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Check out my year 13 report - what a joke

lapsaJ

The Alis test I believe, or we were told, is purely used for stasticial purposes. Its a test to see how you think essentially, with different sections such as maths, vocabulary, sequences..

http://www.intuproject.org/alis/cabt/QWeb.asp

I was forced into doing this in my frees, did the vocab and maths and then just clicked my way through it...Really couldn't be arsed at the time.

umm, this site is asking for a durham username and password! Not helpful to those of us not at durham, but it was a kind gesture. So that would basically be something like the Grammar School tests then? Basically sit two papers based on eng/maths and common sense. like word games, initially, finding the word in the middle of a sentence or something like that? My predicted grades were also balls, not taking into account AS resits!! gah, they sooo annoy me when they try to predict your grades, i know i can get higher than i am predicted! blah blah blah, you should try to work harder, you can do better than this! I cant work any harder than i do, nothing is rushed or late in, if im planning to go out, and have work to do, i will do the work. simple as that. but really, Im predicted BCD when i know i can achieve BBC, why on earth would i apply to uni's who want these grades if i know i wont be able to achieve them? gah. gah. gah.

Reply 21

belle_27

14

Originally posted by mustard-man
I don't think any of us can tell you because we don't have the resources. Basically what happens (I think) is your results will be compared to the results over the past few years (across the country), they have some kind of statistics which shows what you are likely to get (based on what people with results similar to yours' got)

You is right! I think you only do a test if you didn't sit the tests for YELLIS so I'm guessing they might be used as another indicator for your ALIS results maybe?

I got my predictions at AS level for my A2's (I'm guessing supposedly to help me choose A2s or something), they went something like this:

Biology = C
Chemistry = C
History = B/C
Politics = B

Whilst my teachers said for my A2s (before I sat my AS):

Biology = B
Chemistry = B
History = B/A
Politics = A/B

I got 4As at AS and I'm predicted AA A/B for A2 so *******s to ALIS! Did you know that MIDYIS, YELLIS and ALIS were a creation of the University of Durham? Makes you love them, doesn't it? :wink:

I've always wondered why my school took them, does anyone think Durham pays schools to get their students to take it?

Reply 22

Mustard-man

OP

18

belle_27

Did you know that MIDYIS, YELLIS and ALIS were a creation of the University of Durham? Makes you love them, doesn't it? :wink:

I've always wondered why my school took them, does anyone think Durham pays schools to get their students to take it?

Durham can kiss my chuddies, how can they claim that past statistics can give a good prediction because aren't they saying every year A-levels are getting easier or teaching gets better, thus better results?

:mad:

grrrr....

Reply 23

-G-a-v-

16

The grades you get from ALIS are NOT predicted grades. They are target grades based on past performance....it's what someone who got your results on average goes on to achieve at A-level. Clearly though, GCSE results don't necessarily reflect their actual ability. If you do the test, that basically tests your natural ability whereas if you do they ALIS score where they find your average GCSE point score, that just assumes your GCSE results reflect your ability which isn't always the case. We use ALIS purely as a minimum target grade, but its perfectly possible to exceed your target, just as easy as it is to not meet it. You only ever get out what you put in so if you work hard, you'll generally achieve what you want. If not, you won't. Well...thats the general idea anyway as far as I understand it.

Reply 24

belle_27

14

Originally posted by Mustard-man
Durham can kiss my chuddies

I haven't heard that for years! Brings back memories! :biggrin:

Originally posted by -G-a-v-
If you do the test, that basically tests your natural ability

Not really from what I found in year 10 when my whole year did the tests for YELLIS to get target GCSE grades. Loads of people, really clever people only got As and Bs and came out with A*s and As. They predicted me all B/Cs :biggrin:

so i cried! Lol. The teacher who told me then went and looked up my MIDYIS results (tests taken to show your ability in general, I would say they're for SATs but the results are given in grades not numbers) and found they were higher than my YELLIS results! Quite funny actually in hindsight, my MIDYIS said I should be performing to A/B standard and B at the very least whereas YELLIS stated I was a B/C candidate!

Reply 25

lapsaJ

4

Stagestruckgal

umm, this site is asking for a durham username and password! Not helpful to those of us not at durham, but it was a kind gesture. So that would basically be something like the Grammar School tests then? Basically sit two papers based on eng/maths and common sense. like word games, initially, finding the word in the middle of a sentence or something like that? My predicted grades were also balls, not taking into account AS resits!! gah, they sooo annoy me when they try to predict your grades, i know i can get higher than i am predicted! blah blah blah, you should try to work harder, you can do better than this! I cant work any harder than i do, nothing is rushed or late in, if im planning to go out, and have work to do, i will do the work. simple as that. but really, Im predicted BCD when i know i can achieve BBC, why on earth would i apply to uni's who want these grades if i know i wont be able to achieve them? gah. gah. gah.

