[Dalek1099]

(Original post by fishfan01)
You'd think so. The problems occur when it's realised how much work is required for those subjects and how hard some of it is. This combined with the fact that I believe that some people genuninely don't have the intellectual capacity to deal with some of the harder subjects means that it's not necessarily that much easier at all. More fun, yes. Easier? No way. Particularly once you get to A2; there was so much of a jump from AS, more than from GCSE to AS, I'd say. Not easy at all.

The jump from GCSE to AS is bigger than from AS to A2,that jump is not too much bigger from earlier modules of GCSE to later modules of GCSE and my sister got(A*A*A) in her latest A2 exams and quite bad AS grades BBCD because you aren't prepared for the workload,at AS but when your at A2it is only a tiny jump and you know you have to revise to get the good grades.

[fishfan01]

(Original post by `God)
My teacher said A-levels is about 20% intellect and 80% practise.

So why is it that some people who were good at GCSE fail at A level?

It may be true (although it was actually totally made up), but that 20% of intellect needs to be of a certain level. Not everybody has that certain level, or I know many people who would be doing much better than they are.

Moreover, if you ARE good at something, it doesn't really take that much practise at all; I royally screwed up my AS OT by answering the wrong question and not doing one of the essays. I got a C in the exam, and a B overall for the subject, so I retook in January, did no practice papers, just went over the content and came back with 100%. I believe this completely disproves your teacher. If you are good, it takes little practice. But if you aren't clever enough, then sometimes people really can't do it.

Although, I'm looking at it from the viewpoint that you do need an A to say that you can succeed in it. It's probably true that pretty much anyone can get an E or something, which I suppose quite technically counts as a pass. Though probably not in physics.

[Dalek1099]

(Original post by fishfan01)
So why is it that some people who were good at GCSE fail at A level?

It may be true (although it was actually totally made up), but that 20% of intellect needs to be of a certain level. Not everybody has that certain level, or I know many people who would be doing much better than they are.

Moreover, if you ARE good at something, it doesn't really take that much practise at all; I royally screwed up my AS OT by answering the wrong question and not doing one of the essays. I got a C in the exam, and a B overall for the subject, so I retook in January, did no practice papers, just went over the content and came back with 100%. I believe this completely disproves your teacher. If you are good, it takes little practice. But if you aren't clever enough, then sometimes people really can't do it.

Although, I'm looking at it from the viewpoint that you do need an A to say that you can succeed in it. It's probably true that pretty much anyone can get an E or something, which I suppose quite technically counts as a pass. Though probably not in physics.

People often don't realise the hard work required at A-Level because they only get 20% from their intellect but at GCSE you can often pass most GCSE's without revising but you will fail most A-Levels miserably,if you don't revise.

[fishfan01]

(Original post by Dalek1099)
The jump from GCSE to AS is bigger than from AS to A2,that jump is not too much bigger from earlier modules of GCSE to later modules of GCSE and my sister got(A*A*A) in her latest A2 exams and quite bad AS grades BBCD because you aren't prepared for the workload,at AS but when your at A2it is only a tiny jump and you know you have to revise to get the good grades.

I was just speaking from my experiences. Your sisters grades don't necessarily reflect how hard the jump was, but there could have been many other factors including how hard the papers were for her, how well prepared she was, and how hard she tried throughout the year. I was speaking about the intellectual jump. Also, I didn't actually find the workload to increase much at all from GCSE to AS, or AS to A2, because you go from doing 11 subjects or whatever to 4, plus you're supposed to enjoy them all and not really mind doing the work for them. In my school, we also have lots of 'structured study' periods and frees during which you can do the work. Although, my school always told us that they wanted us to feel prepared for A level, so said that they always tried to do so with the ways in which they wanted us to do work at GCSE, so that may have affected my experiences.

What I was speaking about was that for English coursework in AS, we went through the texts with the teacher as a class, making notes, whereas at A2 we had to study to texts independently and write our own questions and do the work all ourselves. Whereas I got 58/60 last year, I got 52/60. Still an A, but it was much much harder. Plus the exam is closed text, so we have to learn all of the quotations for essays on 3 texts which could be about pretty much any feature of the gothic. Furthermore, in History, rather than just having nice essays to write and a source question, we now have to learn about 2 controversies we will be asked about in the exam and are expected to learn quotations for them, which we will integrate into our essays in the exam.

