'Advanced' Levels my arse

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Bruce Wayne

Bruce Wayne

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More than one in four UK A-level entries were awarded the top A grade this year, results show.

The national pass rate rose for the 25th year in a row, with 96.9% graded A to E, up from 96.6% last year.

When are the government going to stop this joke and start offering the international baccalaureate to provide a more useful test?
 

are the 'core' subjects still being erroded? ie. maths, english, sciences?

another point is, how many school leavers are actually going to college or 6th form to study? how many are picking up job and training instead of further education? - especially now as university fees are extortionate.

i wonder how many 'A stars' were given out for classes such as 'posh and becks', 'media studies', and then the new wave of bollocks like 'psychology', 'sociology' and 'philosophy'. there is a college up the road from me handing out classes in 'forensic science'. Too many people watching 'CSI' and dreaming about being 'perry mason' when the skills market is still chronically short.
 
an E grade shouldn't be a pass. That's patheitc..honestly mate when you break it down, little over 40% get C and above, and that's when the grades strart to matter. Who is going to look twice at a D or even an E?
It's pointless to even call them passes.
 
:lol:

I'd love to see how many A's were given to academic lessons. The likes of Maths, Biology, English Language etc...

A's in Media Studies, Art, Textiles, PE and the like are given out as easy as stickers at Dentists.

It annoys the crap out of me when people say A levels are too easy. I never got an A, nor even a B for that matter so they can't be that bloody easy.

Every year there are idiots who claim the tests are too easy, go and have a look at last years tests, they should be available online now or anytime soon.
 

Royal Blue Jersey said:
an E grade shouldn't be a pass. That's patheitc..honestly mate when you break it down, little over 40% get C and above, and that's when the grades strart to matter. Who is going to look twice at a D or even an E?
It's pointless to even call them passes.
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A D and E still warrants UCAS points. So getting a D instead of an E or an E instead of nothing could mean the difference of getting into a specific University.
 
could you imagine submitting a paper to a university citing you got 10 'E' at alevel, theyd think you were brian harvey.
 
The modular nature of A-levels does make things easier though, regardless of the academic merit of the course. It's common sense that it is easier to learn (or memorise) small chunks of information learnt over a few months than it is to understand two years worth of syllabus, especially when the option of retaking modules exists.

I looked into the computing curriculum at a-level a year or so ago and it was a bit of a sham. None of the modules would equip you with enough skills to find a job in any of the disciplines taught, and such is the rat-a-tat nature of exams in secondary education that you barely get a chance to engender a love of the subject in the students that would encourage them to study further in their own time. In a global economy it didn't provide me with much encouragment that our kids stand a hope in hells chance against graduates from India and China that are not only better equipped but substantially cheaper. It's no wonder that students go to university and are comfounded by the concept of independent study when everything is spoon fed them at school with the sole intention of passing exams. There is neither the time for the students nor the wherewithall from the league table hassled teachers to even countenance reading around the subject purely for the love of learning it.

Ask yourself this. If A-Levels provided no entry benefits to university and students undertook them purely for the knowledge they would gain from doing so, how popular would they be?
 
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much less obviously, the continuing fall in the uptake of the 'classic' subjects is an indication of exactly this - if it taks 20 points to get into "a university" whats the point flogging yourself stupid by taking maths, physics and chemistry? when a student can take art, media and psychology, top those 3 choices up with 'general studies' (general studies, hilarious!) and gain plenty enough points to get into "a university" and possibly aim a little higher with regard the status of the university (say a 24 point entry limit)

A lot of emphasis currently is on getting into university, for the experience, for the life lessons. I cant say that the ideals of university have been solely bastardised by the current trend (the elitist attitudes of generations past where thick as pig [Poor language removed] 'carruthers' and 'winthorp' got a university background because daddy was a clever man with deep pockets is as much to blame).

As it is now, the jobs after university arent in the abundance students believe, the 'old boy' network still exists and what positions at top end employers are available are being fought for by people with masters degrees, or two degrees, sometimes double masters. Look at the recent mismanagement regarding junior doctors, it costs a lot of money to train to be a doctor, and a person has to have the aptitude and the committment to see it through, yet approx 12000 qualified for just over 4000 positions. great news for australia and south africa.

With regards 'computing/information technology' the rules change everyday, different programming languages, different networking solutions, hardware and software (vista is 64bit) - so what is learnt from books isnt actually going to be much use because systems and their lessons become obsolete. I feel IT qualifications are to show a capability for study in the field and its a step towards actually getting into the training and on the job experience IT professionals are in.
 
It's not just computing though. If you study history you might do Hitler (come to think of it that's all they seem to study a lot of the time) but very little is done on Stalin, Lenin, Mao, Pot, Franco, Mussellini or any of the other people around at the time that helped foster such an environment of death and destruction.

If A-Levels are merely a means to an end to get into university or show an aptitude for learning then it's a sad reflection of our education system and a reflection that many universities aren't happy with either given the propensity of top up classes offered to freshers.
 

I did Stalin, actually Russia from the last 20 years of the Czars to The fall of communism.

But I actually agree with what Bruce is saying, education these days......
 
If A-Levels are merely a means to an end to get into university or show an aptitude for learning then it's a sad reflection of our education system and a reflection that many universities aren't happy with either given the propensity of top up classes offered to freshers.
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/*puts on Mr Controversial hat*/
Well, more than a few people would argue that most University degrees only have value in that they show "an aptitude for learning". Most degree holders I have come across in work life only appeared to have learned how to love the fact they have a degree. And since I have worked mostly in goal-oriented professions, it doesn't matter if you left school at 16 or if you are a doctor of philosophy as long as you do what you are being asked to.

A-levels in my day didn't teach you [Poor language removed] about the subject, but they taught you a little about how to think beyond tests and essays. What they teach now I have no idea since I haven't been around schools for *cough* a very long time.

But as far as teaching you anything relevant for any job or any in-depth knowledge, they were and probably are a joke.
 
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