Aah, wasn't pass protected last time I went on it lol

Reply 26

Malik

12

I think my school have the same crappy system , but I have got used to it now. I had like all my targets as E's when I got A's at AS. I sometimes prefer it that way just so I can piss the teachers of after the exams.

Reply 27

Mustard-man

OP

18

Malik

I think my school have the same crappy system , but I have got used to it now. I had like all my targets as E's when I got A's at AS. I sometimes prefer it that way just so I can piss the teachers of after the exams.

yeah, when I exceed my target grades by 4 grades (I hope), I'm gonna still two fingers up in their faces........ and go HA! :p:

Reply 28

The D

4

40% is a E, isn't it?

Reply 29

Mustard-man

OP

18

The D

40% is a E, isn't it?

yeah, in terms of UMS 40% is an E. But I have already got fairly high marks for my AS's, so to get an E, I would have to get zero marks for A2

Reply 30

PsychNick

8

Lol those things are stupid, I was predicted like BCDD for AS and got...AAAB so :p:

to them! Was very amusing, the head of 6th form called me to his office and said how he wanted to congratulate me on going dramatically beyond the predictions they form from GCSE (guessing thats this ALIS thingy?), and I was like 'erm k.' I did get just 4As and all the rest Bs at GCSE but surely that doesn't mean I have the presumed capacity of BCDD?!?!? Its crazy

Reply 31

A Y A Z

11

lol! dude! nyc wrk! haha! screw it! my pre- mock result showd tht id get 2 c's :frown:

.. an i gt 2 a's in my mock exam! less see wht hpns in the ACTUAL xam

Reply 32

stratomaster

I take no notice of the reports, they said I have 0% attendance in Biology and I have minimum target grades of E's even in tutorial which isn't even a subject!

Reply 33

PsychNick

8

Well I didn't work very hard at gcse so I don't take note of those ALIS thingys cause I coasted a B in yr11 and then decided 'what the hell am I doin' when I got to college. They should base their opinions more on how the student is in class and how determined they seem/quality of homeworks etc.

Reply 34

ElWilson

14

Sue for "cause in stress".

Reply 35

katwilliams88

ALIS grades are simply minimum target grades. Basically the very lowest you should get.

Reply 36

Hel

One of the fundamental flaws of basing the ALIS score on the average of someone's GCSE results is that it fails to take into account that person's talents and preferences. For a very basic example, imagine John takes 10 GCSEs, with 5 arts/humanities subjects and 5 maths/science/technology subjects. If he gets high marks in his 5 sciences but low marks in his 5 humanities, his ALIS score will be dragged down into mediocrity by the humanities. Using this score to predict his AS-level marks would only be useful if he did the same proportion of sciences/humanities at AS, ie 2 of each, and the ALIS score were only used to predict the average of all his AS-level results rather than each one. However, a far more likely case would render the ALIS system all but useless - John recognises his affinity with the sciences and likes the idea of being an engineer, so he takes scientific subjects (let's say Maths, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology). Now, even though he got all A*s in these at GCSE, because he got B and C marks in arts/humanities, then his ALIS prediction for each will be a low B/high C.

While this is plotted against separate graphs for each subject, it's still a largely useless way of determining things, as these graphs are all suffering under the same basic flaw that they are only using an average.

Another thing about the ALIS score chart that seems ridiculous is that it's only possible to be predicted an A if you have the top score - there's a range of points for every grade apart from A!

Everything seems to be geared to lowering our predicted grades, which makes me think that either the educational authorities are incredibly blinkered to the problems in this system, or they expect our performance to deteriorate after GCSE. Or, and perhaps I'm just being a cynic here, but if we all have lower-than-accurate predicted grades, it makes the government/schools look better when we get good ones? Hmm, I wonder... :P

Reply 37

larchitecturel

Can someone explain why i got a higher grade for Further Maths than my Normal Maths ?

Reply 38

Mustard-man

OP

18

larchitecturel

Can someone explain why i got a higher grade for Further Maths than my Normal Maths ?

Well I know a few people who did better on further, its not that unusual...

Reply 39

Johnny

10

Mustard-man

I got it today! Bla bla bla all the comments and everything, but here's the good bit, 'target grades,' these were determined using the Alis system.

Biology E
Maths E
Economics and business E
Chemistry B

hahhahaha, what a bloody joke. How the fudge can I have E predictions for maths and biology even though I got A's in AS which mean I have already got E's in A2!! I would have to get zero marks in my A2 exams to satisfy the target grades!

Ouch. My statistical expectations this year were all B's which pissed me off enough to be honest. With 'target grades' like yours I'd be up in arms! Frankly I would be sorely tempted to write a polite letter to the Depatment of Education informing them exactly where they can shove such wildly innacurate predictions. And ask them how Mystic Meg was at the same time...

Really though, shouldn't predicted grades inspire us, not annoy or even demotivate us? There must be some kids out there that get grades like this as "statistical expectations" and aren't experienced enough to know that they're a load of cobblers, I bet that lowers their actual grades they end up getting in the summer. What a joke indeed.

Check out my year 13 report - what a joke

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