[Clare~Bear]

I agree with the A* and that it helps top unis/competitive courses find the top candidates.

BUT should you only be able to get an A* if you don't retake any modules, unless maybe you had mitigating or extrenuating circumstances.

???? Just a thought . . . if you have to do loads of resits are you really at the top????

[Tateco]

(Original post by Clare~Bear)
I agree with the A* and that it helps top unis/competitive courses find the top candidates.

BUT should you only be able to get an A* if you don't retake any modules, unless maybe you had mitigating or extrenuating circumstances.

???? Just a thought . . . if you have to do loads of resits are you really at the top????

Then should you be able to resit and get an A? Or a B?...

[Fragile_Illusions]

No, I think it's fair play. You still got 90% + (which is a massive achievement) so you should be rewarded.

[tehforum]

(Original post by Clare~Bear)
I agree with the A* and that it helps top unis/competitive courses find the top candidates.

BUT should you only be able to get an A* if you don't retake any modules, unless maybe you had mitigating or extrenuating circumstances.

???? Just a thought . . . if you have to do loads of resits are you really at the top????

Loads of resits -> less chance of getting the already hard A* in the first place because of the added work load.

[Clare~Bear]

(Original post by Tateco)
Then should you be able to resit and get an A? Or a B?...

Yes. But the A* distinguishes the very top students from the rest, can you call yourself that clever if you had to pay loads of money to retake?

[ALevelGirl]

hmmm, i have to agree with Clare~Bear on this; an A* is used to reward the very best students for their achievements (grade wise).

Would you congratulate someone who resat a paper 3 or 4 times just to move from an A to an A* for example?

[Pride]

I see what you're saying, fair point.

you could argue that for certain subjects that are more variable/subjective like English, or subjects requiring variable difficulties of application and guesswork like Biology, it would be harder to say that.

just a thought.

[areyousure?]

(Original post by Clare~Bear)
Yes. But the A* distinguishes the very top students from the rest, can you call yourself that clever if you had to pay loads of money to retake?

(Original post by ALevelGirl)
hmmm, i have to agree with Clare~Bear on this; an A* is used to reward the very best students for their achievements (grade wise).

Would you congratulate someone who resat a paper 3 or 4 times just to move from an A to an A* for example?

Fair enough but the should A*A*A* be better than AAAAA. Many people now do 5 A Levels, so they so much more work than those only doing three which means they have a smaller chance of getting A*s. Does that mean they are stupid?

[chickenonsteroids]

Mitigating circumstances... what are they in this case? It could be anything from a cold that someone managed to get on the day or someone suffering from family issues.

I think that the added workload justifies not capping a person at an A.

[lapis.chloerose]

Money shouldn't even come into this discussion it'll just tempt champagne socialists to get on a soap box...

Having achieved the grade without any re-sits is a stipulation of many universities and one I agree with.


A*'s should be for those who can grab their grade first time and do so with great ease.
Otherwise the A* is a mere indicator of students who can work and slog like donkeys, this seems to be what it is today and what it will continue to be. Isn't that why the top universities ask their candidates to do additional exams during interviews? UCL with Philosophy for example...

[Clare~Bear]

To those people that say no, then what do you have to say about the uni courses that say A*AA or more, with no retakes????? They're obviously after the best candidates. St Andrews had this requirement for marine biology if you wanted to do a 4year course in 3years.

[QUOTE=lapis.chloerose;35903291]

A*'s should be for those who can grab their grade first time and do so with great ease.
QUOTE]

I was typing my reply when you were typing yours . . .

[sclez1]

Thing is, no one (no university) is looking for purely natural intelligence, they're looking for a combination of hard work and intelligence that produce a very successful human. If you resit and attain the grades then you've worked very hard to get the grades, and perhaps the balance for you is more towards the hard work. My point is, all anyone should care about is the way a student manifests - as knowing a lot about the subject, or not knowing a lot. Whatever ratio of hard work:effort you put in if you have the result I don't see why it should matter.

Having said that, when it reaches the stage of retaking something 4 times then maybe you'd assume the person would eventually get an A* through luck, and therefore they wouldn't be good and their subject. Furthermore, I understand that some universities favor potential in students, but all take academic success into account, regardless of the components that constitute it.

[chickenonsteroids]

(Original post by Clare~Bear)
To those people that say no, then what do you have to say about the uni courses that say A*AA or more, with no retakes????? They're obviously after the best candidates. St Andrews had this requirement for marine biology if you wanted to do a 4year course in 3years.

I don't have anything to say about that. A lot of universities allow one or two but if they see that they've re taken nearly every exam... well it's going to work against them.

In the IB you have no re takes

[ALevelGirl]

Can universities see what exams you've retaken?

[SnailFace]

I think resits should be banned .

:/

[chickenonsteroids]

(Original post by SnailFace)
I think resits should be banned .

:/

Even though I don't get any... really? What about people that have just had an unfortunate paper? Not about the paper itself, i'm talking about circumstances leading up to the paper. What are your thoughts on that?

[SnailFace]

(Original post by chickenonsteroids)
Even though I don't get any... really? What about people that have just had an unfortunate paper? Not about the paper itself, i'm talking about circumstances leading up to the paper. What are your thoughts on that?

I'd say that they'd have to be some pretty bad circumstances.

I just feel its too easy for everyone these days.

There's always that thought in the back of peoples' heads of "Ah, its ok. I can just resit this module in the summer." People don't try their best.

I know because I do it myself...

[Casshern1456]

Especially when you are doing 4 A-level's in Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Maths. I think resitting is fair, at the end of the day you will have to demonstrate you have the skills necessary to get an A*.

[94george94]

(Original post by lapis.chloerose)
Money shouldn't even come into this discussion it'll just tempt champagne socialists to get on a soap box...

Having achieved the grade without any re-sits is a stipulation of many universities and one I agree with.


A*'s should be for those who can grab their grade first time and do so with great ease.
Otherwise the A* is a mere indicator of students who can work and slog like donkeys, this seems to be what it is today and what it will continue to be. Isn't that why the top universities ask their candidates to do additional exams during interviews? UCL with Philosophy for example...

Isn't the education system as a whole a mere indicator that all you need is hard work to achieve a good grade instead of natural ability?

[lucas13]

you get your a stars from A2 modulus, so you can only resit one at the most usually anyway. What do you define as mitigating circumstances, there could be some controversy here.