Why is this the case?

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Reply 20

Renal

Original post by arunadindane

I got 670 last year so not bad thank you.

Reply 21

Beska

Original post by Renal

blue badge

To be fair to the chap I think it's a pretty good score so at least deserves a gold...

(Or maybe if he gets another good score this year you could upgrade the blue to a silver? :biggrin:

)

Reply 22

arunadindane

Original post by Renal

Who do you actually think you are, I bet you wouldn't have got in to medical school if you applied now, as it was massively less competetive when you applied. Also I hope you don't treat your patients with the same belittlement as you treat people on here.

Reply 23

arunadindane

Original post by Beska

To be fair to the chap I think it's a pretty good score so at least deserves a gold...

(Or maybe if he gets another good score this year you could upgrade the blue to a silver? :biggrin:

)

Well I'll keep you posted on that.

Reply 24

Renal

Original post by Beska

To be fair to the chap I think it's a pretty good score so at least deserves a gold...

(Or maybe if he gets another good score this year you could upgrade the blue to a silver? :biggrin:

)

He can have a silver when he gets the point. :wink:

Reply 25

Renal

Original post by arunadindane

My patients aren't argumentative little ****s with delusions of self-importance.

Reply 26

arunadindane

Original post by Renal

My patients aren't argumentative little ****s with delusions of self-importance.

I wouldn't argue if the criticism which you do in fact provide very well didn't come across in the way it does, although I'm sure your tired of people posting things like this, I just want to be sure with my app.

Reply 27

Renal

To be sure about what? Every time you get the advice you need to be 'sure with your app' you disagree with it. Look at posts 5, 7, 9 and 11 in this thread alone. Why don't you either switch on, shut up, listen and learn or go troll elsewhere.

Reply 28

arunadindane

Original post by Renal

OK I'll shut up and go away, I've got better things to be doing than spending my life on this site anyway. Goodbye.

Reply 29

Renal

Original post by arunadindane

OK I'll shut up and go away, I've got better things to be doing than spending my life on this site anyway. Goodbye.

Reply 30

wer343lit

Original post by Renal

My patients aren't argumentative little ****s with delusions of self-importance.

How does he have delusions of self-importance, and how is he argumentative?

He just started a thread asking a question...

Reply 31

Renal

Original post by Jonty99

How does he have delusions of self-importance, and how is he argumentative?

He just started a thread asking a question...

And then disagreed with the answer he got, and then disagreed with the answer to that and then disagreed to the answer to that.

I'm all for applicants asking questions, I'll even tolerate bone questions that are asked again and again and ****ing again, but to ask bone questions and then argue the toss and think that you know better is just being a ****.

Reply 32

arunadindane

Original post by Renal

I'm a girl.

Reply 33

Renal

Original post by arunadindane

I'm a girl.

You've also left.

Reply 34

arunadindane

Original post by Renal

You've also left.

When I said goodbye I didn't mean for good you know :wink:

If you stop replying I will and then we can get on with our lives. This message should cause no offence as none of mine actually have, so hopefully you can take this opportunity to be the bigger man or indeed the only man, and lay this "argument" to rest. Goodnight.

Reply 35

No Future

My, the medicine forum is bitchier than ever these days. (Myself included!)

Reply 36

lekky

Original post by Beska

No it isn't: you do not understand how the A* works. It's a lot easier on paper than it is in the exam, it's exponentially more difficult gaining those last few % so imo there's a world of difference between 88% and 92%, for example.

As someone who got A* grades and 100% at A Level biology - that's complete bull****.

Reply 37

Beska

Original post by lekky

As someone who got A* grades and 100% at A Level biology - that's complete bull****.

I also got A* grades and 100% in A-Level biology. How is that relevant?

It is much easier (and takes less time) to fill up the first few marks on a question than it is to fill up the last mark - the 80/20 rule applies insofar as 80% of the marks are achieved in the first 20% of time spent on the question. It follows that it is relatively easy to get the first mark on a question (say, 1/4) and then becomes relatively harder to gain the 2nd, and then the third and then finally the fourth - comes with the strict nature of A2 mark schemes, at the very least for the sciences. If a candidate generally spends a lot of time on a question (bearing in mind 80/20) in order to gain the 4th mark, it means that there's a chance that they've used up time that they could have used to gain the 'easy' marks (1/4, 2/4...) on questions further on the paper.

Obviously it isn't a 100% rule, because evidently we both broke it and achieved A* grades and indeed achieved 100% on the paper.

I say that your implication that the A* is easy is - in fact - bull****. :smile:

(The 80/20 rule comes from a bunch of studies that incidentally I looked at during AS psychology; and I remember looking at the % breakdown of marks for A2 biology (summer 2010) of all candidates in a teachers guide thingy that confirmed it.)

