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Anyone else have 0 faith in the exam system?

I despise exam boards, I despise the system of exams, the costs, the lack of information, the fact all the boards do is look to make profit (obviously) but the fact that creeps into negatively effecting so many peoples lives through education disgusts me. All the errors they make for example!!!

However, I have never believed exams require great knowledge, merely technique.

My personal example is AS Business, last year, I failed the second unit (received a U). I couldn't believe it, so I got a remark, and they made it a few marks into a E(Costing upwards of 40 quid...which I never received back!). So obviously, I applied to resit for the January exam period just gone, however because I decided to concentrate on my other subjects, I did ZERO business work all year, I dropped A2 Business right at the start, and I managed to get a high B?

How the hell is that possibly? When revising like a donkey and attending classes I get a U? And then doing no work and remember nothing I blad a high B? It makes absolutely no sense and further deepens my distrust of the exams system and especially AQA as they bear the brunt of my many negative experiences.

Anyone else feel like this or has experience this too!? :confused:

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Reply 1

Miracle Day

Yes. People that do Sciences are lucky in the respect that they're answers are black and white, whereas we face the brunt of subjective markers. For example, in Psychology we know exactly what questions will come up. My teacher set us homework to answer one, I copied a model answer from the WJEC book to see what I'd get and I got a 6/12 instead of a 12/12 as it says in the book. Bare in mind both questions are exactly the same.

Problems:
Inconsistent markers
There should be one exam board
Time doesn't measure ability, it just loses marks.

Guys we have to do something.. We're the biggest Student forum in the UK for god sake! We've had the education minister do a Q&A session here..

WE HAVE INFLUENCE.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 2

Nightingale

I despise the UCAS system, so do I fit in this boat?
Applying before having any grades is innacurate and the confusion just adds stress. I feel like gap years are somewhat forced onto applicants.

Reply 3

hardleyouth

Original post by Miracle Day

Yes. People that do Sciences are lucky in the respect that they're answers are black and white, whereas we face the brunt of subjective markers.

That's majorly true, I never really looked at it like that! :-/

Original post by Nightingale

I despise the UCAS system, so do I fit in this boat?
Applying before having any grades is innacurate and the confusion just adds stress. I feel like gap years are somewhat forced onto applicants.

haha why the hell not, this can become a general hate for the education system if you like :')

Reply 4

A level Az

Just saying, if your grade went up then you should have got your money back, so you got scammed.

Reply 5

Genocidal

I completely agree, I sent back my English Literature exam with AQA back to them on two different occasions and the marks went up by at least 10 points. Completely and utterly useless exam boards, and yet we're paying for the privilege. In subjective subjects, like English Literature, all it does is create confusion and misconceptions about one's own ability.

Reply 6

liverpool_x

Medicine hopeful gets an A in biology
Cambridge hopeful (revision buddies and two of the brightest in the year) U
Girl who takes random subjects and admits to not revising (she just said she'll memorise the mark schemes and pick and choose topics... got a B

Who would I, the rest of the class and the teacher trust in a Lab or Hospital? The cambridge hopeful who got a U, she knows pretty much everything in the spec (and may not have recieved marks for not using keywords!

Lessons and practicals require actuall intelligence, your sometimes taught above and beyond the spec to make sure the KNOWLEDGE is there.
Exams test memory :|

I got 100% in C1, (CBA*A*A*) GCSE Maths paper results with two resits
I was planning on dropping maths in October, My cousin then literally showed me how to revise in maths... I thought i'd get 100 in biology...

I got a U in F211

Reply 7

Akbar2k7

Original post by liverpool_x

I cant agree with you more there are so many examples of this.

Reply 8

BarBaBaBaBarBaBaBa

Original post by hardleyouth

Yup. The the thing that pisses me off the most is the amount of money you have to freaking pay for re-sits. I know it's your mistake you didn't get it "right" the first time round, but if half the year got a U in a certain exam, shouldn't they have a look over it?
Also, the marking systems are appalling. A friend of mine got her English exam remarked and it went from a B grade to an A - moved up by 12 marks. 12 MARKS!!! I mean I understand it was an English exam and all but how on earth could they have missed 12 marks first time round?!
On the other hand, the amount of time you have to wait to get your results is overwhelming! In France people get their BAC results a week after they sit the exam. A WEEK!!!
Simply said, our exam systems are just an absolute mockery...

