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Is it just me or are the AS marks really harsh this year?

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True, but we are an academy school (not really sure on how it all works) but they basically will now just replace those people with "better" ones.. we have one of those head teachers who is all about points on the ofsted board and all that

That's a real shame :/

Reply 21

Scotttt

I too can relate, especially with the sciences- I got AACC, with the two Cs being Physics and Chemistry- I was not expecting to get so low, especially with the chemistry. I got 92 marks on my F322, what is that out of? Apparently it's out of 120. 92/120 is 81%. Surely a B, even an A? Nope. A C grade.

Probably should have done better in my practical though.. I only got a D XD

I hate OCR!

Reply 22

Smko

Original post by Scotttt

is it not out of 150 (UMS)? raw marks 100

Reply 23

Itachi Uchiha.

Original post by MeganRok

24 people in my 6th form have been kicked out today, and they are just normal students who actually worked really hard. I worked for months and months, and still only achieved BBBC, which isn't my best and it has altered my career plans greatly to the point where i'm about to give up.

Any else finding this year really tough? I honestly feel like i've failed myself, my family and even my school.

:frown:

Same grades as me!! BBBC - was hoping for at least few A's though :frown:

Which subjects did you do?

Reply 24

MeganRok

Original post by Lyrical Prodigy

Yep. I did not get the results I expected at all, I was only really scared about English Lit and confident about psychology. Turns out, Psychology was my worst and Eng lit my best. My results are so bad... I'm not even going to post it, they will make your eyes bleed. But I did 'pass' them all (Hence AS pass rate is A-E). I'm really depressed as I've now been booted out of my sixthform. I don't know where else to go.

Ouch, loads of my 6th form got kicked out. And it's not even the stupid ones who don't bother, most of the ones out today were the really hard workers. :frown:

Good luck.

Reply 25

xMr_BrightSide

It always seems to be like this in AS year. Like I last year got C's and D's in modules, which was a complete surprise, but it is possible to turn it around! You'll get the hang of the exams eventually, just keep working at it and looking at past papers, examiner's reports and markschemes.

Reply 26

Itachi Uchiha.

Original post by Lyrical Prodigy

I thought you only had to pass your exams to stay in School sixth form...No?

Reply 27

ameliaithink

A lot of people with varied subjects seem to have achieved grades that are all over the place, I took English Lit, History, French and Economics and got BBBB, when my targets were CCDC, so I'm really pleased. But my friends with sciences and maths seem to have achieved lower than they expected for sure.

Reply 28

Lyrical Prodigy

Original post by MeganRok

Ouch, loads of my 6th form got kicked out. And it's not even the stupid ones who don't bother, most of the ones out today were the really hard workers. :frown:

Good luck.

Exactly the same scenario at my school. Thanks Buddy :frown:

Reply 29

Scotttt

Original post by Smko

is it not out of 150 (UMS)? raw marks 100

My mistake, yes, that's correct... I did do bad! Really annoyed seeing that I thought chemistry was my strongest exams! Especially after having such good past paper scores and mock!

It really wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact we can't retake in January! -.-

Reply 30

Lyrical Prodigy

Original post by Itachi Uchiha.

I thought you only had to pass your exams to stay in School sixth form...No?

Apparently not. My sixth form are complete idiots, I know of my friends in other schools that did a whole lot worse than me and I'm talking Us but are still carrying on to A2. It's really not fair I achieved BCE and the E was 6UMS off a D. Because I got an E my sixthform booted me out and told me to find alternatives.

Reply 31

Sayonara

I believe the AS markings are not harsh at all. They will add the appropriate grade boundaries for varying difficulties of exam papers.

I see many people get full UMS in many exams. So, in my opinion, the AS markings are very, very fair.

If AS markings were to be soft, then what is the point of exams? They need to be harsh to measure a person's capabilities successfully. If they lower the standards, the quality of education and potential employees will decline. People will always get the grade they deserve (except for certain reasons such as medical reasons of course).

