Are A levels and GCSE's getting easier??

[bloodhound]

my answer to the above questions would be a solid yes. while not detectable on a short run, if you compare syllabuses and exam papers from a couple of years ago and now. you will notice that it is indeed true. with the rocketing of pass rates, surely this must stop somewhere.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

People these days are getting dumber as it is. So they got to make it look better, don't they?

People in my school don't even know how to spell "detectable" or "people."

[Glider]

From direct experience, I can tell you that increasing numbers of the new students entering University can't even manage to form complete sentances and they can't spell. Many don't know why they are there, some don't even want to be there and have no interest in the subject they are studying. Who's interest is served by their being there?

[Guest justine]

People these days are getting dumber as it is. So they got to make it look better' date=' don't they?

People in my school don't even know how to spell "detectable" or "people."[/quote']

i dont know how to spell them but im still top of my year in maths all science and i.t so dose speling realy meshure how clever you are you can be good at one subject and realy bad at another its normal ...

[Glider]

i dont know how to spell them but im still top of my year in maths all science and i.t so dose speling realy meshure how clever you are

No it doesn't. But then, neither does an abiltiy in maths, science or IT. What spelling does do however, is give other people an impression of how clever you are.

 

The sad fact is, that a person may be outstanding at science and have tremendous insight. But, if that person can't put it on paper in a way that people can understand, or at least that makes that person look half way credible, no one else will ever know it.

 

It's one of those 'classify people using minimum evidence' things that all people do. If you write like an idiot, you will be treated as one by those who read your work. It's the same as turning up for a job interview in dirty, kneeless jeans, battered trainers and a torn T-shirt. It wouldn't matter how suitable you are for the post, you could forget any chance of getting it.

 

you can be good at one subject and realy bad at another its normal ...

Not really. Intelligent people tend to show consistency.

[Misodoctakleidi]

if you compare syllabuses and exam papers from a couple of years ago and now.

I completely diagree, I've just done A levels in Maths, Physics and Sociology and some of the exams were much harder than papers from 4 or 5 years ago.

[Severian]

Are A levels and GCSE's getting easier??

 

YES!!! (trust me, I am in a position to know...)

[Severian]

so dose speling realy meshure how clever you are..

 

LOL!

[NSX]

I think another issue [at least in Canada with inreasing immigration] with poor English skills is that there are more and more students who use English as a second language.

 

They do very well in Maths [because apparently the Asian Maths are tought much quicker] and to a certain extent, the Sciences; but English is not as well. Many Universities in our province mandate that a English proficiency test be written by the student; which if failed: a course will have to be taken and it must be passed.

[jsatan]

I'd say yes they are slightly, but on the same note the education system is better.

I mean they never look at that as a reason for more passes do they?

 

As for spelling, I can’t spell most things, but not everyone can paint and draw, so spelling isn’t a good example of how good someone’s brain is.

 

As for what you look like etc, Steven Hawking doesn’t win any contests.

So by that standard if he didn’t have his computer and help he would be as stupid as a "retard"(meant in the real meaning of the word).

 

We as a species aren’t getting smart that much just more knowledgeable.

Speaking to me in person and you would think total different from what my writing would suggest. The medium is not good for every body.

 

Maybe blind deaf and dumb but still think.

 

Intelligent people do not have a level playing field with their skills. That's a narrow minded way of thinking.

 

An example is one my pass University lectures was so bad at speaking and writing that even his lecture notes were miss spelt, I remember once even the blind student got up and left the lecture because he was unable to understand him, does that make the lecture stupid?

[mak10]

A-levels are tough yo! I am currently doing the fast-track A-level (that covers the entire A-Levels in 1 year) and it ain't easy... when compared to the past A-level papers, at least not for bio, chem and physics.... thats for sure!

[albertlee]

look up here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/articles/personalityandindividuality/whatamilike/mastermind.shtml

 

MASTERMIND is the least common personality in UK....

 

Test you A level guys what personality you are

[mak10]

well, it says I am an idealist... but i would consider myself to be more of a realist. It was good fun though, thx for the link!

[pukebox]

Eh, no.

