[Azland]

(Original post by SweetChilliSauce)
In AQA Economics Unit 1 this January, for the 5 marker they asked what the definition of derived demand was. I answered it and got 5/5 and my friend only defined demand and still got full marks. I'm happy for her and all, but how? She didn't completely answer the question at all.

All exams do is test knowledge, not really how you apply it. Anyone can easily memorise a history book with key dates and get an A*, but it doesn't mean that they are a top-class historian.

Wow, they ask such crappy questions and give you 5 marks. consider it as free marks for the entire UK rather then complaining about the content lol.

[Physics Enemy]

(Original post by Dee Leigh)
Looking through the post on this thread makes me realise one common theme that I noticed halfway through Year 13.

I value my education highly and I absolutely love learning, but A Levels aren't about that. There is a hugh obsession with marks to the point where it got too much for me. I could study so hard and go through all the content and past papers, but I still didn't do well. When I settled into A Levels after 3 months of sorting out my options, I had high hopes of doing well (getting mostly Bs and maybe the odd A) and I kept this hope up throughout year 12 and until halfway in year 13. By the time I finished my A Levels, I was so fed up, exhausted, irritable and so glad they were over, because I was sick and tired of doing them. It was just constantly exams exams exams, and marks marks marks. My motivation and confidence were slipping away, because for years previously I'd been so used to learning and studying hard. It didn't help that I had family issues, which were catching up on me and affecting my ability to do well, and putting me under tremendous strain.

I'm so glad I'm not studying A Levels anymore, I couldn't bear to put myself through that again. I just hope that studying a foundation year (starting this September) and a three year degree afterwards in a subject I love and I'm passionate about will not be bad experiences like my A Levels were.

Uni was the same for me, just more rote learning, past paper and problem sheet crunching, hours of revision and playing the 'game' with regards to marks chasing, exam technique, key words, jumping hoops, etc. At Imperial I'd typically have over a dozen exams in the summer, plus all the various lab, courseworks, etc. throughout the year.

Now looking back; uni and a-levels were a complete waste of time, it's just going through a system. I liked GCSE due to the variety of subjects and not past paper whoring and all that malarky. It felt more natural. I work as a Maths and Physics tutor and it feels more natural.

Uni's even more of a farce, because people are paying thousands and thousands to effectively teach themselves AND sit a boatload of exams.

[Dee Leigh]

(Original post by Physics Enemy)
Uni was the same for me, just more rote learning, past paper and problem sheet crunching, hours of revision and playing the 'game' with regards to marks chasing, exam technique, key words, jumping hoops, etc. At Imperial I'd typically have over a dozen exams in the summer, plus all the various lab, courseworks, etc. throughout the year.

Now looking back; uni and a-levels were a complete waste of time, it's just going through a system. I liked GCSE due to the variety of subjects and not past paper whoring and all that malarky. It felt more natural. I work as a Maths and Physics tutor and it feels more natural.

Uni's even more of a farce, because people are paying thousands and thousands to effectively teach themselves AND sit a boatload of exams.

Oh dear. :/

Well I preferred GCSEs. Of course you had exams and coursework for those but I do remember feeling like I was learning somehow.

[Physics Enemy]

(Original post by Dee Leigh)
Oh dear. :/

Well I preferred GCSEs. Of course you had exams and coursework for those but I do remember feeling like I was learning somehow.

Yes, same. I think it's because:

1) There isn't the whole uni scram
2) There's lots of subjects and content, so a breadth of study
3) Aided by point no. 2, there wasn't all the 'game playing', since students don't tend to do that for GCSE. It's hard to do as it's less 'narrow' than A-Level.

For ME, the system only gets worse as one keeps on going.

[.snowflake.]

(Original post by hannahwhelan)
In AQA A2 English lit you aren't allowed your books in the exam. This is for no good reason. They are literally testing your ability to memorise quotes. Any academic who writes an essay on a piece of literature will have the book to hand so that they can quote it directly.

It's just complete idiocy which proves nothing.

