New A-levels

This concerns the new specification A-levels from 2008. I am curious what people think, was it easier to achieve higher grades (or marks) in exams this AS year than previous years. Are the tests and textbook content easier? Bearing in mind there are no past papers for some subjects that match the new specification.

Reply 1

Me=]

This may not be the case for all subjects but i found the new specs to significantly harder than how the old specs look. For one some of my tests asked questions that where irrelevant and not on the spec apparently 'stretch and challenge' of some sort? Plus the grade boundaries are higher becuase in the old spec AS was marked out of 300 with 240 being an A whereas the new spec's are out of 200 with 160 being an A. So yes i would say they are harder but they are still doable :smile:

Reply 2

sarsi

UMS is still out of 300 for science and maths. Don't know about the other subject though.

Reply 3

Smeh

I think it's gonna be alot easier for this year as it's the first time having a new spec so the exam board will take that into account.
For people starting AS this year I think it's gonna be alot harder as exam boards will have an idea of how to phrase questions and all that.
...Meh I'm not complaining.

Reply 4

macbook

I think it was harder, all the teachers where saying that. As we did less exams so they had to be worth a lot more.

Reply 5

Zerodos

'Me=

']This may not be the case for all subjects but i found the new specs to significantly harder than how the old specs look. For one some of my tests asked questions that where irrelevant and not on the spec apparently 'stretch and challenge' of some sort? Plus the grade boundaries are higher becuase in the old spec AS was marked out of 300 with 240 being an A whereas the new spec's are out of 200 with 160 being an A. So yes i would say they are harder but they are still doable :smile:

Needing more marks to get an A in no way makes them harder.

Reply 6

placenta medicae talpae

These exams do seem to be harder, on balance.
Though not everyone has found this, all of the science-based subjects certainly seem to be!
I think that this is probably because they seem to require a different set of thinking skills, which we'll all just have to adjust to, I suppose.

As regards UMS, it's mostly a 400-point A-level now (200 at AS, 200 at A2), but for subjects like maths and some languages, special conditions apply until further notice.

Reply 7

AnthonyShock

Actually, the AS being out of 200 rather than 300 makes it easier. There's fewer questions or "challanges to our knowledge of the subject". Therefore, not a smuch challenge needed for the top grade.

Reply 8

Adam92

I think they are easier. The only problem is a lack of decent new spec specific textbooks/revision materials and past papers, but a lot of the old spec stuff is covered in my subjects so it's not that bad.