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A Levels should have more grades

I think it's quite silly that A*s are achieved by 8% candidates whilst over 22% get A grade, so that almost a third of students achieve an A grade or above in their A Levels. This obviously makes it very difficult for universities to identify the most able students from the huge pool of A/A* students. If more grades were introduced, so that a lower percentage achieved the very top grades, it would allow universities and employers to differentiate between applicants more easily and make it simpler for the most gifted students to stand out from the crowd. As somebody with an IQ in the top 0.5% of the population, this idea obviously appeals to me greatly. But what do you guys think?
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by melacholicMeg
I think it's quite silly that A*s are achieved by 8% candidates whilst over 22% get A grade. So almost a third of students achieve an A grade or above in their A Levels. This obviously makes it verydifficult for universities to identiythe most able students from the huge pool of A/A* students. If more grades were introduced, so that a lower percentage achieved the very top grades, it would allow universities and employers to differentiate between applicants more easily and make it simpler for the most gifted students to stand out from the crowd. As somebody with an IQ in the top 0.5% of the population, this idea obviously appeals to me greatly. But what do you guys think?


Totally agree with you

I have 6 A*s with 100% in all further math modules and 98% overall for english lit

Average for all 6 is 95% so yea I totally agree with you, and A** alone isnt enough, in reality there should be A*** grades

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Reply 2
Avatar for NikolaT
NikolaT
15
Original post by melacholicMeg
I think it's quite silly that A*s are achieved by 8% candidates whilst over 22% get A grade, so that almost a third of students achieve an A grade or above in their A Levels. This obviously makes it very difficult for universities to identifyt he most able students from the huge pool of A/A* students. If more grades were introduced, so that a lower percentage achieved the very top grades, it would allow universities and employers to differentiate between applicants more easily and make it simpler for the most gifted students to stand out from the crowd. As somebody with an IQ in the top 0.5% of the population, this idea obviously appeals to me greatly. But what do you guys think?


That was the reasoning behind bringing in the A* grade in the first place.

*facepalm* Why is it the problem is the way people are graded, and not in the system itself?

Also, what the hell does IQ have anything to do with anything​?
Original post by NikolaT
That was the reasoning behind bringing in the A* grade in the first place.


Yes, well I don't think adding just one more grade went far enough.

Original post by NikolaT
*facepalm* Why is it the problem is the way people are graded, and not in the system itself?


The whole point of having a graded qualification system is to allow universities and employers to differentiate between students based on their ability, if A Levels are not enabling this then they're not fit for purpose in my opinion.
No this is ridiculous we would inevitably end up with A******** grades and that would be clumsy and useless.

The system now works fine - many pupils get As and A*s but other thing can be used to differentiate them, UMS and statements etcetera.
Surely universities can identify the most capable students by their UMS scores? And the most gifted students stand out quite well anyway, whilst 8% of students get an A*, I'll bet there's a lot less people getting 3 or 4.
Original post by tomfailinghelp
No this is ridiculous we would inevitably end up with A******** grades and that would be clumsy and useless.


No, you could simply add more letters - so A* - G (as for GCSEs) for example.

Original post by tomfailinghelp
The system now works fine - many pupils get As and A*s but other thing can be used to differentiate them, UMS and statements etcetera.


Well some of the top universities in the country evidently disagree with you, since they feel it necessary to set their own entrance tests to discern between the most capable applicants.
Reply 7
Avatar for pryngles
pryngles
9
A - 1%
B - 5%
C - 10%
D - 20%
E - 30%
F - 50%
U - 100%

yeaaaaaaaaaa
Reply 8
Avatar for Zefiros
Zefiros
10
In the education system in my country, the distribution of the top grades (in single subjects) is as follows:

10: 0.5%
9: 2.4%
8: 12.5%

6 and 7 are considered mediocre, with 6 being the lowest pass grade. Oxbridge offers are based on an average of 8 (achieved by the top 4%) with 9 in relevant subjects. However, we study at least 8 (major) subjects and only the top 15%-20% follow pre-university education to begin with. So, in order to get an Oxbridge offer one generally has to be in at least the top 1% of all students.

Does it work? Well, not really. In my country university admission is only conditional on passes, so very few people try to get top grades in the first place. Although, for medicine (and some other courses with limited places) an average of 8 or above will give you unconditional admission. Even if university admission did depend on it, I think it would not work. Although performance in secondary school qualifications is somewhat predictive of higher education performance, I don't think that minor differences (getting a 9 or 10 can sometimes depend on 1 or 2 minor mistakes) are indicative of future performance to the extent that they should be used in admissions. That would be giving the secondary school qualifications way too much credit.
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by melacholicMeg
No, you could simply add more letters - so A* - G (as for GCSEs) for example.



Well some of the top universities in the country evidently disagree with you, since they feel it necessary to set their own entrance tests to discern between the most capable applicants.


But that isn't necessarily because A-Levels are an inadequate measure. Oxford relies so much on entry tests because they simply trust their academic process more, nothing we can do to A-Levels will change that, and the same is true for most Universities that use admissions tests.

Nevertheless, even if you were right, your plan still wouldn't work. Making more grades will just make the system more confusing, not less.
Original post by Med_medine
Totally agree with you

I have 6 A*s with 100% in all further math modules and 98% overall for english lit

Average for all 6 is 95% so yea I totally agree with you, and A** alone isnt enough, in reality there should be A*** grades

Real willy-waver, you.
Original post by tomfailinghelp
But that isn't necessarily because A-Levels are an inadequate measure. Oxford relies so much on entry tests because they simply trust their academic process more, nothing we can do to A-Levels will change that, and the same is true for most Universities that use admissions tests.


That contradicts what I've read on the topic:

"Employers and universities are increasingly unable to discriminate the very best from the average and the poor because too many teenagers leave school with A grades."

"Rising numbers of students are being forced to sit admissions tests to get into university amid fears that A-levels fail to mark out the brightest schoolchildren, it has emerged."



Original post by tomfailinghelp
Nevertheless, even if you were right, your plan still wouldn't work. Making more grades will just make the system more confusing, not less.


How exactly would having grades A*-G at A Level in any way create confusion? Is the GCSE grading system confusing? You haven't explained or backed up what you're claiming here, so I can't really offer a counter-argument.
It is more about how they're graded than the number of grades. No point in having 12 different grades if 90% of entries get the top 3 grades.
Original post by Kinkerz
Real willy-waver, you.


Too bad I am only an average 6 inch

Cant wave it in front of big **** (i typed *) worshippers

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Who cares?

Also that 22% don't have A-levels in the same subjects do they :rolleyes:
Don't forget that 8% figure also includes soft and non academic subjects such as Film Studies, Art etc. I reckon the figure for hard academic subjects is actually much lower.
Original post by Hewitt
Don't forget that 8% figure also includes soft and non academic subjects such as Film Studies, Art etc. I reckon the figure for hard academic subjects is actually much lower.


Maths and physics have some of the highest proportions of A* grades, so it's not as simple as that.
Original post by Farseer
Maths and physics have some of the highest proportions of A* grades, so it's not as simple as that.

y
eah but you only really take maths and physics if you know you're good at it, whereas ICT is like a common easy subject to pick, so less will get the A* in stuff like ICT and more will get the a* in maths because more people that pick maths have picked it because they know they will do well

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