Do you think Universities will/should begin to lower entry requirements?
Not sure if everyone will agree with this, but I expect a slight drop in grades this year cause of the removal of January modules.
If the grades do drop and they stay at a similar level for the next few years do you think some unis will consider lowering their entry requirements?
I think for the current year 13, unis should be more understandable on results day because the change was made in the middle of their qualifications but I highly doubt there will be much leniency.
In your opinion do you think they should lower them?
If the grades do drop and they stay at a similar level for the next few years do you think some unis will consider lowering their entry requirements?
I think for the current year 13, unis should be more understandable on results day because the change was made in the middle of their qualifications but I highly doubt there will be much leniency.
In your opinion do you think they should lower them?
(edited 10 years ago)
The same percentage of people (more or less) will still get A* and A grades so they probably won't. Boundaries change every exam session based the distribution of all scores for each exam, it's not like suddenly only five candidates nationwide will get above a B in physics, or whatever. It just means the candidates who are better prepared for the exams will get the grades, rather than perhaps those who've done three resits as has been the case in previous years.
I agree, it will probably be just the middle-y to low grades which will be significantly affected, although perhaps the A* grade particularly in the more subjective essay-type subjects might drop slightly...
I personally don't think unis will drop their requirements. Their courses are specifically designed for a certain entry level - for example without an A or above in maths I would probably be dead after just 5 weeks of my degree by now!
However, I think they may be slightly more lenient on results day, just because there will probably be slightly fewer people meeting their conditional offers and so they will NEED to accept slightly weaker students in order to fill a reasonable proportion of their places.
Personally, I don't think they should lower them. They have got to maintain high standards, and students really ought to be getting the good grades the first time round - I have always been strongly against the rather excessive retake culture at my school and so forcing people to work hard from the start is only a good thing - you need that kind of motivation/ dedication at uni anyway, and retakes aren't always going to be available in later life!
I personally don't think unis will drop their requirements. Their courses are specifically designed for a certain entry level - for example without an A or above in maths I would probably be dead after just 5 weeks of my degree by now!
However, I think they may be slightly more lenient on results day, just because there will probably be slightly fewer people meeting their conditional offers and so they will NEED to accept slightly weaker students in order to fill a reasonable proportion of their places.
Personally, I don't think they should lower them. They have got to maintain high standards, and students really ought to be getting the good grades the first time round - I have always been strongly against the rather excessive retake culture at my school and so forcing people to work hard from the start is only a good thing - you need that kind of motivation/ dedication at uni anyway, and retakes aren't always going to be available in later life!
Entry requirements have increased steadily as achieved grades have been going up (go back 10-20 years and nowhere near as many students were getting top grades, so most universities asked for lower grades than they do now). If grades do go down, I imagine entry requirements will too, but I doubt the change will be particularly substantial or sudden.
It'll obviously be a bit of a guessing game at first, because nobody knows if they will actually go down, or if they'll simply manipulate the boundaries and keep increasing the number of students achieving higher grades even if lower scores are achieved (and you'd imagine lower scores will happen, on average).
I'm sure most universities have pretty good analysts working this kind of thing out. Perhaps even if grades go down they'll keep their requirements the same, especially if they're usually vastly oversubscribed. There's always clearing if they muck up their calculations and ask for overly high grades, but considering even middle-of-the-road grade-requiring unis can be oversubscribed I don't think it'll be an issue.
It'll obviously be a bit of a guessing game at first, because nobody knows if they will actually go down, or if they'll simply manipulate the boundaries and keep increasing the number of students achieving higher grades even if lower scores are achieved (and you'd imagine lower scores will happen, on average).
I'm sure most universities have pretty good analysts working this kind of thing out. Perhaps even if grades go down they'll keep their requirements the same, especially if they're usually vastly oversubscribed. There's always clearing if they muck up their calculations and ask for overly high grades, but considering even middle-of-the-road grade-requiring unis can be oversubscribed I don't think it'll be an issue.
Original post by Jess_1324
Not sure if everyone will agree with this, but I expect a slight drop in grades this year cause of the removal of January modules.
