GCSE exams are not getting easier!
Discussion for GCSE students, including those studying for IGCSEs and O Levels.
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I agree with you, it really ****** me off when the media start banging on about how GCSEs and A-levels are so much easier now than they used to be. Have they all done GCSEs and A-levels from a few years ago and recently? No, so how would they know? And the reason the grade boundaries for higher tier maths are so low is because it's so hard! I got a B last year, so I must have only got 30 something per cent, but I worked damn hard for it and I was so happy. I thought I was going to get a U!
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yea maybe..but..i suppose, if its not the exams that are getting harder, could it be the exam pressure..because everyone's getting brilliant grades, are u under more pressure now than u were before? Although, being a bit contradictory, i do think the gap between gcses and a levels are huge and need 2 b shortened..which means the government must either make A Levels easier, or gcses harder to bridge the gap. You hear all those nightmare stories about people getting As and A*s in their GCSEs and then failing miserably with Cs and lower in their A Levels. gulp.
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The actual exams are easier, but i wouldn't say it's easier overall to get into a good university due to grade inflation.(Original post by lady_daisychain)
yea maybe..but..i suppose, if its not the exams that are getting harder, could it be the exam pressure..because everyone's getting brilliant grades, are u under more pressure now than u were before? Although, being a bit contradictory, i do think the gap between gcses and a levels are huge and need 2 b shortened..which means the government must either make A Levels easier, or gcses harder to bridge the gap. You hear all those nightmare stories about people getting As and A*s in their GCSEs and then failing miserably with Cs and lower in their A Levels. gulp.
People only do badly in A-Levels after doing well in GCSEs because of the way in which they work. You don't need to be dedicated in your GCSEs, as you have so many subjects. However, with A-Levels you should know the content of each one inside out. -
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I disagree exams are getting easier... True if *we* look at exams from 10yrs ago then they'll seem harder to us, but we haven't been taught any of the subject matter! If someone from 10yrs ago was taught their syllabus and then shown one of our exam papers then they'd find it difficult also, and understand less of it than they do their own.
I really want various members of the press, or politicians to take the papers (especially maths edexcel last year) and see how "easy" they are -
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Yeah, all the papers were saying it was 'ridiculous' that you only needed 45% for an A on Edexcel higher tier maths, but those papers were so hard, especially the non-calculator paper! I'd like to see every journalist and politician who thinks GCSEs are getting easier to take those exams and see what they get!(Original post by burningwings)
I disagree exams are getting easier... True if *we* look at exams from 10yrs ago then they'll seem harder to us, but we haven't been taught any of the subject matter! If someone from 10yrs ago was taught their syllabus and then shown one of our exam papers then they'd find it difficult also, and understand less of it than they do their own.
I really want various members of the press, or politicians to take the papers (especially maths edexcel last year) and see how "easy" they are -
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Exactly. The numbers of people getting top grades are ever rising, but it doesn't really help anyone.(Original post by Gaz031)
The actual exams are easier, but i wouldn't say it's easier overall to get into a good university due to grade inflation -
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Comparitively, the papers are easier to the ones they took (have a look at the old O level papers, they are much harder).(Original post by kellywood_5)
Yeah, all the papers were saying it was 'ridiculous' that you only needed 45% for an A on Edexcel higher tier maths, but those papers were so hard, especially the non-calculator paper! I'd like to see every journalist and politician who thinks GCSEs are getting easier to take those exams and see what they get! -
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It certianly doesn't. More people getting A grades means it's much harder to differentiate between candidates.(Original post by Lottelo)
Exactly. The numbers of people getting top grades are ever rising, but it doesn't really help anyone. -
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(Original post by Lottelo)
Comparitively, the papers are easier to the ones they took (have a look at the old O level papers, they are much harder).
no no no!!! they were taught the things on the paper, so found it easier than us, who look at the paper, think "omg what the hell are they on about?" because we've been taught different things.. you cant expect people to know things they havent been taught after all.. but that does not mean the stuff they were taught was any harder -
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I think part of the reason papers from five or ten years ago are harder is because they have taken some things out of the sylllabus and added new things in. If we were to cover what they had taken out in class and sit one of them, I can't see them being drastically more difficult than the current GCSE exams.
However, when I'm in my maths class doing AS level work (having done the GCSE last year) and my maths teacher tells us that this topic or that topic used to be in the GCSE syllabus but got bumped up, you can't help but wonder if indeed they are dumbing down the exams a bit to get more people leaving with "good" grades.
If the papers are getting easier, I don't see how it matters much because it's not like one particular exam board is getting easier - it's all of them.
I like to think the exams are different rather than easier.
