45% of A Level grades A & A*

BlindBoyGrunt said:
Isn't the average always around 100?
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I believe tests are adjusted periodically so that 100 is the intended average but there are studies showing that someone who scored 100 today would have scored higher on an older test, thereby showing that the reason the tests are periodically adjusted is to keep 100 the average but they don't necessarily correlate between tests in terms of actual ability.
 
It's better to over estimate than under estimate like last year where kids where unfairly punished. But still has its problems.

Top employees will be looking for multiple A*s when looking at A level grades. They'll also frown on anyone that failed to get at least an A in any of their subjects.

It's tough, maybe devalues them a little, my daughter got hers today and chuffed to bits with her results, but one of her smartest friends took 4 A levels and got 3 A and 1 A*, usually that would be superb because of the workload of 4 A-levels, but maybe won't be viewed that way.
 
JackG said:
The apparent rise in IQ over time is called the Flynn Effect. Some recent studies suggest it is now negative in some countries. In the UK we've been getting dimmer since 1975. I blame it on EU membership.
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Hmmm, that link doesn't suggest an actual decline in intelligence, more a lifestyle thing - "perhaps due to the way children are educated, the way they're brought up, and the things they spend time doing more and less..." or the failure of IQ tests to adapt accurately - "favouring forms of formally taught reasoning that may be less emphasised in contemporary education and young people's lifestyles."
 
I’ve just had a look at my university course online, you now need A*AA to get in yet when I went just over 20 years ago it was BBC and there was some who were on it with CCC.

Is this down to better teaching, more people wanting to do the course or grade inflation over the last 20 years?
 
So how do universities now decide who gets on a course if loads of kids are now getting similar marks ? Surely the 40% of kids who got an A or A* must be able to pretty much pick any uni.
Genuine question as it’s been 30’years since I had to worry about getting into uni....
 
BlindBoyGrunt said:
Nobody is going to be comparing the CV school results of someone from today with a bloke from 23 years ago My doesn't even have his exam results on his CV, just his Uni grade and his experience. Using percentages is a measure of your ability at any time. If you are in the top 3% you are in the top 3% regardless of when you took your exams. This prevents tampering with the difficulty level of exams to create the impression that the DfE has done its job.
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You say that, but I've done it about 10 times this week, it all counts when you're looking at 100 candidates who are close :ROFLMAO: Although saying that now a lot of people don't put their age on their CV, which is annoying.

For us, we're sick of getting people who have good experience but can't add up, so they're a liability, so if people don't have any recent proof, then I want to know what grades they got. One man's idea of "good at maths" is very different to another. I had one saying they were good at English and Microsoft office, yet my dog could have written a more legible CV with fewer errors, it did give him a tick for personality though, as he must have been a right joker.

I get what you're saying but there is a need to compare, maybe not in some industries or in all instances, but it does matter, and there needs to be a metric to compare what was before to now or a standardised level. Not saying it's easy, as it certainly isn't, it might even be impossible.

Top 3% in a year of poor quality, or out of date methods, isn't going to be better than the top 20% in a good year etc. I got an A in Computing in the 90's, does it mean I'm as useful as a guy with an A now? No way, it's not even worth a 10th.
 
A very close reletive of mine has tried to get on a PHd course in a specific Medical career. They were beaten four times by 'double barrelled' competition. It's heartbreaking.
 
Andy_W said:
You say that, but I've done it about 10 times this week, it all counts when you're looking at 100 candidates who are close :ROFLMAO: Although saying that now a lot of people don't put their age on their CV, which is annoying.

For us, we're sick of getting people who have good experience but can't add up, so they're a liability, so if people don't have any recent proof, then I want to know what grades they got. One man's idea of "good at maths" is very different to another. I had one saying they were good at English and Microsoft office, yet my dog could have written a more legible CV with fewer errors, it did give him a tick for personality though, as he must have been a right joker.

I get what you're saying but there is a need to compare, maybe not in some industries or in all instances, but it does matter, and there needs to be a metric to compare what was before to now or a standardised level. Not saying it's easy, as it certainly isn't, it might even be impossible.

Top 3% in a year of poor quality, or out of date methods, isn't going to be better than the top 20% in a good year etc. I got an A in Computing in the 90's, does it mean I'm as useful as a guy with an A now? No way, it's not even worth a 10th.
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It might be annoying, but it’s to stop age discrimination. Why would you care about their age?

what someone also got taught at school probably means they have knowledge decay by the time they get to you.

If you want to whittle people down and test their current ability why not deploy tests for maths and English at the application stage?
 
www.theguardian.com

Private schools in England give pupils top grades in 70% of A-level entries

Teacher-assessed grades in lieu of exams benefit those at independent schools as gap with state education widens
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

Wonder how many get into the elite universities compared to to those from comprehensives? There’s also the positive skew for the London schools where the pupil premium far exceeds that in the north.

My son got great grade predictions and great results, as did his mates. They applied for a raft of top ranked universities however virtually all received rejections outright, much to the surprise of their teachers. It turns out last year as grades were inflated then a greater number of candidates met their offers resulting in more accepted offers than universities could handle, so that this year universities reduced the number of offers made…but given the baked in advantages in the system it’s pretty safe to assume those from more privileged backgrounds won’t have been impacted the same way.

Luckily he had a couple of “less prestigious“ universities he applied to, and is more than happy with the outcome.
 
GazC_MFC said:
It might be annoying, but it’s to stop age discrimination. Why would you care about their age?

what someone also got taught at school probably means they have knowledge decay by the time they get to you.

If you want to whittle people down and test their current ability why not deploy tests for maths and English at the application stage?
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I know the reason, and it's a very fair reason in most instances, but not in all.

The sector of the industry I work in is extremely labour intensive, people 60-year-old don't tend to stick around digging holes and lugging around large heavy items by hand, or have the fitness to do it, despite what most of them think. They might hack it for a week after a month of training (which costs money and time), then quit, then what? Start again?
Some jobs you just need young, strong, fit, people which are "starter" jobs, not so much finisher jobs. It's like football, a 50-year-old can't run the wing like some 20 year old, yet some on here probably would claim they could, but you don't need to see them in action to get a good gauge on how they would do, and what their ceiling would be, and where it might be in 5-10 years.

When there's a 100 CV's you have to shorten the list somehow, and you can't interview/ meet or fitness test them all, so you have to be generalistic. Everyone does it, just most don't realise they do. If we signed a 50 year old, literally everyone here would go wild.

Yes, I get the knowledge decay, as in they might not know trigonometry, or simultaneous equations etc, but if they're in a construction role, they will likely still be able to work out an area and volume, or calculate a time estimate. They will certainly still be capable of getting a grasp of it, quite quickly.

I would do the last line, but not sure if that's one of the options on indeed though? I've not used it much to be honest.
The thing is, it's a relatively low-level construction role, for small company, not pilot selection for the RAF. By having the test listed, most worth their salt would probably think "I've not got time for this" and basically wouldn't do it. It's a poor attitude, but when people are looking for work they could end up looking at a hundred possible jobs.
I do like the idea of this though, and I suppose it could be done when someone registers for a job site, so they don't have to do it a hundred times.
 
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