If the grades do drop and they stay at a similar level for the next few years do you think some unis will consider lowering their entry requirements?
I think for the current year 13, unis should be more understandable on results day because the change was made in the middle of their qualifications but I highly doubt there will be much leniency.
In your opinion do you think they should lower them?
If the grades do drop and they stay at a similar level for the next few years do you think some unis will consider lowering their entry requirements?
I think for the current year 13, unis should be more understandable on results day because the change was made in the middle of their qualifications but I highly doubt there will be much leniency.
In your opinion do you think they should lower them?
There's a risk that if universities lower grade requirements they'll end up with students who aren't ready for the demands of the course which could either lead to a higher failure rate, or a reduction of course standards.
On this year's A level results day, we saw quite a few people on TSR saying they'd missed their offers, but still been accepted, so perhaps we'll see more of that in response to a drop in grades, if it happens.
Original post by Milostar
]
On this year's A level results day, we saw quite a few people on TSR saying they'd missed their offers, but still been accepted, so perhaps we'll see more of that in response to a drop in grades, if it happens.
On this year's A level results day, we saw quite a few people on TSR saying they'd missed their offers, but still been accepted, so perhaps we'll see more of that in response to a drop in grades, if it happens.
I have quite a few friends who missed their grades this year quite a bit and still got accepted without even having to call up (their offer changed on Track to unconditional in the morning).
Yeah.
Well universities will still accept their quota of people, so if everyone gets lower grades then they will just accept a few of the lower graded ones as well? They won't just deny students the chance for a degree if they're 1 grade out and the course still has many places.
A lot of universities don't mind too much anyway. Maybe the top unis are more picky, but I got into a BBC conditional offer course with CCD and this was 3 years ago.
A lot of universities don't mind too much anyway. Maybe the top unis are more picky, but I got into a BBC conditional offer course with CCD and this was 3 years ago.
From my experience of the results in August, ALOT of people in my school unfortunately missed their requirements for the first, and even in some cases second choice uni, but still managed to get into their firm. I believe this may have been a nationwide thing too as I was watching the news that morning and they were saying how clearing has never been so good this year, with many top universities offering places, which in the pass my have been unheard of!
Will they lower the boundaries this year? Yes and no. I really believe (and hope) they'll be extremely lenient because of the end of Jan exams but I think they won't start lowering for a few years now, after they see a gradual decline in grades.
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Will they lower the boundaries this year? Yes and no. I really believe (and hope) they'll be extremely lenient because of the end of Jan exams but I think they won't start lowering for a few years now, after they see a gradual decline in grades.
Posted from TSR Mobile
If they did then it would deem the decision to remove January exams completely pointless. The whole idea was to make A levels harder, so what would be the point if universities then make it acceptable to achieve lower grades as a result?
Posted from TSR Mobile
Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by Jess_1324
Not sure if everyone will agree with this, but I expect a slight drop in grades this year cause of the removal of January modules.
If the grades do drop and they stay at a similar level for the next few years do you think some unis will consider lowering their entry requirements?
I think for the current year 13, unis should be more understandable on results day because the change was made in the middle of their qualifications but I highly doubt there will be much leniency.
In your opinion do you think they should lower them?
If the grades do drop and they stay at a similar level for the next few years do you think some unis will consider lowering their entry requirements?
I think for the current year 13, unis should be more understandable on results day because the change was made in the middle of their qualifications but I highly doubt there will be much leniency.
In your opinion do you think they should lower them?
No. I believe the exact opposite should happen. Universities should make their entry requirements higher, make it more difficult for people to get in.
Why?
University needs to stop being viewed as something that everybody should do. Right now we live in a society where almost everybody is encouraged to go to University rather than straight into the workplace, and that is just wrong. University should be for those who want to have a career which requires a degree, not for those who will end up in a job which doesn't require a degree, or those for whom a degree will simply change their title from "unemployed" to "unemployed graduate".
If you are not planning on going into a career where a relevant degree is a requirement, then you should not go to University at all, and you should go straight from school to work.
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