Anyone else have 0 faith in the exam system?
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Original post by acedlol
Psychology for AQA is retarded. Basically for the A4 exam in January:
Learn everything about schizophrenia please, all the explanations and all the treatments. You know what they ask? Outline issues with diagnosing schizophrenia. Couldn't be arsed with the whole exam from there on in. I spent a week in Christmas revising for things that never came up in the exam, a whole goddamn week! Fine, ask that question but please why can't you put more questions in for us to choose from? It seems so unfair that a bit of luck can change the whole performance of an exam.
Geography4A as well for AQA. Revised ton loads for that, ended up with a D. I don't even understand. I'm convinced the marking is terrible.
General Studies, talk about Spiderman and defend terrorists and 86/100 I don't even understand anymore.
Learn everything about schizophrenia please, all the explanations and all the treatments. You know what they ask? Outline issues with diagnosing schizophrenia. Couldn't be arsed with the whole exam from there on in. I spent a week in Christmas revising for things that never came up in the exam, a whole goddamn week! Fine, ask that question but please why can't you put more questions in for us to choose from? It seems so unfair that a bit of luck can change the whole performance of an exam.
Geography4A as well for AQA. Revised ton loads for that, ended up with a D. I don't even understand. I'm convinced the marking is terrible.
General Studies, talk about Spiderman and defend terrorists and 86/100 I don't even understand anymore.
To be fair, the whole point of the schizophrenia section is that its a large essay. Its not like issues wasn't on the syllabus. The point is you learn everything because you dont know whats going to come up, if you do that theres no problem.
Original post by hardleyouth
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!?
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!?
I find your lack of Faith Disturbing
Your exam system seems horrible. :| I'm Dutch, and here everyone in the country does exactly the same exams. They're marked by your own teacher, and then checked by another teacher somewhere else in the country to make sure they were marked correctly.
The AQA Maths core textbooks (the Oxford one) deliberately make it confusing for you to understand the damn topic. I can explain the topics simpler than they could!
In the English language unit 3 exam, most of my class got lower grades for it than I did. The last question asked about political correctness and I didn't remember much of it. I was writing just for the sake of it halfway through. When asked about theories for the first section, I just mentioned them as an afterthought and just took a couple of paragraphs explaining them. My classmates wrote more than I did and went deeper into the issues. I got a high B while everyone else did worse.
English language was the subject that I least expected to do well in. Not that it's actually difficult but I spent less time revising for that subject and I got a high grade in it in the end. Meanwhile I work my butt off for Maths and economics and I get rewarded with really weird papers and contexts.
I remember revising for Maths. I was doing all possible past papers and I was frantically working through them. F***ing stupid AQA reward me with an f***ed up paper. 9 marker and two 7 markers!
I worked so hard for it and I got a C.
I hate AQA and I'm worried that they may f*** up my June exams too. I can never trust them.
In the English language unit 3 exam, most of my class got lower grades for it than I did. The last question asked about political correctness and I didn't remember much of it. I was writing just for the sake of it halfway through. When asked about theories for the first section, I just mentioned them as an afterthought and just took a couple of paragraphs explaining them. My classmates wrote more than I did and went deeper into the issues. I got a high B while everyone else did worse.
English language was the subject that I least expected to do well in. Not that it's actually difficult but I spent less time revising for that subject and I got a high grade in it in the end. Meanwhile I work my butt off for Maths and economics and I get rewarded with really weird papers and contexts.
I remember revising for Maths. I was doing all possible past papers and I was frantically working through them. F***ing stupid AQA reward me with an f***ed up paper. 9 marker and two 7 markers!
I worked so hard for it and I got a C.
I hate AQA and I'm worried that they may f*** up my June exams too. I can never trust them.
Original post by psychedelica
Your exam system seems horrible. :| I'm Dutch, and here everyone in the country does exactly the same exams. They're marked by your own teacher, and then checked by another teacher somewhere else in the country to make sure they were marked correctly.
^
Proof there is a less backward alternative to this joke.
Edexcel Biology is an absolute joke.
66% to get an A*
46% to get an E
and that's only scratching the surface.
Awful diagrams, hidden questions, limited answers in the mark scheme to get points.
yet i swear to God, the actual knowledge you actually need for the exam is about 15% of what you've learn't, the other 85% is never even mentioned in the exam. Nothing like revising 3 units on the heart (atherosclerosis, CVD, Atrial Systole, parts of the heart ventricles atriums valves e.t.c) only to have nothing on it come up at all. Twice.
66% to get an A*
46% to get an E
and that's only scratching the surface.
