On PM they had an item about how often pupils can retake their modules these days. One teacher said that the U6th pupils were so much more mature by the time they got to the second Christmas that they would get up to 20% higher marks if they retook their AS exams. This can bring their grades up from a D to B.
They interviewed a bunch of kids who all said they had retaken various modules 2 or 3 times and upped their grades from E to C or better.
We had one go. At the end of 2 years. Yes, you could go back and do retakes for a year, but it was still a single series of exams at the end, not individual modules. This is the bit that makes me think that although the current students may have put more sustained effort in over a longer period than the mad cramming a lot of us did, they wouldn't stand a chance in one off exams.
So, you can get any number of As at A level, but when you go on to university, or take professional accounting or medical or legal exams, do you have any idea how much effort it takes to pass on the first go? Accounting firms went through a phase of chucking juniors out if they failed exams at the first attempt. I wonder if they still do.
Another comment on PM was that A levels are just so completely different now than they were 10 years ago that it's really not possible to compare them. AFAIC, "It's like when they did that thing with the SAT scores and I got dumber twenty years after I went to college."
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branchandroot
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Date: 2008-08-14 09:18 pm (UTC)They interviewed a bunch of kids who all said they had retaken various modules 2 or 3 times and upped their grades from E to C or better.
We had one go. At the end of 2 years. Yes, you could go back and do retakes for a year, but it was still a single series of exams at the end, not individual modules. This is the bit that makes me think that although the current students may have put more sustained effort in over a longer period than the mad cramming a lot of us did, they wouldn't stand a chance in one off exams.
So, you can get any number of As at A level, but when you go on to university, or take professional accounting or medical or legal exams, do you have any idea how much effort it takes to pass on the first go? Accounting firms went through a phase of chucking juniors out if they failed exams at the first attempt. I wonder if they still do.
Another comment on PM was that A levels are just so completely different now than they were 10 years ago that it's really not possible to compare them. AFAIC, "It's like when they did that thing with the SAT scores and I got dumber twenty years after I went to college."