Legacy AS Modules Retakes 2018 - Will grade boundaries be affected?

(Original post by t10r)
Right.

I have a very important question which could spark a discussion.

Since for a lot of subjects like Maths, a new A level specification will be introduced for first teaching in 2018, people retaking AS modules next year will solely be year 13s since the new year 12s will be doing a different specification.

However, up to this point, each year, people taking AS modules would be a mixture of year 12s taking those modules for the first time and year 13s taking those modules as retakes.

But next year (2018), people taking the AS modules will only be year 13s who, on average, perform better than year 12s doing it the first time around. Therefore, the national performance for those modules next year will be higher. As a result, grade boundaries will also be higher due to increased national performance.

I believe that this is an issue since this would mean that people retaking AS modules up to now would have had a higher chance of getting a higher grade than people retaking AS modules next year.

Please let me know what you think.