Awful diagrams, hidden questions, limited answers in the mark scheme to get points.
yet i swear to God, the actual knowledge you actually need for the exam is about 15% of what you've learn't, the other 85% is never even mentioned in the exam. Nothing like revising 3 units on the heart (atherosclerosis, CVD, Atrial Systole, parts of the heart ventricles atriums valves e.t.c) only to have nothing on it come up at all. Twice.
This was years ago now, however ...
I was sitting on a comfortable A in A-Level Physics, heading into my summer exams. My teacher marked my A2 coursework and gave it an A; like my AS coursework, whose mark didn't change when AQA moderated it.
That meant I needed barely C's in my last 2 exams. Easy ehh? Well, AQA slashed my coursework from an A to an E. They gave one of my exams a B (my weakest topic; so that was fair and expected).
They marked my last exam as a mid-C; I thought it went well, like all my other modules (2 of which I got 95%). I expected an A in it. Probably screwed with their daft markschemes on all those wordy Qs (of which there were many).
My final mark? 479/600. Imperial still took me for Theoretical Physics, after my teacher explained the above. Horrible, horrible day.
That confirms it; it's all a scam. They must love dishing out weird marks, particularly in A2 year, to profit from resits and remarks. I hate AQA.
I was sitting on a comfortable A in A-Level Physics, heading into my summer exams. My teacher marked my A2 coursework and gave it an A; like my AS coursework, whose mark didn't change when AQA moderated it.
That meant I needed barely C's in my last 2 exams. Easy ehh? Well, AQA slashed my coursework from an A to an E. They gave one of my exams a B (my weakest topic; so that was fair and expected).
They marked my last exam as a mid-C; I thought it went well, like all my other modules (2 of which I got 95%). I expected an A in it. Probably screwed with their daft markschemes on all those wordy Qs (of which there were many).
My final mark? 479/600. Imperial still took me for Theoretical Physics, after my teacher explained the above. Horrible, horrible day.
That confirms it; it's all a scam. They must love dishing out weird marks, particularly in A2 year, to profit from resits and remarks. I hate AQA.
No faith at all. It's okay in subjects like Maths as more or less every examiner will mark the same, but for subjects where the exam requires essays, your grade can totally depend on the examiner. Last year, a friend of mine received CDDin his AS levels (economics, psychology, English language) after getting his scripts back, he sent off for remarks for psychology and English. Psychology came back as a B, and English came back as an A!
Kinda mad to think if he didn't send them back for remarks, he may not have gone to uni, it's not even a small difference. Something should be done about it, but what? Unfortunately I don't think anything will improve
Kinda mad to think if he didn't send them back for remarks, he may not have gone to uni, it's not even a small difference. Something should be done about it, but what? Unfortunately I don't think anything will improve
Original post by Miracle Day
Get the paper back then?
It's going to cost me about £40 to get the paper back and remark, I may as well pay £20 and resit it.
It was a tough paper and a lot of people didn't get the results they were hoping for, but I still didn't think I'd have done this bad.
Can I add to this a GCSE story? I can't find anyone in the GCSE forum who's particularly disappointed with their results, so I might as well post here.
Edexcel History exam last year - barely any revision of answer structures. Completely my fault, I received a B (borderline C) and resolved to work a lot harder for the resit.
Get the results back and I get the same mark. I tried my best in the exam, answered every question to the best of my ability (except one big marker, but I thought I'd at least scrape an A). I felt like I'd been kicked in the stomach. If I hadn't bothered at all I'd understand, but I understood everything practically inside out.
Something needs to be done to standardize subjective marking, because this has just knocked my confidence in going on to do essay subjects at sixth form.
Edexcel History exam last year - barely any revision of answer structures. Completely my fault, I received a B (borderline C) and resolved to work a lot harder for the resit.
Get the results back and I get the same mark. I tried my best in the exam, answered every question to the best of my ability (except one big marker, but I thought I'd at least scrape an A). I felt like I'd been kicked in the stomach. If I hadn't bothered at all I'd understand, but I understood everything practically inside out.
Something needs to be done to standardize subjective marking, because this has just knocked my confidence in going on to do essay subjects at sixth form.
(edited 12 years ago)
This reminds me of my Science in Society AS level. It was compulsory for GCSE Triple Science students at my school last year. I saw it as far less important than my GCSEs since I'd heard it isn't valued at all by universities. It bored me to death and I did no revision for the exam; not even a look through my notes beforehand. My coursework, in my opinion, was shoddy as well. I came out with a B overall. I feel I blagged the whole exam.
