Why isn't their more controversy over the scrapping of January exams?

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January exams for Year 12 are generally pointless, most of the people I know from last years Year 12 come out with poor module results - D/E/U and mostly all retake in Summer.

However, for Year 13, I believe they are vital to ease the summer work load when arguably A2 exams are 'harder'.

I can fully understand Gove's perspective in scrapping January exams, but if he wanted to scrap January exams then he should have done so under plans that reformed the whole A Level system. As fundamentally, those who have done the SAME exams since 2006 have (potentially) been able to have 3-4 chances to retake the module, compared to those now who only have that one chance (or the following summer)

I fully suspect scrapping of January exams will see a rise of people 'retaking the year'. The sixth form cohorts of post-2012 simply have been caught in the political battle over educational reform.

I'll count myself lucky I was the last year to have January exams. M1 *shudder*

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 41

theblackreaper

Original post by electriic_ink

That's their fault. Some people bother to revise for them (you did) but if others don't, that's no reason to peddle to their laziness. I don't turn up to some of my lectures: does that mean the university should run each lecture twice?

I can't understand why you think the great expense of running January exams is justified because it mitigates the effects of the few who have nervous breakdowns or feel sick on the day of the exam. That's life.

Now each cohort will all be sitting the same exam in June. Problem solved.

Totally unrelated. University expansion begun in the early 90s and modular exams were introduced in 2000.

1) Even if it is their fault, it doesn't dispute the fact that Mock exams simply can't be compared to an exam environment, where factors such as stress play a major role in determining the outcome. And if it doesn't truly can't towards their grade, they're not obliged to revise for them. I wouldn't necessarily call that laziness. People either perform badly in the mock exam, and do well in the real exam, or perform good in the mock exam and do bad in the real exam. It can go either way. When i got my mock results back i couldn't give a care in the world, but when i received my results in March i was thrilled, and with knowing I've already passed half of my exams already, it motivated me more to study even harder for the next exams. But with January exams being scrapped next year, i know that I've only got one shot and it adds to the stress immensely. And you can't possibly compare the running of your lectures to the futures of millions of hardworking students, it's just not the same. Secondly, i'm more than certain that if you do miss a lecture, you can ask your friend or record the lecture. Both of my sisters are attending top universities, and record their lectures, so what seems to be the problem? If anything, not turning up for university lectures in the first place is true laziness.

2)That may be called life, but it's evident that both January exams and modular exams were introduced in the first place because not everyone can handle the pressure. You must respect that everyone is different. Hell, some people even get more time in exams. As far as i'm concerned this system of running January exams has been fine for years, and it seems unnecessary that changes have to be implemented at all. Is it really unfair to give people a second shot at exams?

3) And no the problem will not be solved for everyone, especially when the government is expecting students to adjust to these changes in their second year of A levels. As i've already mentioned previously, with more exams comes greater stress. Students will not have the chance to sit a paper which confers to their taste, and therefore that one shot paper will either be extremely difficult or surprisingly easy. Additionally, as others have mentioned, the same can be applied to an examiner. A candidate may have their paper marked harshly and suffer as a result.

4) I wouldn't say it's totally irrelevant. Mr Gove is planing to revert back to a very similar system, and it's people like you who are encouraging this, with the scrapping of January exams being the first step in the process. You've got to understand that you're at University now. Whatever hardships you've endured, you've adjusted to that system now or maybe you've always been like that. Because going to University for some is the last stage in their education process, and of course it's gonna be hard-it's meant to be. But like progressing to university level is hard, the same can be said for starting A levels. E.g. the gap alone between GCSEs and A levels is huge, not to mention that many people fail the first year even with the January exams in place. And can you imagine what would happen to god knows how many students if these stepping stones are taken away, with A levels exam already being hard enough, and with those stepping stones already being there in the first place.

Reply 42

Namige

Original post by KateJMC

When you think about it January exams were, to the majority of people, a big waste of money. Basically everyone I know has resat or will resit the exams they took in January of year 12. People treat them as a glorified mock exam tbh. So people don't want to waste money on exams that so often are resit anyway, I guess.

Exactly. This gets people in the habit of doing exams properly first time round.

Reply 43

limetang

Seems a bit silly to me, especially when a lot of universities now have exams at the end of both semesters.

Reply 44

Robbie242

Original post by theblackreaper

Woah....can you stop being such a smart ass please. As long as my point comes across i don't care how it's structured. I'm not an idiot btw, i've got a stars in my english literature/english langauge gcse. It seems clearly obvious that you're more concerned about correcting people on their grammar than the topic itself, so why don't you join posh noob gove on some other smart ass forum. either the you're blind, or you can't read something that isn't split up for once. Might wanna consider going to spec savers Mr Gove junior woah....

You don't sound very smart, A*'s at gcse mean **** all mate

Reply 45

theblackreaper

Original post by Robbie242

You don't sound very smart, A*'s at gcse mean **** all mate

How would you know how smart i am, you don't even know me for starters lol. You can sound like the biggest idiot on the internet, but that doesn't mean you're a retard. And GCSEs may mean bugger all because A level are what really get you into university, but it doesn't mean they weren't hard to pass in the first place genius.

Reply 46

Robbie242

Original post by theblackreaper

''You don't sound very smart'' suggests you do not sound very smart, it is not definite, I cannot determine your smartness. Boasting about GCSEs, using them as qualifications to back up your smartness does not work, a-level and degree is more worthy of being used to measure intelligence, gcses is just learning the basics and the content is minimal, alevel is when it really starts to push you. But you do make a point, the English subjects are often the hardest to do well in at GCSE

Reply 47

Miss Jean Brodie

It's a difficult one. January exams at AS for example are a bit ridiculous because you just aren't usually ready for AS examination after 12 weeks of learning, but I think January resits in A2 are helpful for getting it out of the way so you can concentrate on your A2 exams in the summer.

