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How does everyone feel about Michael Gove's A-level reform policy?

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Original post by reeedo
Find his scrapping of January exams pretty ridiculous. He's making us do the same exams but all in the summer. I'd be all for it if some of the modules were merged together, but scrapping January exams puts an awful lot of pressure on us year 12s next year


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Exams were originally like this. What's your point?
Reply 21
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wibletg
3
Original post by im so academic
Exams were originally like this. What's your point?


Can I point out - Cambridge are completely against his reforms, including the January exam removal :tongue:
Original post by poiuy
Ah the nostalgia of the O levels. From my mum and many of her friends, O levels were just about reciting and memorizing as much information as possible and then forgetting the material straight after the exams. They were taught information, but not so much on how to think. They didn't have as much debate or applying your knowledge as the current system has today.


*******s. Just go over to the GCSE forum and see how much of it is memorising dumbed-down content.
Original post by wibletg
Can I point out - Cambridge are completely against his reforms, including the January exam removal :tongue:


I actually don't see the issue. Exams used to be based on an end-of-year exam.
Reply 24
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455409
17
Glad i finished mine two years ago lol
Reply 25
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CR95
Original post by james1211
Glad i finished mine two years ago lol


haha lol
Original post by im so academic
That's fine, A-levels shouldn't be for everyone.


that's the ISA we know and love :smile:
Gove wants to return to a two-tier system that will screw over a decent amount of the population at the age of 14! Academic qualifications will still be just as highly valued, just fewer people will be getting them. Which equals higher unemployment, and equals people who are smart but can't do exams getting royally fwcked.
Michael Gove is an idiot.
Original post by im so academic
I actually don't see the issue. Exams used to be based on an end-of-year exam.


because they we're made modular as it's a better way of learning


yes, exams will always have an element of 'forget everything as soon as the exam is over', but by having students revise for an exam in january and then having them use some of that same information to form part of their answers to an exam in june/july(/whenever it is) a greater level of information retention and lateral thinking is achieved
Reply 30
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poiuy
10
Original post by im so academic
*******s. Just go over to the GCSE forum and see how much of it is memorising dumbed-down content.


Seeing as your a troller, with 10 warning points I'm not going to bother arguing with you.
i think hes got it spot on apart from the A levels
Original post by poiuy
Ah the nostalgia of the O levels. From my mum and many of her friends, O levels were just about reciting and memorizing as much information as possible and then forgetting the material straight after the exams. They were taught information, but not so much on how to think. They didn't have as much debate or applying your knowledge as the current system has today.


This is how it is for the advanced Indian and Chinese exams. Have you seen the level of competence the students who revise for these exams develop? You learn the same thing in 2 years of an undergraduate degree at a top university as some of the entrance exams demand you to learn in those countries. It looks like rote memorization but actually it is just core learning of skill - do enough practice and you will understand the material better than someone with a 'good head' (that's the principle by which such exams operate and it is an undeniably successful one).
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 33
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Jack59
9
Original post by im so academic
That's fine, A-levels shouldn't be for everyone.


If one has low confidence about their ability, that doesn't mean they are not capable of succeeding.
Because I don't care for January exams and prefer to get everything over and done with in one burst of stress rather than stressful periods equally spaced throughout the year. Also, because I think the level of problem solving in A-levels Maths and Sciences is laughable and they need to be re-purposed to focus on giving people a thorough grasp of the fundamentals. I don't like Gove's policies on teacher pay, but the NUT lost my sympathy when they started interfering in areas they have no business in (all those ****ing awful arguments against the new curriculum).
Original post by paradoxicalme
Gove wants to return to a two-tier system that will screw over a decent amount of the population at the age of 14! Academic qualifications will still be just as highly valued, just fewer people will be getting them. Which equals higher unemployment, and equals people who are smart but can't do exams getting royally fwcked.


Hmm, sounds like the system we have at present. We already have high unemployment and people who can't do exams now are ****ed already.

Original post by Barden
because they we're made modular as it's a better way of learning


yes, exams will always have an element of 'forget everything as soon as the exam is over', but by having students revise for an exam in january and then having them use some of that same information to form part of their answers to an exam in june/july(/whenever it is) a greater level of information retention and lateral thinking is achieved


Let's be honest, that's not what really happens. You learn for a January exam, and then forget it, then go over it again for the summer exams.

Lol, lateral thinking. In today's exams? No.
Original post by Jack59
If one has low confidence about their ability, that doesn't mean they are not capable of succeeding.


Tough ****. There are already lots of people who want the top places in the top courses of our universities.
Original post by Big-Daddy
This is how it is for the advanced Indian and Chinese exams. Have you seen the level of competence the students who revise for these exams develop? You learn the same thing in 2 years of an undergraduate degree at a top university as some of the entrance exams demand you to learn in those countries. It looks like rote memorization but actually it is just core learning of skill - do enough practice and you will understand the material better than someone with a 'good head' (that's the principle by which such exams operate and it is an undeniably successful one).

In the first place rote learning is just a buzzword and has no meaning beyond being a reactionary stance against any kind of rigour. Knowledge of facts and understanding are absolutely inseparable. Understanding itself arises naturally from doing complex problems.
Reply 38
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Idle
2
The spec is designed for modules, unless it changes it is stupid because it wasn't designed with the idea all the exams would be taken at the end of the year.
Original post by im so academic
Hmm, sounds like the system we have at present. We already have high unemployment and people who can't do exams now are ****ed already.

Let's be honest, that's not what really happens. You learn for a January exam, and then forget it, then go over it again for the summer exams.

Lol, lateral thinking. In today's exams? No.


Hang on a sec. ISA? Are you being...reasonable? Oh dear god, the apocalypse is nigh. :tongue:

Seriously though, people who can't do exams are not entirely screwed, with coursework being a major part of some subjects. The erasing of coursework altogether will only make it worse; and vocational qualifications like BTECs and NVQs are consistently being looked down on.

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