And these Edexcel horror stories are shocking, 3 out of my four subjects are on that board. The other is AQA which has had some bad things said about it, too
And these Edexcel horror stories are shocking, 3 out of my four subjects are on that board. The other is AQA which has had some bad things said about it, too
Original post by Ra Ra
All these stories on here have made me wonder if asking for a copy of my January History exam would be the right thing to do. That exam was honestly one of the only times that I have come out feeling rather good about how well I did; yet, I got a C. Usually when it comes to low grades it's because I haven't revised and I deserve them, but should I get a copy?
Another question: what's the difference between a Photocopy Script and an Original Script?
Another question: what's the difference between a Photocopy Script and an Original Script?
If you feel it was unjustified get a copy, get your teacher/tutor to mark it
the difference is that a photocopy script is exactly that, a photocopy, but its cheaper AND I think it means they can still remark your paper if you pay for it because they obviously still have the original
Original post by lubus
Why the hell do you think you're qualified to judge the system when you cant even PASS a monkey subject such as business as?
...but I did pass it?
fool. Even when I received a U/E in the second unit, I already had a high B in the unit 1? and it leveled as a high D overall? Then I resat and got a high B in unit two aswell....so I didn't fail? :')(edited 12 years ago)
Original post by Agenda Suicide
It's funny you say that because bar history, I've not taken any of the subjects you've mentioned.
I don't trust somebody to not be a troll when they say history is easy and art is difficult.
That and you shot yourself in the foot, sciences are a lot more easy to copy from the book than the likes of history. Try copying what you read on a history syllabus and you'll need a month long exam.
I don't trust somebody to not be a troll when they say history is easy and art is difficult.
That and you shot yourself in the foot, sciences are a lot more easy to copy from the book than the likes of history. Try copying what you read on a history syllabus and you'll need a month long exam.
Art is more subjective. This means the examiner can easily grade a piece lower than it deserves, simply because he doesn't like it and he can get away with it too. You clearly do not take any sciences whatsoever. They deal with abstract concepts, especially physics. That is what makes them difficult. The attention to detail is a must and believe me, history is far more simple. I mean, you don't back up anything you say. You just spam statements, that are a load of rubbish too. Who is the troll here now?
And to the people who asked about remarks, like I mentioned in the OP of this topic, I got my business remarked, and yes, that UNIT went up a grade, but they then informed I only get my 40 quid back if I my ENTIRE AS grade goes up a grade, which it didn't!
Original post by chinaberry
Do you really take History? Because the textbook is a shambles and if we relied on that we'd barely pass. Oh I know a History A grade is not worth much....but hoop jumping does take some work if you're not naturally inclined to it...square peg, round hole etc.
I get what you're saying (I take languages- huge joke), but English/History etc are not straightforward.
I get what you're saying (I take languages- huge joke), but English/History etc are not straightforward.
English is not that straightforward. You are correct, but History is straightforward I am afraid. If you learn the notes, that the teacher gives you (this is assuming he/she is good btw), then you should have no trouble. The problem arises, when you have a terrible teacher. It is not as easy to teach yourself when it comes to history, I will give you that. However, you can't even compare the sciences to History. They are far more difficult, and that is why most people do worse in them. The exams themselves also offer a larger variety of questions than in a history exam. Even Biology, if you don't memorise the terms exactly, then you fail, simple as that.
Original post by hardleyouth
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!?
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!?
That's absolutely ridiculous. Our year just received January exam results and EVERYONE is resitting at least one exam, even the kids that spend hours studying and revising and are intelligent in every way. In subjects that contain essay questions it's all about 'exam technique'. Personally I know for a fact the questions in my Psychology paper were the easiest I could get (knowledge wise) and it was the stuff I know inside out ( Sorry don't mean to sound cocky) and yet a got an E, so did most of the class apart from 1 person. There is absolutely no logic, if exams were based on knowledge (how they should be) it would be much easier.
My history teacher often slacks off examiners , because many of them have no prior knowledge of the subjects . A nnumber of them only read textbooks that the school provides while the students spend hours reading a variety of sources, so annoying.
You should definitely try getting your money back.
I absolutely agree with you
I took an RS exam (AQA), memorised the marks scheme, the same question came in my exam, wrote everything that was in the mark scheme of the past paper (covered all points) and ended up with a C.
And there I was almost sure of an A
So now they left me with no choice but to get (and pay) for a re-mark
I took an RS exam (AQA), memorised the marks scheme, the same question came in my exam, wrote everything that was in the mark scheme of the past paper (covered all points) and ended up with a C.
