"Increase in top grades at A-level" does it really mean exams are getting easier?

A little advantage yes, huge advantage no. Knowing about the culture, media, history and literature of the language, forms two thirds of the A2 part of the course, and its not necessary for every native speaker to know all these things.

Yes but the point is that Cambridge wants the best students for their courses - it doesn't really matter what those courses are. They want general skills - writing, logical thinking, creativity - and don't believe non-traditional subjects adequately provide them. What Cambridge's courses are isn't the point.

I don't deny IQ is going up (although that article seems to miss the very obvious point that birth control has led to birth rates plummetting among the well off as they delay children later and later).

I deny that it accounts for the MASSIVE rise in A grades given out.

And no shame in having rusty maths!

There is no differentiation on foreign language papers. The same paper is taken by native speakers and non-native speakers.(

That seems a bit daft.

Are exams getting easier? Well the universities and employers have been complaining for years about the skills disappearing from the workforce and how they are now having to set up remedial classes in English, Maths etc to compensate for what is no longer being correctly taught (if taught at all) in schools so judging by the evidence provided by those who have to deal with the product of the education system and simply have absolutely nothing to gain by pretending that standards are falling when they arent yes, they are.

That seems a bit daft.

why?

the same paper is taken by both native and non-native speakers so therefore it is fair...

surely the person who is better at the language is the one who gets the higher score on the same paper?

even if people did have the privilege of knowing the language by growing up with it - the fact that they are still better at it remains unchanged - therefore they should get the higher mark...

I've known universities who won't accept foreign language A-levels from native speakers anyway.

well there you go - if anything is nonsensical it's that.

even if they are a native speaker taking the paper - they STILL have more skills than someone who wasn't a native speaker and didn't get as high a grade/mark.

it's like penalising someone who is just naturally good at mathematics just because s/he didn't need to revise as much as someone else for the same test...

p.s. im saying this as a non-native speaker of any language that is tested by exam boards (bar English which tests the implication of language more than the actual meaning...)

But it's all about relative level. There is a reason why English A-level is different to another language A-level, isn't there? The point is that for a native speaker of german the german A-level is not of A-level standard (because the native langauge A-level standard is that of the English A-level). You can't prevent these people from taking the exams so universities stop them from using them as a loophole for entrance.

The whole point, Riux is that the German A level paper is designed for those who are not native German speakers.

If native German speakers were to take an A level paper that was designed for native German speakers, rather than non-native speakers, it might present the same sort of challenge to them as the non-native speaker German paper presents to the non-native speaker candidate.

I don't know how I can explain this point without putting it in another way...although looking at your profile you do not lack the capacity to understand what I am trying to say.

OK - non-native speakers of English take a special non-native English paper ie "English as a foreign language".

Native speaking English students take English Language which is challenging for them because it is of a much higher specification than the "English as a foreign language" paper is.

Do you understand now why it is unfair for native German speakers to take a paper in German which is designed for non-native German speakers...incidentally the same thing applies to Spanish, Italian and French papers (I don't want you to think that I am picking on one particular nationality here)?

It does, if we're claiming that these are the "easier" subjects.

Thanks for that generous comment.

If we take all the variables into account ie;

*'criterion' referencing (which tests knowledge rather than comparison with rest of cohort)
* availability of familiarisation with what needs to be done to achieve a particular grade
* increased IQ levels
* teaching focussed to exam performance
* plentiful practice on past papers
* school motivation to higher achievement/attainment because of competetive elements of published league tables
* modular exam system
* coursework elements
* resits
* ethos of higher aspirations of students...

...then it is not really that suprising that much greater success is becoming the norm.

As I said though, we shall eventually plateau, but not yet.

Would you want to go to France and take the equivalent of their year 13 paper in French language (as we do here in English language) bearing in mind that they have been speaking their own language since they were able to first talk, whereas you had only been speaking it since you were 12?

Or, would you expect to take a French paper that is specifically for those who had only been studying it for a short time in comparison.

If you don't see a difference and inequality regarding 'level playing fields' I'll bang my head against a brick wall!

Do you understand now why it is unfair for native German speakers to take a paper in German which is designed for non-native German speakers?