None of this is impossible, just much harder than AS, whereas I found AS pretty similar to GCSE

[fishfan01]

(Original post by Dalek1099)
People often don't realise the hard work required at A-Level because they only get 20% from their intellect but at GCSE you can often pass most GCSE's without revising but you will fail most A-Levels miserably,if you don't revise.

But I'm not talking about people who don't work hard; I know plenty of people who work really really hard, but no matter how hard they work, nor how hard they revise, they simply can't get better than a C. This surely has to be a reflection of them not having enough intellect to get an A?

[Dalek1099]

(Original post by fishfan01)
I was just speaking from my experiences. Your sisters grades don't necessarily reflect how hard the jump was, but there could have been many other factors including how hard the papers were for her, how well prepared she was, and how hard she tried throughout the year. I was speaking about the intellectual jump. Also, I didn't actually find the workload to increase much at all from GCSE to AS, or AS to A2, because you go from doing 11 subjects or whatever to 4, plus you're supposed to enjoy them all and not really mind doing the work for them. In my school, we also have lots of 'structured study' periods and frees during which you can do the work. Although, my school always told us that they wanted us to feel prepared for A level, so said that they always tried to do so with the ways in which they wanted us to do work at GCSE, so that may have affected my experiences.

What I was speaking about was that for English coursework in AS, we went through the texts with the teacher as a class, making notes, whereas at A2 we had to study to texts independently and write our own questions and do the work all ourselves. Whereas I got 58/60 last year, I got 52/60. Still an A, but it was much much harder. Plus the exam is closed text, so we have to learn all of the quotations for essays on 3 texts which could be about pretty much any feature of the gothic. Furthermore, in History, rather than just having nice essays to write and a source question, we now have to learn about 2 controversies we will be asked about in the exam and are expected to learn quotations for them, which we will integrate into our essays in the exam.

None of this is impossible, just much harder than AS, whereas I found AS pretty similar to GCSE

The workload of AS is much harder than GCSE-You have to revise throughout the course instead of just before the exam.Do you get homework at A-Level?and how much?-I get around 1hrs worth of homework a week at GCSE probably less.

[Dalek1099]

(Original post by fishfan01)
But I'm not talking about people who don't work hard; I know plenty of people who work really really hard, but no matter how hard they work, nor how hard they revise, they simply can't get better than a C. This surely has to be a reflection of them not having enough intellect to get an A?

Intellect still plays a role but a lesser role than at GCSE,for example they could get better grades than a Einstein,who didn't do any work at home,showing that although they are dumber they still get higher grades,where as at GCSE this doesn't happen because you generally don't have to revise that much and really intelligent people can easily get high grades,unlike A-Level where real work is required.

[lil-mazie]

My tuition is doing a little course to get us all prepared for A-levels i guess the best thing for you to do is start doing your a-levels early

[fishfan01]

(Original post by Dalek1099)
The workload of AS is much harder than GCSE-You have to revise throughout the course instead of just before the exam.Do you get homework at A-Level?and how much?-I get around 1hrs worth of homework a week at GCSE probably less.

I didn't revise throughout the year, apart from in physics, nor did any of my friends. I have AAAD (physics. The one I worked hardest and longest for was my downfall.) I believe that this shows that it is not just how hard you work at something, but that you need to be naturally quite good at it.

Though I did get a lot of hw at GCSE, and we had to do normal coursework at home, not controlled assessments. As far as I remember, I think I did about the same amount at GCSE as I do now (though obviously now it's revision time, I just spend longer doing each subject rather than dividing my time over 11). Though, as I said, my school did say they wanted to prepare us for A level. It is also just a very good school, and from what I've heard from students who have left is that they prepare you well for university learning throughout A level too, much more so apparently in comparison with many private schools etc, due to the amount of independent learning we do etc. Maybe it's all down to your school.