Edit: I understand if some people have achieved very poor grades; the poor grades should be a wake up call for these people to work harder and/or alter their revision methods, rather than spending this time giving me a thumbs down. The harshness of markings will prepare you for the real world - prepare you for the standards of work that your employer expects from you. Higher grade boundaries motivate people to work much more harder and it raises standards. You think life and the world of work is easy? Nope, it isn't. Without standards, then as a country (United Kingdom), we won't be able to succeed and surpass other countries. Many second world countries have surpassed USA in terms of education already! Why? USA has low grade boundaries and there are too many people achieving an A. An A will be worth less if markings were to be less harsh. For example, the exam system wouldn't work if everyone who sat an AS exam achieved an A, would it? The 'A' wouldn't mean anything in this case as it cannot be used as a measure of capability for universities and employers. Although, feel free to thumb me down if it really makes you feel any better... Don't give up, keep your head high and try your best! People who face trouble often blame it on others as a way out; instead of blaming the exam boards, blame yourself - it's not the exam's fault, the exam system is not harsh - it may be your revision method, exam technique and/or perhaps you didn't put enough hardwork into it. It's up to the candidate whether they can achieve a good grade or not. Don't blame your friends and family either, if your friends asked you to hang out, you are free to stay home and study, no one's forcing you and at the end of the day, you have free will. Remember this is not GCSE standard. An A Level qualification will no longer be a valid achievement if it was too easy for everyone - I mean... look at GCSEs, GCSEs are not that valuable.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 32

moggington

The same happened at mine. We're a small sixth form, so many people got kicked out today. I'm actually in shock, I'm pretty happy with my results but upset that people are leaving.

I got AAC, I was hoping for AAB but didn't do brilliantly in Economics. Interestingly, I got the exact same UMS in both papers. I was predicted an A/B so it's pretty disappointing, but I'll be resitting both next year anyway as we're made to if we don't get A grades.

Reply 33

sr234

Original post by Jayqwe

There is one person who got 5 As, another who got 3As and a B at my school, and I got BBCD...

Wow that's amazing! Awh :frown:

you can always retake your C and D, Ive heard far worse AS results this year! good luck :smile:

Reply 34

livinglife123

Original post by Smko

What Units did you do for History?

I did British History Period Studies (Henry VIII-Mary I) and the other paper was European and world history enquiries. Ironic thing is I wanted to do History at Cambridge. So much for high hopes.

Reply 35

MeganRok

Original post by Itachi Uchiha.

Same grades as me!! BBBC - was hoping for at least few A's though :frown:

Which subjects did you do?

I do Business, English Lang and lit, Geography and Economics in that order to matcth the grades :smile:

Seriously thought i nailed an A in eco!

Reply 36

IAmABaws

Nope, everyone got 4 As

Reply 37

turnip storm

Every year people think that A/S's are marked harshly. It really isn't the end of the world and you can easily turn it around in your second year or, failing that, you could easily resit Year 12 :smile:

I got my results today for my A2's and achieved AAC (Biology, Geography and Physics), but this is saying something, as last Jan, i had achieved two E's and a B, so it shows how much you can turn things around in a small amount of time with a lot of knuckling down!

However, to be honest, as with myself, what you achieve at A/S is likely to be what you achieve at A2 (I got AAC and a D at A/S, AAC at A2), or your grades will go down. I think you just need to rethink how you revise and perhaps plan your time more efficiently? A2 will shock you all :wink:

By the way, this is coming from someone who goes to a normal Sixth Form and who is not a 'super nerd'. I hate revising :tongue:

Reply 38

Smko

Original post by livinglife123

I did British History Period Studies (Henry VIII-Mary I) and the other paper was European and world history enquiries. Ironic thing is I wanted to do History at Cambridge. So much for high hopes.

What did you get in both?

The European source one ( I did Germany) I got a C :s-smilie:

British I got an A ..

Seems sources were marked weird at my school wbu?

Reply 39

BrainDrain

I think exams in general from GCSE's onwards are due to get slightly harder each year from now on, I think maybe a year or two back they peaked at the easiest level. It looks like constant tweaking from now on with no resits, less coursework counting for marks, homework to be hand written, with loss of marks for poor spelling and punctuation etc, and some of the courses looked on disparagingly dropped altogether.