[A.J10]

(Original post by Sulfurious)
Here's my 2 cents on this, I am an A level student.

The method of comparing for A levels seems sound to me as it was introduced when new specifications were released, but the method has now been adopted for GCSEs which is a disgrace for the following reason. The fact that GCSEs were going to be marked this way was not brought into public domain until now, just before results day. So all this time GCSE students (that keep up with this stuff) have been expecting their scripts to be marked by the same old method, but AFTER doing the exams they are told that the grading method is changing. That's almost comparable to signing a contract under and then changing the terms! That's why this is unfair for GCSE students. Who knows they may have worked harder if they knew this grading system will come into place. As for A levels, I still don't think it's the best system but it will do for now.

Another stupid thing is correlating A level grades to GCSE grades. Not only that, GCSE grades are being correlated to SATS! Seriously what?!
Does this mean the government thinks people on average can't improve/decline in their grades from one stage to another? Also I thought we agreed to scrap SATS because they are crap exams that don't show anything so why use them?

Sats are used to grade primary schools. I agree that it's ridiculous to use them to predict GCSE results as it's a 5 year gap, from primary to secondary, far bigger than GCSE to a level.

As for A levels, I'm pretty sure they didn't announce it before, and it's seriously going to cause problems for universities who'll have to mop up people who've changed grade under this new system.

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my E15i

[cyfer]

Please can someone explain concisely how this will affect GCSEs? Will they be marked more harshly? Will schools/Universities appreciate this?

[carcinoma]

A large proportion of university exams are norm-referenced, is this really such a bad thing?

[iammichealjackson]

(Original post by GreenLantern1)
If true I think it is disgusting and appalling.

Our exam system is far too corrupt! Some changes really do need to occur!!!!

Its not corrupt? It just means you have the same liklihood of getting good grades as the people before you (MY YEAR) had, and it won't be unfair on everyone else. YOU would have been relatively advantaged (probably very small) to people applying for jobs/uni in years below you were getting an A was harder.

(Original post by Theoneoranro)
Why does it have to be the year in which WE do our exams that this crazy f*cker b*stard michael gove come in and ruins our lives. In the past everything was good and in the future I bet they're going to change it back again. We're the unlucky ones.

ditto. Its making the system fairer (although i do agree Gove ****ed you guys on the fees though!)

[cl_steele]

****...
Which ever toss pot was behind this craptastic scheme can go suck a fatty.
bye bye uni :/

[Miryo]

(Original post by emilie18)
... The whole controversy over norm-referencing is that some people might deserve a higher grade and yet not be awarded it. Can you really not see how that's wrong? If too many people are achieving As, then yes, maybe changes are needed. But going back to this system which we know doesn't work - tried, tested already - seems ridiculous. There have been so many changes either introduced or planned for education, it's unfair as it's just messing students around.

This section of the article sums up peoples' concerns nicely:-
"... if as a consequence of tougher rules on grade boundaries, pupils are denied the opportunity to gain the highest grade of which they are capable and which they would have got in another year, then they will be unfairly disadvantaged. In these tough economic circumstances, that will hit pupils' future chances hard".

The exam board decides what grade you deserve. You can't say you deserve a grade if you don't get it. And they're saying theyre going to make it so the same amount of people get As this year than they did last year.

[A.J10]

(Original post by Miryo)
The exam board decides what grade you deserve. You can't say you deserve a grade if you don't get it. And they're saying theyre going to make it so the same amount of people get As this year than they did last year.

Deserve is a rather grey word to use when talking about exams, for example if I missed out on a grade because an examiner marked my work incorrectly, I would think that would justify me "deserving" that grade. The exam board don't say whether you deserve a certain grade, merely that you get one.

As for how the new system works and how people will "deserve" better grades, well every year things fluctuate and so one year the top 10% might be say, 550/600 UMS, and the next it might be 560/600 UMS. You could argue that it was unfair as if you get 555 you would have gotten an A grade in the year before and a B grade the year after. Of course this cuts both ways, but I personally think my grade should not be dependant on how the rest of the students that year have done.

[AspiringGenius]

^that is all.

[The_Super_Nerd(:]

Why did I read that article? Me on results day=

[Ellie_May :)]

This is absolutely ridiculous!!! So unfair. You'd think the government has given us enough **** to deal with already, and now they bung this on top of it!

It's going to restrict the grades people will have worked really hard for! It sounds so silly how they can 'fix' grades purely to lower the amount of people achieving high grades. Surely the reason we are getting higher grades is because we know we have to work harder to achieve them because there is more pressure to get into uni. Plus the population is increasing so more people are out there competing with us to get those grades. When will they realise exams aren't getting easier, we are just under more and more pressure to work harder!
Sory rant over lol just had to get that out haha x

[Miryo]

(Original post by A.J10)
Deserve is a rather grey word to use when talking about exams, for example if I missed out on a grade because an examiner marked my work incorrectly, I would think that would justify me "deserving" that grade. The exam board don't say whether you deserve a certain grade, merely that you get one.