And there I was almost sure of an A
So now they left me with no choice but to get (and pay) for a re-mark
Original post by Anastasija95
That's absolutely ridiculous. Our year just received January exam results and EVERYONE is resitting at least one exam, even the kids that spend hours studying and revising and are intelligent in every way. In subjects that contain essay questions it's all about 'exam technique'. Personally I know for a fact the questions in my Psychology paper were the easiest I could get (knowledge wise) and it was the stuff I know inside out ( Sorry don't mean to sound cocky) and yet a got an E, so did most of the class apart from 1 person. There is absolutely no logic, if exams were based on knowledge (how they should be) it would be much easier.
My history teacher often slacks off examiners , because many of them have no prior knowledge of the subjects . A nnumber of them only read textbooks that the school provides while the students spend hours reading a variety of sources, so annoying.
You should definitely try getting your money back.
My history teacher often slacks off examiners , because many of them have no prior knowledge of the subjects . A nnumber of them only read textbooks that the school provides while the students spend hours reading a variety of sources, so annoying.
You should definitely try getting your money back.
On that note about examiners having no prior knowledge - A few years ago, my tutor for politics, who also teaches philosophy, decided she would do some exam paper marking for some extra money, she did it for philosophy I think, but they were asking her if she could also do it for psychology? A subject she has NO knowledge on and NO qualification in? They knew this, but still wanted her to mark Psychology papers?!
I had a pretty awful experience with them at GCSE level - out of my 11 subjects, 4 ended up having their grades changed, including Geography going from an E to a B. I decided to take the International Baccalaureate instead of A Levels (not just because of this issue, but it is a bonus) and from what I can see the exams their are much more consistent year-on-year, grade inflation is next to non-existent (one point out of 45 over nearly 40 years), and there seems to be a much better correlation between how well people perform in class, their mock results, the amount of revision they do and what grade they finish with. This is despite having the additional issues of a linear exam system (much less opportunity to resit, making it crucial that the exams are right first time), a greater scope for language barriers and different time zones (meaning each year they must make more than one paper per subject so answers aren't put online before people elsewhere in the world start the exam).
For GCSE/A Level, I would suggest many changes. I would scrap the exam board system and replace it with state-sector agencies setting both the syllabus and exams for each subject. These agencies would have representatives from areas candidates taking the course in question are likely to go into, such as universities and employers, depending on exactly what the course was, so that the exam was set by people with a genuine knowledge of the subject at hand who also know what skills they want successful candidates to possess, and also removing the ridiculous competition to make money through putting out easier exams, or charging silly amounts for re-marks.
I would try to reduce the need for remarks by appointing only university-level professors as examiners - we can quite easily get them to do this as the vast majority are still public sector. Each examiner should also have around 10% of their batch also marked by a second examiner, and if there is a significant difference in a large number of papers then their whole batch should be referred to a senior examiner to mark. I would then provide photocopies and remarks of papers at-cost, with a full refund if there is a difference of more than around 2% in the new mark compared to the old one.
In terms of coursework, I would make schools/colleges/whatevers send off everyone's, from which a random proportion are moderated. This means that they don't know who's will be checked, so they have to make sure all pieces have been marked accurately and honestly rather than just those pieces they are told to send off. A consistent failure to mark it appropriately should be noted in Ofsted inspections (I haven;'t talked about those lot yet but rest assured I am plenty critical of them too :P )
For GCSE/A Level, I would suggest many changes. I would scrap the exam board system and replace it with state-sector agencies setting both the syllabus and exams for each subject. These agencies would have representatives from areas candidates taking the course in question are likely to go into, such as universities and employers, depending on exactly what the course was, so that the exam was set by people with a genuine knowledge of the subject at hand who also know what skills they want successful candidates to possess, and also removing the ridiculous competition to make money through putting out easier exams, or charging silly amounts for re-marks.
I would try to reduce the need for remarks by appointing only university-level professors as examiners - we can quite easily get them to do this as the vast majority are still public sector. Each examiner should also have around 10% of their batch also marked by a second examiner, and if there is a significant difference in a large number of papers then their whole batch should be referred to a senior examiner to mark. I would then provide photocopies and remarks of papers at-cost, with a full refund if there is a difference of more than around 2% in the new mark compared to the old one.
In terms of coursework, I would make schools/colleges/whatevers send off everyone's, from which a random proportion are moderated. This means that they don't know who's will be checked, so they have to make sure all pieces have been marked accurately and honestly rather than just those pieces they are told to send off. A consistent failure to mark it appropriately should be noted in Ofsted inspections (I haven;'t talked about those lot yet but rest assured I am plenty critical of them too :P )
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