Decline in Cambridge Applications '10?

Scroll to see replies

Reply 60

necessarily benevolent

Reply 61

rob501

serrellen

Can't give you a number, but it's a well-known thing (and if I was overly bothered I'd google it) that Cambridge - not sure about Oxford - had a record number of applicants this year, yes. Probably due to GCSEs getting easier.

right so u have no idea lol

so many idiots

Reply 62

The West Wing

synvilla

PPS and SPS is the same thing.

Yah, except one of them doesn't exist.

Reply 63

necessarily benevolent

rob501

right so u have no idea lol

so many idiots

Why do you care?

Reply 64

Craghyrax

Ironic_Really

That A levels are hopeless is an undeniable fact, but equally a fact that affects everyone. Statistically the number of really bright people suffering from anomalies such that they slip from their very high potential (say for example the future A*) to a lower grade is so small as to be unnoticable. Innovative answers that slip past markers are incredibly rare, I do four essay usbjects and it hasn't happened yet, nor has it affected anyone I know.

Yeh, I don't deny that this will be true for most. I was just pointing out that there are exceptions.
However I also think its less rare than you suggest, having read a few articles in the past about boards such as OCR paying examiners by the paper, and hiring foreign graduates with second language english. Your paper is also not necessarily marked by someone specialising in your subject. The result of this is that the examiner is only familiar with the vocabulary and content suggested by the limited mark schemes. So you can get penalised for writing 'cytosol' instead of 'cytoplasm' in a Biology exam despite the fact that they're used interchangeably depending on which text book or exam board you are taught under. Also I've heard of similar experiences by others.

The reason why most do fine is because they learn, and are encouraged, to say what the exam boards want to hear. My chemistry moved from an E at AS to an A2 B and overall C (with the resits) once I started memorising mark schemes and stopped bothering trying to actually understand and read around Chemistry. The problem is definitely alot worse in science A levels than in essay based subjects which inherently cannot be marked in such a prescriptive way.