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Why are "A" grades considered mediocre?

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As an A level student I can safely say that while GCSE's have become easier, a A grade is still no walk in the park. C is still mediocre :smile:

Reply 21

Caribbeantwist

Original post by ConnorB

As an A level student I can safely say that while GCSE's have become easier, a A grade is still no walk in the park. C is still mediocre :smile:

I hate how everyone says they have become easier!

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Reply 22

hannah1994

Because so many people get A* grades, even in subjects you're not particuarly good at, especially in science GCSEs -they're the biggest joke when it comes to the number of A*'s awarded.

Reply 23

08rbut

OK, in my physics mock, we used the grade boundaries in the exam. 52% was an A*. This is rare for it to be so low and never will be again, but yes the grades are being devalued.

I have only taken 1 GCSE exam (5 next week) and I got an A (maths on ocr), even though I was predicted a C and still all I felt and still feel is disappointment because it didn't seem all that great. Going off TSR to revise the next module of that subject, hopefully bring it up to that much wanted A*.

Reply 24

nohomo

Original post by Maker

A grades are really B grades because of the A* grade which is now really A grade. In the next few years, there will be A** grades and A* grades will be considered B grades and B grades C grades.

Shouldn't that be D?

Reply 25

L'Evil Fish

I'm doing my GCSEs and I think they are far too easy... Not become easier though, they were always like this, so for A Leve Students saying they're nothing, you once *hyped* about them so...

Anyway I believe A*s are far too easily awarded eg 44/75 was an A* in OCR Gateway Physics etc.
A isn't a mediocre grade but due to the increasing amount of A*s given it is deemed to be, when in reality it's a good grade to have :smile:

Reply 26

Caribbeantwist

Original post by shadab786ahmed

I have to agree I hate it when a level students come on all like "oh they are so easy" well perhaps they are compared to the a level subjects but I personally don't think taking 26 exams over 3 weeks is "easy". Plus depends which exam board you are with! English and maths normally need 90+ for an A* and I think that's quite difficult!

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Reply 27

Blob2491

Original post by alexandraa

I hate how everyone says they have become easier!

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No way have GCSEs become easier. Availability of wider resources, such as easier access to libraries and the internet in addition to better quality of teaching have increased the standard of education. Students can also access past papers and mark schemes a lot more so than in the past, taking full advantage of the formulaic/repetition of GCSE question papers.

Reply 28

Pabblethefish

I think GCSEs are hard for the people sitting them but I think the devaluing of an A is just the competitive nature of society. I do think in subjects such as physics and maths, the grade boundaries are absurdly low.

For example, in a maths paper (not an official exam, bare in mind) my grade was 50% and I managed to get an A and 60% was an A*, whereas subjects such as English Language it's difficult to smash those upper boundaries because an A* is something like 72/80.

Reply 29

Pabblethefish

Original post by Blob2491

This is true. The majority of students have to work for the grades they want, it's just become easier to work for them.

Reply 30

L'Evil Fish

Original post by alexandraa

And then as soon as they get to university it's all *A Levels are so.easy* -.- and maths grade boundaries are really low?! I'm with WJEC though and I LOVE Maths... English and other Languages are harder with 90% boundaries for A* I'm lucky enough to have done well on my Controlled Assessments which gave me five marks.leeway for the A* in the exam :biggrin:

Ridiculously high grade boundaries are Art and any form of it. My art and photography had a 97% A* !!!! :O

Reply 31

AspiringGenius

Original post by somethingbeautiful

Aside from most medicine applicants and a large proportion of TSR, A and B grades are considered respectable in the real world.

Even A and B grades are acceptable for Medicine at GCSE level.