[fishfan01]

(Original post by Dalek1099)
Intellect still plays a role but a lesser role than at GCSE,for example they could get better grades than a Einstein,who didn't do any work at home,showing that although they are dumber they still get higher grades,where as at GCSE this doesn't happen because you generally don't have to revise that much and really intelligent people can easily get high grades,unlike A-Level where real work is required.

Umm, I'm not sure what kind of evidence you're basing this analogy on, but I am certain that Einstein would have done better than me in AS physics without putting the work in. Moreover, so long as somebody with Einstein's brain capacity had sat through the lessons, I'm sure that they could achieve reasonably well in scientific A levels. Though not necessarily humanities, as a completely different set of skills are required, a completely different kind of intelligence.

It is true that you can get by in GCSE without much work if you are clever, and that you do need to put work in at A level, however, you seem to be completely disregarding everything I've said about how it is, I believe, practically impossible for some people to achieve top marks at A level, no matter how hard they work, because they do not possess the intellect. I'm not saying that it's all about how clever you are, but you need a base line of intelligence to do well. After you have that you need to put the effort in. Whereas at GCSE, pretty much anybody can do well so long as they have either brains, determination or both.

Therefore, surely it must be true that needing to have a certain level of intellect at A level shows that it plays a bigger role, whereas that you don't need it, you can achieve by simply trying hard, suggests that it plays a much smaller role in GCSE?

[Dalek1099]

(Original post by fishfan01)
Umm, I'm not sure what kind of evidence you're basing this analogy on, but I am certain that Einstein would have done better than me in AS physics without putting the work in. Moreover, so long as somebody with Einstein's brain capacity had sat through the lessons, I'm sure that they could achieve reasonably well in scientific A levels. Though not necessarily humanities, as a completely different set of skills are required, a completely different kind of intelligence.

It is true that you can get by in GCSE without much work if you are clever, and that you do need to put work in at A level, however, you seem to be completely disregarding everything I've said about how it is, I believe, practically impossible for some people to achieve top marks at A level, no matter how hard they work, because they do not possess the intellect. I'm not saying that it's all about how clever you are, but you need a base line of intelligence to do well. After you have that you need to put the effort in. Whereas at GCSE, pretty much anybody can do well so long as they have either brains, determination or both.

Therefore, surely it must be true that needing to have a certain level of intellect at A level shows that it plays a bigger role, whereas that you don't need it, you can achieve by simply trying hard, suggests that it plays a much smaller role in GCSE?

I sort of get what your getting onto in how some grades are unachievable at A-Level for some people but at A-Level intellect will not be enough,which shows that it requires more work and it isn't necessarily true that people can't reach grades because I bet if they went back to GCSE they could do them better then they could at the time and my point is that they could always reach the top end of A-Level at some point,maybe at university and this means if they work super hard and try to cram in them extra years of development into revision sessions,then they can get that grade and these people are often just pessimistic and often you need to believe that you can do something to do it as well.

[L'Evil Fish]

I can only really speak for Maths and History, I'm in year 10 and I have my History GCSE ane achieved an A*, so I sat the a level exams in May (last month) and I'm waiting for my results. The structure and technique are extremely different at A-Level compared to GCSE, however the content remains easy. But to obtain marks one needs to understand HOW to answer the questions, for this you need a specific form of intellect.
Maths I'm going to sit my GCSE next week I've been getting over 95% in the past papers, and so I've asked to sit a level maths early next year. So I've taught myself the content for C1 C2 and M1 and I didn't consider the jump to be that big for maths. But that may be because I LOVE maths
I think the jump is slightly subjective and requires a whole new level of understanding.

[fishfan01]

(Original post by Dalek1099)
I sort of get what your getting onto in how some grades are unachievable at A-Level for some people but at A-Level intellect will not be enough,which shows that it requires more work and it isn't necessarily true that people can't reach grades because I bet if they went back to GCSE they could do them better then they could at the time and my point is that they could always reach the top end of A-Level at some point,maybe at university and this means if they work super hard and try to cram in them extra years of development into revision sessions,then they can get that grade and these people are often just pessimistic and often you need to believe that you can do something to do it as well.

Okay, well you seem to be forgetting the fact that you do only have 2 years to do it in, during which you have the chance to prove yourself capable. Moreover, the people who aren't doing well aren't going to A level. Many would rather not go than go to a rubbish university which they could get into with their grades.

