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Friday, 19 August 2011

Are A-level students really doing that much better in their exams?

Somehow I doubt it and having seen some recent A-level papers they seem a lot easier than those of the 1980s.


Graph courtesy of Alex Masterley who seems to have done much better in his A-levels than I did. Maybe he took them much later than me!
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6 comments:

  1. Span Ows19 August 2011 at 12:20

    The rise looks 'only' ever so slightly better than last year so Cameron should state that the rot has been addressed and that the continual (impossible) increases is at least slowing down. Soon with the lower number attending university we should see some more correction.

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  2. Weekend Yachtsman19 August 2011 at 12:36

    In the same way that gold is not going up (but paper money is going down), children are not getting cleverer (but exams are getting easier).

    I don't know about the 80's, but I took my A Levels in the 60's, and at that time - even in the best and most academic of independent schools - most people took just three A Levels, and nobody, but nobody, took more than four (even four was exceptional) because you simply couldn't do all the work in the time. That says it all, I think.

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  3. Alex19 August 2011 at 17:07

    Last year researchers at Durham University decided that a candidate who would have got a C two decades ago would get an A now.

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  4. Not a sheep19 August 2011 at 19:42

    3 decades ago?

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  5. Alex19 August 2011 at 19:50

    I think they meant at the end of the 80s/beginning of the 90's.

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  6. Not a sheep19 August 2011 at 20:17

    Maybe I could add 2.5 grades per A-Level then!

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