[KingofBling]

At my school the percentage of pupils who gained five GCSEs at A*-C was 23%, and that was inflated as it included BTECs (with a BTEC being worth three GCSEs).

True story.

[Jarred Kyle]

(Original post by KingofBling)
At my school the percentage of pupils who gained five GCSEs at A*-C was 23%, and that was inflated as it included BTECs (with a BTEC being worth three GCSEs).

True story.

wow, haha. It looks like our school did great in comparison: 82% gained five GCSEs or more at A*-C.

Will most likely lower this year.

[thegreenchildren]

(Original post by LordDarkPhantom)
This is indeed not rubbish. Quite on the contrary, that is very good.

If you were trying to be modest, please think about how you would make the students that don't achieve those grades feel. If you believe that those grades are relatively "rubbish", how would someone that got 5 A*-Cs feel?

By the way everyone, don't bother telling me that I should "man up" or stop sympathising. I will ignore those responses.

Dude, chill out. My comment was not meant to offend anyone.

[Tahooper]

I'm sorry if this sounds poncy, but in all honesty if I only paid attention half the time and didn't do any revision at all in any given subject I can guarantee I would get at least a low C.

Getting 5A*-C should be the least expected of any student unless they have a mental disability which would be fair enough.

[bong]

(Original post by hennessybubbles)
...

The value of a grade fluctuates every year. There will always be the same amount of A*s, As, Bs. Therefore, your grade is merely a comparison to how the cohort has done. This means we cant tell if the education system is failing.

[zippyRN]

(Original post by bong)
The value of a grade fluctuates every year. There will always be the same amount of A*s, As, Bs. Therefore, your grade is merely a comparison to how the cohort has done. This means we cant tell if the education system is failing.

norm referenced marking has fallen out of favour in the UK , and even when norm referenced marking was used there was an element of of moderation with previous performance which as teachers became used to the foibles of course specs and chief examiners meant there was a slow upward creep in grades across the life of a syllabus.

the move to almost pure criteria based marking is responsible for the inflation of grades at A level in particular.

[zippyRN]

(Original post by Tahooper)
I'm sorry if this sounds poncy, but in all honesty if I only paid attention half the time and didn't do any revision at all in any given subject I can guarantee I would get at least a low C.

Getting 5A*-C should be the least expected of any student unless they have a mental disability which would be fair enough.

id be interested to know your socio -economic background and what kind of school you attend ... some people will no do well at GCSE because of the duality of combining both the CSE as a measure of secondary education and the O level as preparation for further academic study ...

[The Lyceum]

(Original post by Tahooper)
I'm sorry if this sounds poncy, but in all honesty if I only paid attention half the time and didn't do any revision at all in any given subject I can guarantee I would get at least a low C.

Getting 5A*-C should be the least expected of any student unless they have a mental disability which would be fair enough.

Meh, my school was set on fire once, the boiler was sabotaged another time. Half the girls were pregnant, some of the sixth form kids were using the school grounds to sell drugs to the locals, I was constantly in fights etc etc.

I'm not going to say what grades I got, since they were hardly all A*s (admittedly I did get some) and I went on to do all right, many didn't.

The environment can have a heavy affect on young pupils. Obviously to a large degree that is due to the fault of the parents, teachers etc and the morals and attitudes they pass on to the children but...

what I'm saying is, its sad, its tragic, in large part its unavoidable but I'm not even slightly surprised.

[Tahooper]

(Original post by zippyRN)
id be interested to know your socio -economic background and what kind of school you attend ... some people will no do well at GCSE because of the duality of combining both the CSE as a measure of secondary education and the O level as preparation for further academic study ...

Social: Middle Class
Economic: Halfway between Lower-Middle and Middle Class
School: State Comprehensive

[kpusa1981]

(Original post by nulli tertius)
But that is effectively grade inflation.

What I mean is that the mapping for the first setting set at E/F because no one knew how well the pupils would do. More pupils were able to get C and D's an therefore they changed the mapping.

[Hobnob 5000]

We managed something like 69% of 5 A*-C, but at my friends old school, at one point it was 9%. Yes, that's right, 9%. Apparently one of the worst schools in Britain :L

[sarahthegemini]

I had a science teacher that thought guinea pigs laid eggs

[NOBODY MOVE!]

i do not have any gcses ;_;

[Ice Constricter]

(Original post by Kidneyjean)
When some people consider GCSEs a joke, it's because they see a 60% %A*-C rate as too high.

Politicians and/or the media can make it look bad either way: if everyone passes exams, then the exams are too easy. But if too many people do badly, the education system is failing. It would be too optimistic to think that we have sensible exams or intelligent students.

Wow, thats a very good point.

[gagaslilmonsteruk]

One school in my home area got the lowest pass rate in the country last summer: 3% (with 5 GCSEs A*-C), though to be honest, with the new headteacher trying to improve things and having only been there a few months, things were bound to have got worse before they improve, so I hope that for the sake of that headteacher things improve this year. The average in my home area I think is 45%, however, my school was 98% and 3rd in the area, behind 99% and 100% pass rates.

[Dukeofwembley]

50 % of people are of less than average intelligence

Gcse are not for everyone, and d,e,f,g should be respected for vocational training