I've seen past year english O level papers. They were way easier. PSLE standard I might say

[J'Dona]

It really depends on the subject. Maths is getting easier, for example, or at least in the long term. I once saw an O-Level maths paper from fifty years ago or more, and it had questions on matrices and complex numbers. That's in second year A-Level Further Maths now.

[atinymonkey]

Somewhere, I have 50 odd GCSE science papers shrunk down to A5 size. They seemed easy at the time, but I suppose they could be usefull for comparison.

 

At least I think I have them, but it's been years since I actually saw them.

[Severian]

A-levels are tough yo! I am currently doing the fast-track A-level (that covers the entire A-Levels in 1 year) and it ain't easy... when compared to the past A-level papers, at least not for bio, chem and physics.... thats for sure!

 

In that case, if standards are increasing why do each new year's intake of physics students know less than the year before? This is becoming a serious problem for Universities: more basic courses now have to be offered in order to boost the knowledge of the students up to the standard of previous years. It is the Univeristies who have to go to extra effort (for no extra income) to teach things which should have been taught at school and it is the Univeristies who are blamed if the standards are not met.

[bloodhound]

Even University Syllabuses are being cut down. My lecturers have been telling me that some of the hard stuff from the likes of Linear Algebra from last year have been rid off. it seems pple can't handle it anymore

[snore2walk]

I think another issue [at least in Canada with inreasing immigration] with poor English skills is that there are more and more students who use English as a second language.

 

but English is not as well. Many Universities in our province mandate that a English proficiency test be written by the student; which if failed: a course will have to be taken and it must be passed.

heya..sorry to interrupt but i completely disagree with the above. i'm from singapore, and i can guarantee that the proficiency of english from here is no where low. we take the gce o levels at the end of 10th standard, or sec 4 as we call it here. our english standards have supposedly continually impressed the campbridge examiners for consecutive years. in fact, when conversing with epals from the us, and the netherlands, uk, for example, i note, and most of the time they do too, that the english standards of students in english are far above theirs. i think that stereotyping asians as insufficiently equipped in english is not very good....

no offense to the perties involved, though....cheers

[Richard91901]

Listen u stupid **** faces the reason the pass rate is increasing is cause u lot were complete dumb asses the exams r gettin harder and we r still kickin ur ass and gettin better results and u cant handle i pity the fact that u hav to go to such lengths to say that they r gettin easier to make urself feel better whereas here is the truth UR R ALL DUMBASSES AND WE R ALL SMARTER AND WILL GET MORE MONEY THAN U HAHA U R STUPID U GET EASY EXAMS AND FAIL WE GET HARD 1S AND PASS I AM BETTER THAN U IN EVERY WAY

 

u r all my bitches with ur low results Just look at the exams u old whining biatches

[Aeternus]

I completely diagree, I've just done A levels in Maths, Physics and Sociology and some of the exams were much harder than papers from 4 or 5 years ago.

 

 

Having taken Maths and Physics as well (along with Computing, Chemistry and AS Further Maths) I would completely disagree. I agree to a large extent with the media about A Levels and GCSE's.

 

Numerous subjects have been cut out of the A levels either because it is deemed too hard or because more time is needed to teach other parts of the syllabus.

 

For instance in Computing alot of boolean algebra and basic circuitry (adder circuits etc) was taken out and alot of people are getting away with basic Access projects where Years ago, you were forced to do alot more work via Pascal,Basic etc.

 

In Maths, looking at some of the older papers it isn't necessarily that content is missing or that there are harder topics, it is simply that the questions posed require a greater understanding of the subject matter. Rather than the method being obvious you need to be able to think around the problem.

 

In Physics, alot of the Maths has been dumbed down because alot of people are now taking Physics and not Maths (which is fair enough) but do not have a firm grounding in Maths from GCSE. This is true to some extent with Chemistry as well. In Chemistry and Physics when log's are required we were taught the very basics of what they mean, nothing more than "it's this button on the calculator" etc when a greater explanation would've avoided confusion (problems occured with those who were taking Physics + Chem but not Maths, as Physics used primarily log base e, whereas chemistry used log base 10 and they confused the two). Basic Logs are not really difficult and looking at some of the older papers a far greater understanding was required of this sort of subject matter.

