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A-LEVEL PASSES SMASH RECORD

17.08.07, 7:53pm

A-level passes smash record.
Crime rates are down.
Prisons populations are dwindling.
Health service is in the best shape ever.
Everyone is content with the Government and the way the Country is going.

And as I gaze out of my window another flight of Pigs has just taken off from the farm on the Horizon and are doing aerobatics over the woods.

• Posted by: EmperorMing • Report Comment

HARD WORK

17.08.07, 11:08am

I'm getting browned off with hearing how hard A- level students have worked to pass their exams. In itself the hard work put in by students is commendable but it does nothing to prove that the standard of the exams hasn't fallen.
I look forward to hearing from the exceptionally bright students - those who 30+ years ago would have been in the top 5% - who might tell us that they sailed through the exams because they were a piece of PI r2.

• Posted by: gimleteye7 • Report Comment

FAR TOO EASY

17.08.07, 5:18am

Thirty years ago the pass mark for Maths A level was 60% now it's 21%, nuff said!

• Posted by: Morbihan56 • Report Comment

HAVE NEW LABOUR COOKED THE BOOKS ON EXAM RESULTS?

17.08.07, 2:52am

These fantastic A-level results go against all the recent reports that have said that schools and student standards in general, are failing.
I suspect a New Labour rat amongst all this!
This government in real terms, do not succeed in many things. But they have an infatuation with issuing propaganda statistics, to inflate their ego and try to impress the voting public with their success stories.
Critics who I imagine, are not Labour supporters, have accused the education authority of dumbing down exams. It would be interesting if the government actually made some of these exam papers public, so that we can decide for ourselves, if New Labour ego comes before our children's educational standards?

• Posted by: steveg • Report Comment

WE HAVE DUMBED DOWN THE QUALIFICATION'S EVEN FURTHER!

16.08.07, 7:08pm

Whoopee thousands of idiots with A level mathematic's that cannot even work out the correct change when making any purchase!

• Posted by: The_Way_I_See_It • Report Comment

NO LONGER THE GOLD STANDARD

16.08.07, 3:57pm

The public does not realise how the nature of A-levels has fundamentally changed in the last 25 years. 25 years ago, only a minority even got the O-levels needed to sit A-levels, and an A grade was very, very difficult to achieve. This was because students were not competing against the exam as such, but were competing against each other. The A grade would be awarded to roughly the top 5% of students, and this percentage was kept consistent from year to year. The advantage of this method was that employers and universities knew that an A grade student was an exceptional one. The disadvantage was that this hampered measures designed to gauge improvement. The Tories abandoned this system and replaced it with A-level results which were independent of how other students did. Nowadays, you can get an A grade with a score as low as 80% or even lower in some subjects, and how your fellow students do is irrelevant.

Labour have taken things a stage further. There is general dumbing down - Subjects that used to be part of an O-level syllabus are now not studied until A-level, while some of what was taught at A-level has disappeared completely. Course work, which is open to cheating and easier to produce than under exam conditions, now goes towards an A-level grade. Bizarrely, marks are now granted for ideas, even if the ideas are blatantly wrong!

I feel sorry for students because they have no say over the system and they are being let down. The brightest are not getting a chance to shine and find themselves competing for a university place with applicants who once would have been two grades lower than them. Average students are finding themselves on degree courses and in jobs for which they are not equipped. Increasingly, universities and employers are having to set their own exams, and then induction courses to fill in the gaps in the knowledge of their new recruits.

The farcical thing about all this is that no doubt ministers will be slapping each other on the back and claiming the credit for this A-level "success story". In reality they should all be in detention for ruining an exam that was once the gold standard of attainment.