The same occurs in the AQA A2 German exam, if you do your essay on the literature you've studied.

[rac1]

just wanted to re-post this sorry

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/16672

[insomniacramblings]

My history teacher had a chat the other day with a former student of hers, she's currently studying History at university. She's become an exam marker. To add to that, she herself has never studied the units she'll be marking.

This system fails on so many levels.

[imamarouna]

How true are all this, just done a Law exam and no one in the class came out any higher than a C while everyone was getting A's and B's last year in AS and most annoying thing is that i confidently know that I wrote everything that was on the market scheme.

THE EXAM BOARD DOESNT EVEN KNOW THEY PLAYING WITH OUR LIFES WHICH ANNOYS ME

[emanuela15]

You have no idea how much the exam systems have screwed me over.

To start with, I can't get higher than a B in the Chinese AS exam( that I'm forced to take by my school alongside the Pre U) because Edexcel marks me on the same level with native Chinese speakers.

Secondly, because of the new pooling system, I can't take a mixture of Pre U and A levels. Instead, I'm being made to do 3 A levels alongside a Pre U!! Even though i will probably fail the 3rd A level!!

And to finish it all off, neither my school nor the exam boards seem to give a ****.

*rant over*

[insomniacramblings]

(Original post by emanuela15)
You have no idea how much the exam systems have screwed me over.

To start with, I can't get higher than a B in the Chinese AS exam( that I'm forced to take by my school alongside the Pre U) because Edexcel marks me on the same level with native Chinese speakers.

Secondly, because of the new pooling system, I can't take a mixture of Pre U and A levels. Instead, I'm being made to do 3 A levels alongside a Pre U!! Even though i will probably fail the 3rd A level!!

And to finish it all off, neither my school nor the exam boards seem to give a ****.

*rant over*

Wouldn't it be easier to do your A-levels as an independent candidate, if they're not compatible with Pre U?

[emanuela15]

It would be easier, but according to my school, it's the government that's to blame for the pooling. Apparently they did not foresee people mixing Pre U and A level qualifications

I'm currently trying to see if I can find a substitute for edexcel AS Chinese, no luck so far :'(

[Todd]

(Original post by Hellz_Bellz!)
My experience is that only people who get bad grades have no faith in the exam system

Do your work and you'll get the grades. I don't see the problem.

Oops...controversial.

Sorry, but that's such a closeminded view!
I understand where you're coming form - trust me, I know no end of people who do no work then moan about their poor results - but I also know several people who are really close to me who work their fingers to the bone and still get ****ed by the exam system. My boyfriend just got the results of his resits, for which he worked sometimes about 12 hours a day week in, week out for months with an excellent tutor, only to do poorly again. He knows allt he stuff - he's doing degree-level engineering (the degree he wants to take) in his own home, currently building a wind turbine form scratch, and yet because he can't play the exam system right he's still getting rubbish results. It absolutely boils my blood, I apologse for the rant but it just demonstrates how ****ty the exam system is in this country, it's not even an uncommon occurence I knwo so many intelligent people who have never got the results they deserve.

[Physics Enemy]

(Original post by Todd)
Sorry, but that's such a closeminded view!
I understand where you're coming form - trust me, I know no end of people who do no work then moan about their poor results - but I also know several people who are really close to me who work their fingers to the bone and still get ****ed by the exam system. My boyfriend just got the results of his resits, for which he worked sometimes about 12 hours a day week in, week out for months with an excellent tutor, only to do poorly again. He knows allt he stuff - he's doing degree-level engineering (the degree he wants to take) in his own home, currently building a wind turbine form scratch, and yet because he can't play the exam system right he's still getting rubbish results. It absolutely boils my blood, I apologse for the rant but it just demonstrates how ****ty the exam system is in this country, it's not even an uncommon occurence I knwo so many intelligent people who have never got the results they deserve.

If he's spending 12 hrs a day with the aid of a tutor, and is still doing badly in exams, he needs to take the hint.