Like someone said, it prepares you for the constant pressure of the working world, and at lots of universities you are examined twice a year, but I just don't think - at GCSE and AS at least - that enough students have developed enough to do well in them so soon in the academic year.

Also, I think from the point of view of the teachers, it means that they aren't racing through the first module to get it done and revised in time for January. It must feel like a waste of time when so many results aren't what they would be if the student was given the time between September and May/June to develop their skills and knowledge. Particularly if they then have to give over more time to re-revising in another exam diet, taking time away from learning new things/revising the next examined module.

Hmm.

(I don't know about whether they're helpful for Science/Maths subjects, since I only did triple science at GCSE, and took the 9 hours of exams at the end of Y11.)

Reply 48

Data

Original post by zeb786

However, the scrapping of the re-sits for AS summer exams are more problematic, because you're basically ****** if you have a bad day or you ill. :s-smilie:

..but they haven't scrapped re-sits????

Reply 49

theblackreaper

Original post by Robbie242

Fair enough

Reply 50

Data

Original post by ThatPerson

I haven't seen a lot of controversy surrounding this decision, and it seems that, at least by the national media, this issue has gone under the radar. However this is quite big news for students.?

This is probably because the people in any sort of seniority in the media had to take all their A level exams at the end of Year 13 (i.e. the old style A levels) and so the outcry that students now have to take them in 'only' 2 seasons, with a chance to re-sit the first half if they need to, doesn't seem as catastrophic as it does to the people who feel that half their opportunities are being taken away.

Reply 51

Molly_xox

I join sixth form next year and apparently prospects are grim. I wouldn't sit an AS module in my first January, however if I fail it in the summer inhave to resit the AS paper alongside all of my A2s...I overheard teachers talking about government wanting to scrap AS s altogether?

Reply 52

badgerdawkins

Original post by SpiggyTopes

January exams are stupid. So many people just forget everything they've done right after an exam since they encourage you to remember info. rather than learn and understand it.

Aren't all exams like this to an extent though. Won't people just forget information after June exams!!!

Reply 53

badgerdawkins

Original post by Miss Jean Brodie

I still think we need January exams but your points are excellent and have certainly made me realise that it is not a black and white issue.

Reply 54

zeb786

Original post by Data

..but they haven't scrapped re-sits????

yes...they have, how are you supposed to re-sit if you have no january exams to re-sit in the first place...that's what we've been told. :frown:

Reply 55

Noble.

While it may seem harsh you have to remember a few things:

Firstly, no-one can do January exams now, and all exams are (at A-Level) is something that essentially ranks you against all the other people sitting that paper, so everyone is in the same situation. Yes, there will be some differences, namely the people who never need to resit won't be affected, the people who get top grades (and the people who don't give a **** about their grades) but these are a minority.

It's better preparation for University, you can't really resit at University - it pretty much has to be done right the first time.

In regards to University offers, I don't think they're going to decrease, however, when it comes to people missing their offer, Universities may be more lenient.

Either way, it shouldn't affect an individual massively, unless you're someone who literally has to sit a paper 3 times to get it right - and if you are, it's because you're not prepared, in which case you'll probably find University hellish.

If you're someone who would've ended up with AAA at A-Level with January exams, you should end up with AAA at A-Level without January exams, and in fact, if you're someone who prepares and makes sure they thoroughly understand everything, you'll actually benefit from the scrapping of January exams, because grade boundaries are going to go down as a result of the scrapping.

Reply 56

Noble.

Original post by zeb786

yes...they have, how are you supposed to re-sit if you have no january exams to re-sit in the first place...that's what we've been told. :frown:

You can resit any AS exams with your A2 exams.

Reply 57

Namige

Original post by Anna.Karenina

If you've got so much to say, isn't it better that people can read it clearly and be able to respond to your opinion?

With A*s in English, I would hope you understand concise, adaptive writing.

This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

I think incoherent is the best word to describe it.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 58

anonymouspie227

.
Although, I feel that January exams were really good at relieving pressure, and introducing students to the a-level system, and I do disagree with them being scrapped, I don't think scrapping them will be that bad for students.

Am I right in thinking that students doing badly, will result in lowering of grade boundaries? And say there's a huge decrease in students getting top grades, won't uni entry requirements drop anyway? So it's not too bad? (or am I being too naive?) Also, like many posters have correctly said, you'll have a lot more time to understand the material and learn it without the pressure of January exams...As people, do tend to do poorly on the exams..

However, I do feel that the scrapping of january exams could have been done so more strategically. Perhaps he should've introduced it for the
current year 10's year. As in when the current year 10's get to year 12, they will have no january exams. As I think the current year 10's don't
have any end of year exams, until y11. So, maybe they'll be more used to
such a system where you do the exam at the end of the year.

That being said, I think the old system was ok. And did allow people to buckle up, say in as after realising how different Alevels were.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 59

Wizkidani

Original post by ThatPerson

I haven't seen a lot of controversy surrounding this decision, and it seems that, at least by the national media, this issue has gone under the radar. However this is quite big news for students.

All Michael Gove has done is made it more stressful for students by making them sit all of their exams in June; this also creates even more pressure in A2's when students are worried about meeting their offers.

Do you agree with Michael Gove? and do you think university offers will be reduced on average?