• Posted by: Gaz99 • Report Comment

NO LONGER THE GOLD STANDARD

16.08.07, 3:50pm

The public does not realise how the nature of A-levels has fundamentally changed in the last 25 years. 25 years ago, only a minority even got the O-levels needed to sit A-levels, and an A grade was very, very difficult to achieve. This was because students were not competing against the exam as such, but were competing against each other. The A grade would be awarded to roughly the top 5% of students, and this percentage was kept consistent from year to year. The advantage of this method was that employers and universities knew that an A grade student was an exceptional one. The disadvantage was that this hampered measures designed to gauge improvement. The Tories abandoned this system and replaced it with A-level results which were independent of how other students did. Nowadays, you can get an A grade with a score as low as 80% or even lower in some subjects, and how your fellow students do is irrelevant.

Labour have taken things a stage further. There is general dumbing down - Subjects that used to be part of an O-level syllabus are now not studied until A-level, while some of what was taught at A-level has disappeared completely. Course work, which is open to cheating and easier to produce than under exam conditions, now goes towards an A-level grade. Bizarrely, marks are now granted for ideas, even if the ideas are blatantly wrong!

I feel sorry for students because they have no say over the system and they are being let down. The brightest are not getting a chance to shine and find themselves competing for a university place with applicants who once would have been two grades lower than them. Average students are finding themselves on degree courses and in jobs for which they are not equipped. Increasingly, universities and employers are having to set their own exams, and then induction courses to fill in the gaps in the knowledge of their new recruits.

The farcical thing about all this is that no doubt ministers will be slapping each other on the back and claiming the credit for this A-level "success story". In reality they should all be in detention for ruining an exam that was once the gold standard of attainment.

• Posted by: Gaz99 • Report Comment

NO LONGER THE GOLD STANDARD

16.08.07, 3:43pm

The public does not realise how the nature of A-levels has fundamentally changed in the last 25 years. 25 years ago, only a minority even got the O-levels needed to sit A-levels, and an A grade was very, very difficult to achieve. This was because students were not competing against the exam as such, but were competing against each other. The A grade would be awarded to roughly the top 5% of students, and this percentage was kept consistent from year to year. The advantage of this method was that employers and universities knew that an A grade student was an exceptional one. The disadvantage was that this hampered measures designed to gauge improvement. The Tories abandoned this system and replaced it with A-level results which were independent of how other students did. Nowadays, you can get an A grade with a score as low as 80% or even lower in some subjects, and how your fellow students do is irrelevant.

Labour have taken things a stage further. There is general dumbing down - Subjects that used to be part of an O-level syllabus are now not studied until A-level, while some of what was taught at A-level has disappeared completely. Course work, which is open to cheating and easier to produce than under exam conditions, now goes towards an A-level grade. Bizarrely, marks are now granted for ideas, even if the ideas are blatantly wrong!

I feel sorry for students because they have no say over the system and they are being let down. The brightest are not getting a chance to shine and find themselves competing for a university place with applicants who once would have been two grades lower than them. Average students are finding themselves on degree courses and in jobs for which they are not equipped. Increasingly, universities and employers are having to set their own exams, and then induction courses to fill in the gaps in the knowledge of their new recruits.

The farcical thing about all this is that no doubt ministers will be slapping each other on the back and claiming the credit for this A-level "success story". In reality they should all be in detention for ruining an exam that was once the gold standard of attainment.

• Posted by: Gaz99 • Report Comment

WORTHLESS

16.08.07, 11:13am

These exams are not a true reflection of academic ability.

If you gave the same pupils exam papers of 25 years ago, they would fail their A levels or get much inferior grades.

• Posted by: Babs • Report Comment

ARTICLE SUMMARY

A-level passes smash record

A-LEVEL PASSES SMASH RECORD

HARD WORK

FAR TOO EASY

HAVE NEW LABOUR COOKED THE BOOKS ON EXAM RESULTS?

WE HAVE DUMBED DOWN THE QUALIFICATION'S EVEN FURTHER!

NO LONGER THE GOLD STANDARD

NO LONGER THE GOLD STANDARD

NO LONGER THE GOLD STANDARD

WORTHLESS