Reply 9

Nightingale

Original post by liverpool_x

Girl who takes random subjects and admits to not revising (she just said she'll memorise the mark schemes and pick and choose topics... got a B

I will admit I am quite guilty of this in my maths a level. I do the exact same thing, and I'm coping well at the minute (A's). I know this will hit me like a brick in the face once I get to uni - as I will be doing maths. The lack of understanding will probably build up...

Reply 10

El_Sid

It's all a load of crap, agreed. Last year I spent hours and hours working on my English Literature coursework (was actually what I put the most effort in to out of anything) and ended up with an E; bordering on a U. This depressed me a lot and I figured I would be screwed during the exam and therefore put very little effort in to it and ended up with a high A*. It makes absolutely no sense.

Reply 11

BarBaBaBaBarBaBaBa

Original post by Miracle Day

Yes. People that do Sciences are lucky in the respect that they're answers are black and white, whereas we face the brunt of subjective markers.

Very well said indeed.

Reply 12

Choppyy

What annoys me is exams where you are forced to learn all the content through fear of failing but then you're tested on approx 20% of the topics (Economics/English Lit from experience). This surely can't be the very best method of distinguishing the quality of A level students.

Reply 13

PrismaticCore

I'm sorry but as of now, I only need 11 UMS in my next Maths exam in order to achieve an A.
Sure, I'm not complaining, but it just goes to show how flawed it is.

Reply 14

Super Mario 64

Original post by hardleyouth

You should look further into that. When you pay for a remark, you are guaranteed your money back if your paper moves up by at least one grade. They only keep the money if this hasn't happened.

Also I completely agree. The majority of us spend our entire lives in education from around the age of 5, and whilst it may be compulsory, it's definitely demanding, stressful, irritating at times and requires a lot of hard work. The least we can expect up to this point is for examiners to mark our damn papers properly.

I have a feeling that the examiners own perspectives on the answers given the exam papers may affect the grade e.g. a politics student may get marked down for being pro-Labour when the examiner is pro-Conservative. As well as this, I bet the examiners own lives have an impact on the paper e.g. stressful events, family problems and social problems.

This may all sound stupid and I may even be wrong, but until someone actually proves me wrong, it's definitely a thought worth thinking about.

Reply 15

Lankz

I agree with pretty much all that's been said in the thread but whats us complaining here going to do?
Maybe we should make a thread as a petition or something

Reply 16

Ra Ra Ra

*Raises hand*

When I was doing GCSE Science, we were told by our teacher that for the 3/4 mark questions, put the points you're most certain with first, as if your first point is wrong, the exmainer will mark the entire question wrong, even if the next points are all right. Don't get me started on the essay-based subjects :colonhash:

And the fact that there's about four different exam boards (the main ones, anyway) is ridiculous. Why isn't there one? I found that my GCSE results varied greatly, not by the subjects I was good at, but by the exam board the exam was. I know that's not in the title of the thread but that's always irritated me :tongue:

Reply 17

Spunky_Monkey

Original post by Miracle Day

Yes. People that do Sciences are lucky in the respect that they're answers are black and white, whereas we face the brunt of subjective markers.

As someone who takes a mixture of science and humanities at A2 level I can tell you that science is actually much worse. The teachers always try and teach you additional information to talk about in possible questions but because it may or may not be in the mark scheme you could write something very complex and correct but get 0 marks. As humanities subjects mark schemes don't have 'exhaustive lists' of answers you can get away with using common sense more.

I personally think all exams should just be a really hard multiple choice!

Reply 18

hardleyouth

Original post by A level Az

Just saying, if your grade went up then you should have got your money back, so you got scammed.

Original post by Super Mario 64

You should look further into that. When you pay for a remark, you are guaranteed your money back if your paper moves up by at least one grade. They only keep the money if this hasn't happened.

You see, that's what I thought, but it has to be the WHOLE AS grade not just the unit grade APPARENTLY. Those ********s, if the marks move significantly at all they've clearly not done their job properly and therefore I should be entitled to a ****ing refund!! :angry:

And to everyone, remember all the online marking errors a year or two ago? So last year they marked them supposedly all in person and by hand...right? But now they've just returned to online marking so what was the ****ting point?!

OFQUAL do NOTHING. NOTHING ever CHANGES!

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 19

Xotol

Original post by Miracle Day

Yes. People that do Sciences are lucky in the respect that they're answers are black and white, whereas we face the brunt of subjective markers.

It goes both ways. In my experience, people that do sciences can't really get away with not learning the content, while people that do humanities (particularly English) can bs their way through A level and get a solid mark. A few of my friends did no substantial revision for their AS English Lit exam and came out with a solid A. Try doing that for a subject like Biology and you might as well already arrange a resit...