You haven't done your A levels yet, so it's probably highly unlikely that you spend vast amounts of time with vast numbers of A level students within the context of education. I, however, do, and can vouch for the fact that some try as hard as they can, but can't achieve, even if they could at GCSE. And these are grammar school students. I'm sure that people who have had lesser preparation would find it much harder.

I'm not saying by any means that intellect is enough for most subjects (as I have already stated in previous posts), and yes, going back to do GCSE would be easy now. However, that is probably not true for everybody, and you must remember to look at the exams you're doing in the context of when they must be done. You can't continuously retake or you won't get into university; most state that exams must have been done within a two year period. As condescending as it sounds, you seem to be talking of things you don't really know about yet.

[Dalek1099]

(Original post by shadab786ahmed)
I can only really speak for Maths and History, I'm in year 10 and I have my History GCSE ane achieved an A*, so I sat the a level exams in May (last month) and I'm waiting for my results. The structure and technique are extremely different at A-Level compared to GCSE, however the content remains easy. But to obtain marks one needs to understand HOW to answer the questions, for this you need a specific form of intellect.
Maths I'm going to sit my GCSE next week I've been getting over 95% in the past papers, and so I've asked to sit a level maths early next year. So I've taught myself the content for C1 C2 and M1 and I didn't consider the jump to be that big for maths. But that may be because I LOVE maths
I think the jump is slightly subjective and requires a whole new level of understanding.

Maths is one of the bigger jumps but although I have really been bewildered by maths papers that A-Level usually,just today I had a look at C1 and there was quite a lot I understood,so I was happy or had some grasp of.I am finishing my Maths GCSE in Y11 but do plan on taking GCSE Further Maths,in Y11.

[L'Evil Fish]

(Original post by Dalek1099)
Maths is one of the bigger jumps but although I have really been bewildered by maths papers that A-Level usually,just today I had a look at C1 and there was quite a lot I understood,so I was happy or had some grasp of.I am finishing my Maths GCSE in Y11 but do plan on taking GCSE Further Maths,in Y11.

Hi again :P C1 C2 and M1 are basic concepts to me, if you understand and are able to apply them. I keep getting about 69/75 on the papers, and I'll have a good 6 months to brush up! however I think the jump between AS and A2 is bigger, but I would not know as I havent looked at it to any depth :P

[Dalek1099]

(Original post by shadab786ahmed)
Hi again :P C1 C2 and M1 are basic concepts to me, if you understand and are able to apply them. I keep getting about 69/75 on the papers, and I'll have a good 6 months to brush up! however I think the jump between AS and A2 is bigger, but I would not know as I havent looked at it to any depth :P

Will you being doing further maths?-I had a look into Further Maths and although most of it is really hard,there is one simple thing to understand even though it should be way beyond mylevel and that is i=root-1 and the applications of i and i is the solution of quadratic equations,where negative roots appear 2i=root-4 etc.

[L'Evil Fish]

(Original post by Dalek1099)
Will you being doing further maths?-I had a look into Further Maths and although most of it is really hard,there is one simple thing to understand even though it should be way beyond mylevel and that is i=root-1 and the applications of i and i is the solution of quadratic equations,where negative roots appear 2i=root-4 etc.

Further Maths A Level? Yeah complex numbers is what you're referring to, so eg square root of -25 is 5i? Yeah that's one tiny bit of the FM A Level :P

[gooner4ever]

How do teachers predict a level grades? I know that unis mainly look at predicted grades and im worried that just like at gcse level my predicted grades will be much lower than they actually should be.

[Aquar]

(Original post by `God)
My teacher said A-levels is about 20% intellect and 80% practise.

Obviously not, otherwise this would indicate that someone who really isn't very intelligent at all would be able to get at least a B in any A-level from just practice, and I find that VERY hard to believe.

[Nick_]

At A Levels the competition is better because everyone taking the same exam as you:
a) Choose to continue with school (more dedicated)
b) Choose to continue with that subject (good at the subject)
This means that if you are in the top or bottom 1% of students you will notice very little change in difficulty. However if you are an average student then you will notice a big change.