Too many students get A's/A*'s - Drastic action needed by uni's

Just look at the RIDICULOUS amount of students getting A's for A level with AQA (brought to attention by some random guys rant):
http://store.aqa.org.uk/over/stat_pdf/AQA-A-LEVEL-STATS-JUNE10.PDF

The average is virtually 31% A*/A nationally. In private schools and grammar schools, it is most likely 50-60% A*/A.
Chemistry is said to be amongst the hardest of subjects, yet almost 50% of all entries get an A. That worries me. Just imagine what the figure is for students who actually 'try' at that subject...it must be around 65-70% who get A's minimum.

A recent study has shown that a C grader in 1980's would get a grade A today. If you can find the source, please throw it over because I can't find it.

I am going to an Ivy League uni in US after getting 4 A's and I feel that I am one of the minority who deserve these grades because I did NO resits. I also had to do some admissions tests to get into this uni, yet there are 'A graders' who have re-sat their way to getting A's without doing any admissions tests who are going to uni's like UCL, Warwick, Durham etc.

How universities SHOULD respond to the grades boom:

1. BAN AS RESITS! I find naturally Mid B students getting mid B's for AS level and transforming these into high A's, meaning they can just be their typical mid B grade self to get a grade A overall. Come on. And it's so easy to get a B grade these days if you study.

2. High A/A* = new grade A The difference between an A and full marks is 120 UCAS points I think, that's bloody huge. They should make a 'high A' or even an A* the new grade A.

3. Exams set at the end of the two years.

4. Make students THINK: Actually make exams less about 'practice makes perfect' and make students actually THINK creatively. We shouldn't be taught 'to' something.

5. Make harder exams...simple i.e higher proportion of 'harder questions' and don't offer marks for things that used to be offered marks i.e a 12 mark essay...4 marks for intro and basic content. Scrap these rewarding marks and expect an intro and basic content.

6. Less time to answer questions in exams. Yeah, even for history students.

7. Stop publication of past-papers. Exam technique shoots virtually anybody into success.

8. IQ/Aptitude tests to apply to universities, kind of like the UKCAT system employed by universities for medical/dental school applicants.
You generally need great aptitude scores to get into top jobs anyways i.e banking, consulting, accounting, law, dent, med, finance etc.
Colleges should not offer any aptitude test help.

9. Make students do MORE A levels. AAA for Oxbridge is a JOKE. They have bunked their entry requirements up to A*AA this year ,but I think they should make it mandatory to do 4-5 A levels MINIMUM.
Typical AAB universities should make it mandatory to get AAAB now. AAB 5-6 years ago is probably the equivalent to 4A's now.

10. Universities should become GCSE nazi's. I am fully defending Birmingham's 7A*+ requirement at GCSE to be an eligible applicant for their med school.

11. Ban scholarships. There's some dude who got ACC 2 years ago who is doing Medicine just because he represents England for some sport. Fair enough if he was very ill or something so couldn't study during his A levels, but ACC being fully fit to the extent that he has 1. enough time to study for his A levels and 2. Fit enough to represent England in sport. Wow, just wow.

12. There should be interviews for more subjects by universities.

Any other you can think of?

Note: These are just mere SUGGESTIONS. You don't have to turn into an examiner + interrogator, scrutinising me.

Doing some of the above will ensure students from Cambridge, Warwick, Durham, Imperial etc. are worthy of being Cambridge, Warwick, Durham, Imperial etc. students.

As someone pointed out that's why the A* has been introduced and it has been a great success as a lot of people easily spitting out top grades had to work harder to get the top grade.
We could introduce a system where uni's look at the total ums score at the end of the two years and scrap the grading system all together

The average is virtually 31% A*/A nationally

You just sound like you are bitter about not getting A*A*A*A*.
Maybe people get lots of A's nowaday doesn't mean that they don't study very hard.

Some people are like me that just do really badly in exam but I do know my stuff.
I work really hard during the year but they never count towards anything.
I just had the most terrible few months near my exam times that threw me off guard and off my deserving grade.

Did you spawn from Margaret Thatcher, the other member on here who thinks they're better than the rest?

I suppose you got plenty of A's at both GCSE and A-level. If these suggestions come into place and they're made A LOT harder than they already are, would you feel the same if you came out of college/sixth form with D's or C's that where the equivalent of your A's currently? I think not.

Students need to have a life. What you're asking is that we're locked in classrooms until it's exam time and then put on the spot in a room to think creatively. How is that possible? It's already a hard process for many, many people. I spent four hours after every day in my final year at sixth form learning French and Spanish vocabulary, grammar etc and I got an A and a B. There was a guy in my French class who never did homework, barely did classwork, wasn't French either but still walked out of that exam like he was a God and achieved an A. How is that fair?

Grades are rising because students care about what they want to do in life. We have a media pressure to do well. A scare factor from Jeremy Kyle not to end up on there.

I saw people who worked so hard, so very hard week in week out achieve a grade D/C in a subject I was convinced they would get an A with their eyes closed.

People like you make me sick.

Just look at the RIDICULOUS amount of students getting A's for A level with AQA (brought to attention by some random guys rant):
http://store.aqa.org.uk/over/stat_pdf/AQA-A-LEVEL-STATS-JUNE10.PDF

The average is virtually 31% A*/A nationally. In private schools and grammar schools, it is most likely 50-60% A*/A.
Chemistry is said to be amongst the hardest of subjects, yet almost 50% of all entries get an A. That worries me. Just imagine what the figure is for students who actually 'try' at that subject...it must be around 65-70% who get A's minimum.

A recent study has shown that a C grader in 1980's would get a grade A today. If you can find the source, please throw it over because I can't find it.

I am going to an Ivy League uni in US after getting 4 A's and I feel that I am one of the minority who deserve these grades because I did NO resits. I also had to do some admissions tests to get into this uni, yet there are 'A graders' who have re-sat their way to getting A's without doing any admissions tests who are going to uni's like UCL, Warwick, Durham etc.

How universities SHOULD respond to the grades boom:

Mate youre going to a US Uni you cant even talk. The SAT and SAT IIs are the easiest tests in the world to ace given enough practice time. I know students who were predicted Ds and Cs who nailed 2200+ on their SATs because they paid enough for SAT tuition, theyre now going to top tier American universities after getting A-level results that wouldnt even get them into the most mediocre of British universities.

PS: I applied to the US, I got 2120 on the SAT I and got into all my choices bar Duke, so I do know what im talking about.

Although I do agree with some of your points, the main one being how ridiculously overused resits are.

OP has issues. I've got friends who work like hell and end up with Cs/Ds, yet other people bunk classes and are hardly in school but still come out with As. Not everyone is good at exams, and sometimes they need to do it more than once because they get stressed in exams. A better option would be to only let people retake each paper once.
Just because more people work hard doesn't mean they should be punished or looked down on. Not everyone has perfect grades!

Abandon A-levels. Embrace the IB.

More people getting A's either means exams are getting easier or people are more intelligent these days.