Are you trying to keep up the bitchy nature of this thread or what??

e: Oh, did you mention your A* because you're trying to imply that I'm bitter because I didn't get the grade or something, so that's why I argue it's hard to achieve? :s-smilie:

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 38

lekky

Original post by Beska

I mentioned my own grades because for someone to say that an A* does not always mean a better student and is not really always that impressive whilst being an A grade student just makes them look better. Being an A* student does, imo, make the opinion more substantial and can't be put down to bitterness. I wasn't saying it because I thought you were bitter so that's why you were saying it was hard, I was saying it so that I didn't look bitter when I said it WASN'T hard. Goodness me!

I'm not quite sure why or how you've managed to turn one comment into a huge deal :rolleyes:

but alright then, I can roll with that. This was not me "trying to keep up the bitchy nature of the thread" (bitchy much? :wink:

). lol.

My point was that there is really no difference between 88% and 92%. That's a 4% that is borderline and can be put down to luck and how much sleep the student got the night before and whether there was someone mowing the grass outside during the exam as much as it can be put down to knowledge or ability. 92% is NOT, in my opinion, the "last few %" in an A Level - that is 98%. I've always thought that for an A* you should prove yourself to be exceptional and 90% is not that, especially not 90% in A2 year only (how does that make any kind of logical sense) that the A* grade should maybe be 95%. So people have to consistently achieve a v high level. But that's just me. I also think all Universities should get your UMS score & no resits should be allowed in A Level without exceptional circumstances ever. But hey. It all becomes very insignificant once it's over and I'd probably fail A Level chemistry now.

Getting those top grades isn't reliant soley on knowledge but also on speed and able to be tactical with your answers and knowing what it is their looking for -- & other general complaints about A level blah blah

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 39

Beska

Original post by lekky

I mentioned my own grades because for someone to say that an A* does not always mean a better student and is not really always that impressive whilst being an A grade student just makes them look better. Being an A* student does, imo, make the opinion more substantial and can't be put down to bitterness. On that note I didn't get 100% on a paper, I got 100% in the A Level. I wasn't saying it because I thought you were bitter so that's why you were saying it was hard, I was saying it so that I didn't look bitter when I said it WASN'T hard. Goodness me!

I'm not quite sure why or how you've managed to turn one comment into a huge deal :rolleyes:

but alright then, I can roll with that. This was not me "trying to keep up the bitchy nature of the thread" (bitchy much? :wink:

). lol.

My point was that there is really no difference between 88% and 92%. That's a 4% that is borderline and can be put down to luck and how much sleep the student got the night before and whether there was someone mowing the grass outside during the exam as much as it can be put down to knowledge or ability. 92% is NOT, in my opinion, the "last few %" in an A Level - that is 98%. I've always thought that for an A* you should prove yourself to be exceptional and 90% is not that, especially not 90% in A2 year only (how does that make any kind of logical sense) that the A* grade should maybe be 95%. But that's just me. I also think all Universities should get your UMS score & no resits should be allowed in A Level without exceptional circumstances ever. But hey.

Getting those top grades isn't reliant soley on knowledge but also on speed and able to be tactical with your answers and knowing what it is their looking for -- & other general complaints about A level blah blah

No no you got me all wrong!! The A* always shows a good student (I'm not trying to belittle the immense achievement of an A*!), but a good student will not always have an A* because I think it's very much down to performance on the day. I mean, going into my last A2 chemistry unit I had nearly 100% but then completely flopped the last unit (seriously... it's embarrassing :puppyeyes:

) and 'only' got an A overall - not sure if I woke up on the wrong side of bed or something, but imo the A* is very much how somebody performs on the day rather than just a continuation of the letter-grading system. I got an A* in biology while other candidates (in my class) who were much better than me didn't.

Yeh sorry I misread why you mentioned your grade - in my defence I didn't really have my mind in gear. :p:

I think we generally have the same opinion but we differ on the specifics - I agree that the A* grade is for exceptional candidates, and for candidates who perform well on the day (I think 'lucky' may be kinda unfair). IMO the difference between 88% and 92% is quite significant due to the whole AEA/not-linear thing I described earlier, because in order to get 92% - in theory - you needed to have answered the AEA-questions, while for 89% you don't. I think because of that it's not linearly marked past 89% and so the difficulty becomes much, much harder to gain those last few %. 'Not all % are equal' as it were. This combined with the 80/20 thing I describe earlier means that it's a lot harder to gain 'those last few %'.

I replied on my phone so it sounded a little bit harsh/bitchy, didn't intend it to be!

e: I actually get your point about wanting the A* boundary to be 95% - but afaik the scales are calibrated so anything over 90% is implicitly exceptional. The only time the system falls is down (imo) is if an A-grade (note: not A*-grade) candidate answers every single question in the paper correctly (so 100% of the <= A-grade questions) and then by fluke answers correctly a stretch and challenge question, thus pushing their % to 90%. I doubt this ever happens in reality though...