oxbridge and resits

Personally I think resits should still be allowed, but only one per module and the resit mark should count whether it's higher or not. That would make people think twice about resitting just for the sake of it on the off chance that they might do better. Only those who were serious about improving their grade would risk resitting and doing worse, and it's unlikely someone would go from a D to an A in one resit, although as Leanne pointed out on the last page, I did in an AS history module, so it does happen. At the same time, it would mean people who just had a bad exam and screwed up because of nerves, illness or whatever but usually got good grades would have another chance. However, I also agree with thornsnroses that it's stupid that people can get Cs at A2 and still get an A overall if they got As at AS, and with rachel-linguist that getting rid of ASs and just going back to the old system of sitting A-levels after 2 years would be the best way to solve the problem.

I still think it would be better if they could resit, but with the fact that they resat well advertised and the original grade posted, as well as the number of times resat.

And with all respect I think the Alevel system is a bit of a joke, it genuinely undermines clever or actually talented people.

Baal K, you don't seem to have got the essence of the problem. The problem being you could easily cheat people and yourself into getting an A. You have two years effectively to learn As material, and its not really that challenging to drill in. You than can have 3 tries at it - score high on an easy paper and you've done well. You can then breeze through the A2 material and get a much lower grade and still get an A or a B - how then by attaining that grade have you met the specific requirements of the qualification for that particular grade?

I keep my point, scrap resits full stop , but if they must be kept, which is more reasonable, make sure everyone knows how many times its been resat and what the original grade was. If i had my way A levels would not simply be graded but counted as a score out of 600 as well.

This implies that the problem is the constuction of the A Level itself, more so than justifying the stopping of resits. They could adjust the way that they award the grade, with no need to stop resits. An example would be giving you the average grade of your modules. Eg. AAACCC would give you a B, whatever the UMS.

Clever and talented people have the AEAs, Olympiads and STEP to do. They can do these if they want to show their ability.

Clever/talented shouldnt be made to do extra work to distinguish them from the rest of the A-grade achieving cohort. And its true that some schools dont place any emphasis on AEAs - mine doesn't, but it isnt much of an issue, because the AEAs are meant to be aptitude based, and you can't really do any work for them.

Anyway, since you're suggesting these ideas, I'm geussing that getting 100% first time round isn't a problem for you, and you just want to show off. Well, lucky you. Why dont you just go stare proudly at your module marks, instead of trying to think up ways of putting down people who have to genuinly work, struggle and stress to do well?

I don't think A levels should be listed as a score out of 600 instead of being graded. Let's be honest here: if that was the case, then it would not simply be good enough to get an A - no, you would have to aspire to 300/300 Which is crazy! Exams are stressful enough without having extra pressure to get not just good grades, but perfection.

And there's nothing wrong with resits either. Even the best students can get initially low module marks. For English in particular, I know plenty of amazing students - with 8A*s GCSE etc - who got at least one C in an AS module. The jump from GCSE to AS can be offputting at first, specially for people who didn't have to work at all to get A*s in GCSE and only realise on AS results day that the same thing isn't possible at a higher stage. And actually, it can be harder to do a module again - above all in a non-synoptic paper - because you won't have looked at the topic for a whole year, meaning that you have to essentially start from zero (not to mention you're working for for A2s at the same time.)

Anyway, since you're suggesting these ideas, I'm geussing that getting 100% first time round isn't a problem for you, and you just want to show off. Well, lucky you. Why dont you just go stare proudly at your module marks, instead of trying to think up ways of putting down people who have to genuinly work, struggle and stress to do well?

Also, there's nothing wrong with striving for perfection, and being able to see the score out of 600 would separate those who just scraped As from those who got top As. Why shouldn't people who get better results be recognised for it?

This could actually be detrimental to the students. It will mean that students will simply go over the syllabus again and again and again. They will do this so they can push themselves slightly ahead as they will get an exact number out of 600.

Their time would be more wisely spent reading around the subject and doing extra work like AEAs, Olympiads and STEP.

Therefore somebody who scored 570 could be far better than somebody who scored 600, even though your A Level system would not show this. The only way this difference will become apparent is when Oxbridge interview you and see that your score, albeit 30 points higher, does not make you more able. The A Level system cannot be, and is not, used to test these miniscule differences and to try and make it do so will inevitably end in failure.

I'm probably just being naive here, but surely the top students already strive to achieve the highest marks they can for themselves, even though they don't matter in terms of unis or anything at the moment? Letting the total score out of 600 be known would simply be a way of rewarding them for their efforts.

Kelly, in my opinion the difference between 570 and 600 can often be simply luck or the actual examiner you have (especially in essay exams). The top students may strive to achieve the best they can, but given the situation of doing 20 past papers or 5 past papers and reading a journal on your subject, I would hope the best would choose the latter.

If you want to reward their efforts and ability, then make the A Levels MORE difficult and introduce a new grade. (NOTE: do not just introduce a new grade, this does not help much) If the questions are sufficiently difficult then it does not matter how many times you resit, if you do not understand the content well enough you will not reach the top grade.

No doubt people will say, "but my school will not provide assistance for these extra questions." This is the whole point, the student must go beyond their classroom learning and develop their understanding of the subject themselves. This is how to reward real effort and ability.

I hate to sound cynical, but I'm sure if these extra questions were put into place, the top private and grammar schools would start coaching for them, just as I'm sure many do already for AEAs and STEP.

This happens for GCSEs and A Levels already, it will not be different for any other exams. There is a difference between knowing the material and doing well on the exam unfortunatly.

I firmly think that somebody who acheived an A first time around should still receive the same grade as somebody who managed to get an A after five resits.
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This is wrong mathematically.

Suppose that one person's deserved mark was 240, ie the A/B borderline. By this I mean if the exam system was perfect they would get that mark every time given their ability and effort. Let's suppose they take the exam once, and are stuck with the mark they get. Half the time they get an A, and half a B or less (I realise that also makes assumptions, but you see where I'm coing from - a roughly symmetrical distribution).

Now let's say someone takes the exam 5 times, and has the same deserved grade over all five papers - so they deserve the same grade as the first person, 240, A/B. There is only a 1 in 32 chance they won't get an A! In fact, it is massively more likely they will do better than the other person.

This is why I think only one resit should be allowed, and only then in exceptional circumstances (bereavement/illness). That way, people would be bothered to do the work the first time because they wouldn't have a safety net to fall back on of massivley improving their chances for an undeserved grade. If they want an A, do the work the first time!

but sometimes people just don't do as well as expected and with some subjects, the marking can be really subjective. with me, i got a D in my english lit module but i put some much work into it and was getting As for all of the essays i wrote and my teacher was so shocked