of the content is pretty much the same.

Also MattHurry you have serious issues. Insulting people who don't agree with you and constantly using swear words is pathetic. Grow up.
Reply 196
some can be , others arent.
However speaking to a guy at kickboxing whom who also happens to be an Oxford graduate from the late 90`s.

When I said that an offer now from Oxford or Cambridge would likely to be A*,AA with most applicants achieving higher then that he seemed supprised that they were that high.

I know its not GCSE`s im talking about but perhaps it correlates?
Reply 198
I don't think they're too easy. Everyone has to do them, and if you made them any harder, you'd have less than half of the population getting below 5 Cs (inc. English and Maths). This would leave a lot of people with poor qualifications and then may be be unable to get a job later.

However, while the content is not too easy or hard, I think changing the exams to linear is a good idea. This will make it harder to get really high grades with no revision, which (judging from what I've seen on here), is how people do really well at GCSE and then don't do well at A-Level: getting into a habit of not revising.
thats why schools should take IGCSEs

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