OP: A grades aren't mediocre. In my school, only 10 people got 10 A grades or more out of 250. Considering also that they allowed BTEC qualifications in this accumulation, A grades are still very respected where I live.

people who say As aren't good enough are incredibly blind, or blighted by pretentiousness. In fact I'd go so far as to say a B is still considered a very good grade, and C the standard. 50% of the population get 5C grades or more including Englisha nd Maths which eans 50% do not. I would say if you are exceeding that baseark then you are doing well.

Reply 32

AverageExcellence

Its probably because its quite common place on TSR for 'oxbridgers' to boast about having 20 million A*s so by comparison a few A grades seem like nothing. Or that A level students just sah pah GCSEs are easy im doing a harder course yada yada

Reply 33

AspiringGenius

Original post by shadab786ahmed

Ridiculously high grade boundaries are Art and any form of it. My art and photography had a 97% A* !!!! :O

I very much doubt that last part, the highest any A* boundary would be is 90%. 80% is average.

Reply 34

L'Evil Fish

Original post by AspiringGenius

I very much doubt that last part, the highest any A* boundary would be is 90%. 80% is average.

Edexcel Art and Photography GCSE search it... 97% is an A*

Reply 35

lebron_23

Original post by Calllu-m

It seems to me that A grades at GCSE have become very devalued, and anything below an A* is looked down upon. I know GCSEs aren't very hard but seriously, an A grade is good. A lot of people and institutions fail to recognise this, imo.

I don't know why, but i have the same opinion. I will be very disappointed if i don't get all A*'s. But having said that, i don't believe an A grade is bad at all. You are still achieving the top end of the percentage scale. However, i think why A's are becoming devalued as you say, is because when one thinks of an A, he could think that it could have possibly been a low A and therefore very close to a B - which is very bad indeed. if one as an A*, on the other hand, then even if one thinks 'oh, that could have been a low A*', it would still be close to an A

I don't think i made any sense, but yeah... The revision's getting to me.

I apologise for my incoherent babbling. :colondollar:

Reply 36

Doglamlico

Original post by Calllu-m

The majority of people on TSR are people who take their learning seriously and want to find past papers/ask for advice etc. (or love procrastinating :biggrin:

) and so generally the people here will be high achieving and expecting loads of A* grades.

In really, an A grade is respectable, and 10 As at GCSE is great (albeit a little odd due to the lack of any A*s whatsoever :smile:

). Perhaps it has become easier to get higher grades at GCSE, but I'd say it's down to preparation. We have loads of past papers, dedicated textbooks etc. and if those were taken away our grades would fall back to where they used to be twenty years ago.

TSR is also **mainly** full of A-level students who now realise that if they'd worked a little harder they could have turned those As into A*s :colondollar:

There is also a large expectation that you deserve to go to university these days - it used to be the case that only a small % of students went to uni, and so the self-selection allowed for lower grade requirements. Now, however, with thousands of people applying for a single course, the only way universities can filter is by grades - they don't have the resources to interview (other than Oxbridge, who have far less applicants anyway - Cambridge have ~15,000 applicants compared to Manchester's 50,000).

Reply 37

Rhiannan94

Original post by AspiringGenius

I very much doubt that last part, the highest any A* boundary would be is 90%. 80% is average.

My art GCSE (AQA) you had to get 77/80 for an A* which is 96%.

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Reply 38

L'Evil Fish

Original post by lebron_23

Wasn't incoherent ;P I wAnt all A*s but an A in welsh and photography and a B in art will suffice. To me an A just doesn't sound "elite"

Reply 39

TimmonaPortella

Ok, cool story bro... what are you hoping to achieve by this? Are you seeking to persuade others with your blunt assertion?

Original post by shadab786ahmed

Ridiculously high grade boundaries are Art and any form of it. My art and photography had a 97% A* !!!! :O

For an A* in the MEI differential equations paper when I sat it you had to get 70/72 raw score. (meaning that the A grade was 63/72). That's far from low.

But yeah, at the risk of pissing off the thread some of us were saying A levels were easy when we were sitting them. They are pretty easy. Compare [almost any foreign system].