5 replies to this topic

[SAM]

A-level results have been released and the pass rate has gone up again, and all you here on the news is that they are getting easier.

I feel sorry for the students who have slogged their guts out to get good grades, when I was studying for my A levels the only resource we had was the local library, and that was only 10 years ago, now students have access to all the information they need via the Internet.

The courses are not getting easier, the kids are getting cleverer (?!?) they have more information at their fingertips and know how to use it, so for once lets just congratulate the students who have done well in their exams, and hope they go on to do great things.

Rant Over!!

Nadine.

[M Greenaway]

Agreed Sam.

They also blame courses that are heavy on course work for the final grade as being somewhat weaker than the old style end of year exam approach.

Sure the end of year exam approach is more difficult to pass (maybe) but is it actually a very good measure of intelligence, competence or understanding ?

I know myself that for most exams I swotted the night before and then dumped the information from my brain as soon as the exam was over. Passed many exams to quite high levels, however have retained almost none of that learning. If I want to know something I go to a book or the internet.

[Simon]

If modern courses were not a combination of coursework and exams I wouldn't have any qualifications. For almost every module I ever did I got 70% - 90% for the coursework and 40 - 60% for the exam. No doubt others are the opposite so the balanced approach is fair IMO.

Simon

[mikelond]

Hi Simon!
I followed the same line of thinking as yourself regarding exams!
Even at College - I graduated with a BA(Hons) in Design (mostly furniture etc).
This relied almost exclusively on coursework, hence the degree success.

Result? Thick as s**t but will never need to buy another kitchen table or foot stool as long as I live.

Cheers

Mike

[Simon]

Result?  Thick as s**t but will never need to buy another kitchen table or foot stool as long as I live.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Mike you've really got to post more.

Simon

[SAM]

Sure the end of year exam approach is more difficult to pass (maybe) but is it actually a very good measure of intelligence, competence or understanding ?

I remember nothing from my A levels, at the end of the day that's what books are for.

At university the best exams were always the open book exams, you could take as many books into the exam as you could carry, but if you didn't have any knowledge of the subject, you would spend all of your time searching through the books rather than answering the questions, surely this reflects real life better than see how much you can memorise!!

Nadine.