 

I remember at GCSE being shown some of the GCSE papers from 10 years previous. They were far far harder. Again, it wasnt so much the subject matter (although alot of AS/A Level stuff was with the GCSE Higher paper) but was more the depth of understanding required.a

 

 

People these days are getting dumber as it is. So they got to make it look better' date=' don't they?

People in my school don't even know how to spell "detectable" or "people."

[/quote']

i dont know how to spell them but im still top of my year in maths all science and i.t so dose speling realy meshure how clever you are you can be good at one subject and realy bad at another its normal ...

 

As Glider has mentioned, this is a matter of communication, not spelling. If someone can't understand what you mean, they will often immediately disregard your intelligence and assume you are an idiot. It can take a long time to gain their respect. Don't get me wrong, if you are dyslexic or only mispell the odd word, then fair enough but learning how to spell properly for the most part and using grammar properly is very important. When applying for a job, how your CV is presented, how your letter of request is written, any number of things that might involve spelling will be something that will subconsciously work against you with the interviewer.

 

There are many communities online, such as certain channels on the IRC network this forum has it's channel on, that will end up ignoring or out right banning some users because their language skills are so poor and people get tired of reading the often MSN/AOL type language that some people find acceptable.

 

I'll admit, I used to talk alot like that (mostly due to overuse of MSN, which I now avoid like the plague) but then it hit me how much my english skills had deteriorated and I forced myself to write correctly. My grammar and spelling are often far from perfect but I am trying to improve. My handwriting is atrocious and again that is something I wish to improve. Simply writing bad spelling and grammar off as unimportant is unwise to say the least in my opinion, as it can often have such severe effects on peoples opinions of you.

 

It's one of those 'classify people using minimum evidence' things that all people do. If you write like an idiot' date=' you will be treated as one by those who read your work. It's the same as turning up for a job interview in dirty, kneeless jeans, battered trainers and a torn T-shirt. It wouldn't matter how suitable you are for the post, you could forget any chance of getting it.

[/quote']

 

Heh, despite the fact that I agree that the way you present yourself is important, I turned up to all of my University Interviews dressed casually and in some cases slightly scruffy and I recieved offers from all of them. I think presentation is important but I think sometimes people can look past it, it really depends on who you are interacting with and what is expected of you.

[5614]

Having been accepted for Physics, Chemistry, ICT, Maths, Further Maths (basically the same as Aeternus) and as well as making a simple comparison between modern and older syllabuses I'd say that:

 

The exams now are just as hard/easy as they were back then... however the syllabus is easier!

 

So we are being given hard (like it used to be) questions but on an easy subject.

[Richard91901]

When applying for a job, how your CV is presented, how your letter of request is written, any number of things that might involve spelling will be something that will subconsciously work against you with the interviewer.

Rubbish i had a job of flicking through 5000 Cv's with a team of 5 to recruits for huwawi tech which is some big comm company now the "one to be workin for" and they couldnt giv a damn about spellin they were after just experience. im not sayin that spellin is somethin we should forget but i recently watched a program where instead of parents gettin better marks in o lvls after takin a crash course their children were doin better in o lvls than they did without learnin for them so yet again i will answer ur question

 

 

GCSE's R HARDER THAN UR O LVLS WERE FACE THE FACTS AND STOP MOANIN U WHINGIN BITCHAS

[Glider]

Heh, despite the fact that I agree that the way you present yourself is important, I turned up to all of my University Interviews dressed casually and in some cases slightly scruffy and I recieved offers from all of them. I think presentation is important but I think sometimes people can look past it, it really depends on who you are interacting with and what is expected of you.

 

I agree, I don't think appearance is that good an indicator of a person's ability and I try to look beyond it. However, I wouldn't really want to bet a good job on whether or not the guy sitting behind the desk will try to do the same. Sometimes, you just have to jump through the hoops. Once you have the job however...

[insane_alien]

up in scotland the Advanced highers are the supposed equivalent of A-levels although the paper is harder and its only taught in one year with no bother. I passed all of mine