As for how the new system works and how people will "deserve" better grades, well every year things fluctuate and so one year the top 10% might be say, 550/600 UMS, and the next it might be 560/600 UMS. You could argue that it was unfair as if you get 555 you would have gotten an A grade in the year before and a B grade the year after. Of course this cuts both ways, but I personally think my grade should not be dependant on how the rest of the students that year have done.

If the examiner marked it incorrectly, yes, that is the only instance where you get a grade you don't deserve.

I think grades MUST be dependant on how the rest have done. Competition is needed for your grade to mean anything.

[emilie18]

(Original post by Miryo)
The exam board decides what grade you deserve. You can't say you deserve a grade if you don't get it. And they're saying theyre going to make it so the same amount of people get As this year than they did last year.

Of course you can. If grade boundaries haven't changed and yet you miss out on a top grade simply because of a limit set on how many can achieve that grade, then you will have missed out on a grade you deserve - surely?
Does it not bother you in the slightest that they're fixing the results to stop people achieving their best?

(Original post by Miryo)
I think grades MUST be dependant on how the rest have done. Competition is needed for your grade to mean anything.

They are already, hence why there are grade boundary fluctuations every year. That's fine, but norm-referencing is a completely different approach which doesn't simply increase competition, it sets an unfair barrier for hard-working students to achieve the grade they deserve. The government realised this way back in 1983 which is why the system was abandoned then. I cannot understand what's made them think it's a good idea to use it again!!

[Theoneoranro]

Does it actually say in the article that they're going to predict a levels based on gcses and gcses based on some sats? WTF I find that to be the most disturbing thing about this.

[MoneyOverEverythin]

Have i understood it correct or does it just mean that instead of the an increased number of people getting A's from last year, it will remain only 27% again like last year? It's not going back to 10% or whatever like what some people seem to be implying on here?

Surely if it is just remaining the same then we will barely see a difference in our grades?

How exactly are year 13s effected by this?

[TurboCretin]

Fixing the results won't fix the problem, it will simply make its effects impossible to measure.

Don't know why we didn't think of it before.

[wibletg]

(Original post by MoneyOverEverythin)
Have i understood it correct or does it just mean that instead of the an increased number of people getting A's from last year, it will remain only 27% again like last year? It's not going back to 10% or whatever like what some people seem to be implying on here?

Surely if it is just remaining the same then we will barely see a difference in our grades?

How exactly are year 13s effected by this?

It stays at 27% for an A, and around 8% for an A*

It's not dropping back to 10% intervals again

[Issy123]

what the? :/

fixing the grade boundaries so that they're pretty much the same as other years would be okay if the papers this year RESEMBLED previous years. If the papers are getting tougher and tougher by year, how is it fair that the grade boundaries are similar as previous year papers have been much easier?

If you compare old specification papers to the ones they give us now, its pretty obvious that ours are MUCH harder.

[MoneyOverEverythin]

(Original post by wibletg)
It stays at 27% for an A, and around 8% for an A*

It's not dropping back to 10% intervals again

So surely it will barely affect us? People saying goodbye to their university placed seems a little extreme as if they do want to conclude that this change will suddenly make them miss their offer, then technically they were only scrapping their offer originally..

[Shabalala]

(Original post by Ellie_May :))
This is absolutely ridiculous!!! So unfair. You'd think the government has given us enough **** to deal with already, and now they bung this on top of it!

It's going to restrict the grades people will have worked really hard for! It sounds so silly how they can 'fix' grades purely to lower the amount of people achieving high grades. Surely the reason we are getting higher grades is because we know we have to work harder to achieve them because there is more pressure to get into uni. Plus the population is increasing so more people are out there competing with us to get those grades. When will they realise exams aren't getting easier, we are just under more and more pressure to work harder!
Sory rant over lol just had to get that out haha x

Exactly this I always hear older people complaining how it's so much easier now that back in the day but my Dad, Mum, Aunts and Uncles all admit that back in the day it wasn't "cool" or the norm to revise much or to get good grades in school but now days almost everyone takes their exams seriousley it's bloody annoying that these salty old people are getting jealous and refuse to admit we work harder than they did back then it's a disgrace they feel the need to cheat and make it even harder for our generation in an already very difficult era (that they managed to mess up for us by the way) just because the miserable middle aged morons say so.

[Theoneoranro]

(Original post by MoneyOverEverythin)
So surely it will barely affect us? People saying goodbye to their university placed seems a little extreme as if they do want to conclude that this change will suddenly make them miss their offer, then technically they were only scrapping their offer originally..

That's what I was thinking. I think this is only going to stop a few really borderline students from getting an A/A* this year.