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A-level reputation in severe decline......



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Sat Nov 10, 2007 6:10 pm
Cpt. Smurf says...



Just a random piece of news:

The reputation of A levels has been dealt a blow after the head of an exam board expressed doubts about their value. Simon Lebus, group chief executive of the Cambridge Assessment board, part of Cambridge University, said that examiners, regulators and politicians had all been wrong in failing to address declining public confidence in “A-level currency”.

Mr Lebus said that it was “hard not to be troubled” by research showing a decline in standards in A-level maths and science. “There is no doubt that confidence in the value of the A-level currency has suffered over recent years,” he said.

In a lecture to the exams regulator, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), he said: “We all, the QCA, the awarding bodies, politicians and the Department for Children, Schools and Families, in its various guises, have been remiss in not being readier to debate the impact of changes in A level, perhaps not least because operating within a culture where there has been an expectation of consistently improving levels of attainment, we may not have felt a need to do so.”

The A-level pass rate has risen for 25 successive years, reaching 96.9 per cent this year, with nearly one in ten candidates achieving three A grades.


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Sat Nov 10, 2007 9:39 pm
tinny says...



It's all lies! Damn lies! My chemistry teacher is a chief marker/examiner man or whatever, I don't know exactly but he's pretty high up in the ranks, he says that exams aren't getting easier at all, but instead more people pass with higher grades because they can take resits.

I mean, look at me. First time I did my chemistry AS I only just passed with an E, when I did it all over again I was just one mark off an A.

In any case, saying things like this never help the students, though at least it's not results time, that's the worst time for them to bad-mouth the grades.

And I know AQA are changing their syllabus in 2009, so perhaps that will change things?

*rambles*
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Sat Nov 10, 2007 10:42 pm
Matt Bellamy says...



I find it incredibly condescending when someone says that A-levels are getting easier. I did my a-levels, and I can tell you, everyone worked **** hard on them. It really grinds my gears.
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Sun Nov 11, 2007 5:18 pm
Alainna says...



GCSE's are bad enough....A-Levels are just hell. And it's only easy if you know everything in it- which is impossible. So it will never be easy.

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Sun Nov 11, 2007 6:10 pm
Cpt. Smurf says...



Well, it amuses me that whenever something positive happens, there has to be a negative reason for it - "students can't be working harder to achieve better grades, they must be making the exams easier." It's ridiculous.
There's always been a lot of tension between Lois and me, and it's not so much that I want to kill her, it's just, I want her to not be alive anymore.

~Stewie Griffin
  








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