[Calllu-m]

It seems to me that A grades at GCSE have become very devalued, and anything below an A* is looked down upon. I know GCSEs aren't very hard but seriously, an A grade is good. A lot of people and institutions fail to recognise this, imo.

[Giant]

They aren't. Don't be fooled by the people and general consensus on TSR.

[ColdKant]

I understand what you mean, currently as a GCSE student myself,
I find that people look upon A's as just average, not because of the A grade itself
but lately most grade boundaries for an A have been below 60% and it's
ridiculous that you can drop 42% of raw marks (geography) in a paper which
out of 40 or 40% raw marks dropped (maths) and you can still achieve an A grade.

Being a part of such a competitive society has made it so that in fact only an A*
is a excellent achievement whereas anything below it e.g. an A grade is average.

[Maker]

A grades are really B grades because of the A* grade which is now really A grade. In the next few years, there will be A** grades and A* grades will be considered B grades and B grades C grades.

[buildalegohouse]

(Original post by Calllu-m)
It seems to me that A grades at GCSE have become very devalued, and anything below an A* is looked down upon. I know GCSEs aren't very hard but seriously, an A grade is good. A lot of people and institutions fail to recognise this, imo.

They are?
Well old cowboy--
*goes and bangs head on wall*

[Sharpshooter]

I got 2A's 6B's 2C's, if it makes you feel any better. But that was back in 2002.

I used to get a lot of people telling me "oh you did so well" etc. Think about it though, only 60% of people get 5 GCSE's or more so to get A*'s a plenty must put you in the top 5%. I think the A is perfectly fine. Seems so competitive though for people of your age now.

[Calllu-m]

(Original post by ColdKant)
I understand what you mean, currently as a GCSE student myself,
I find that people look upon A's as just average, not because of the A grade itself
but lately most grade boundaries for an A have been below 60% and it's
ridiculous that you can drop 42% of raw marks (geography) in a paper which
out of 40 or 40% raw marks dropped (maths) and you can still achieve an A grade.

Being a part of such a competitive society has made it so that in fact only an A*
is a excellent achievement whereas anything below it e.g. an A grade is average.

Exactly. I mean the sciences especially. Humanities not so much considering in English it's 90% for an A* and same with languages.

[Mathlete 4 the win]

It's grade inflation. It will eventually reach A levels, this is quite a way of yet though

[tupac makaveli]

The government consider good grades to be A* to B, but they an A is mediocre nowadays because of the fierce competition : even in A levels A* introduced to distinguish the best of the best

[britchick]

A lot of universities want to be safe in the knowledge that the students they're allowing to come to their department are "the best of the best". Each university wants to be on top of the league tables, and by having excellent students at the start, it's their best bet, since they are more likely to continue working hard/deal with the amounts of pressure/keep motivated, all of which qualities come with A* students.
It is a shame though, that lots of people aren't given as much praise by teachers or parents etc. for getting an A grade, because a ridiculous amount of effort is needed to get an A at A-level; they do NOT come easy. But the A* grade introduced allows universities to filter out the very best of students, which of course they want.

[carl_senior]

A is mediocre now?

[ThatPerson]

They are only looked down by over-confident people who assume they can get 11 A*. I know I can get a few A*'s, but If I get an A in a subject like Spanish I'll be over the moon.

[crazy1234]

An A at GCSE is like a B, because it is in effect the second highest grade...
It is average, its not exceptional. To be fair A*s aren't even viewed as anything special now, because of artificially inflated grades, where everyone gets A/A*s.

[Clare~Bear]

(Original post by crazy1234)
An A at GCSE is like a B, because it is in effect the second highest grade...
It is average, its not exceptional. To be fair A*s aren't even viewed as anything special now, because of artificially inflated grades, where everyone gets A/A*s.

The average is a C.

OP, I think you've been listening to the apparantly straight A* people on TSR too much. the only time it matters is if you're applying to a uni/course that cares about A* such as medicine courses. The government would be happy for everyone to get 5Cs, but not even half of 16 year old achieve that! So how does that show that an A is mediocre?

[tooambitious]

I think it just depends on the school, at my school my GCSEs are quite 'meh', but when I talk to friends outside of school they're unbelievable, it jut seems on TSR, more people are from schools like mine unfortunately so try distort the picture a bit. Tbh an A isn't mediocre, by definition a C is mediocre, it's just that Los of people one A*s so are a tad disappointed when they see As

[rock.and.rose]

A grades are not mediocre and it's ridiculous for anyone to say they are.

If that is the case, then when you consider more A grades are awarded than A* grades, well that must mean there are a lot of "mediocre" students out there.

[pop101]

Because they're below A*
They're not mediocre, a mediocre grade is a C, which is basically average.

[Caribbeantwist]

Yeah I hate how the A has now turned into the new C grade!


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[L'Evil Fish]

I love the term mediocre :L

[somethingbeautiful]

Aside from most medicine applicants and a large proportion of TSR, A and B grades are considered respectable in the real world.