AS/A-level Results today

[pikeh]

or

Junior / Infants School - 5-8
Middle School - 9 - 11
High School - 11 - 16

My mate who lives near Winchester said he went to a school like that. thats just fucking weird!

 

[kiliarien]

Anyway, you living on campus? Some places are much much nicer than others

I lived in Eliot - nice, but very boring when I was there 'cos the lecturers drank in that bar so we all avoided it. I think all 4 look like prisons (well there's a rumour they were designed by a prison designer, but I have no clue how true that is). Are Darwin & Keynes the only bars to drink at? Park Wood was way too far away and was for the old gits imo.

Primary School from 4/5 - 11~
Secondary School from 11-16~
Sixth Form 16-18 / OR College 16-17/18
Then Uni

for me, Sixth Form was essentially carried on from Secondary School

There are still a lot of counties that split (at time of entry) 4-11 year old's into Infant & Junior schools - you so 4-7 at one, and 8-11 at the other. Hell, loads of places still do middle schools where you stay from 8-14, so by the time you go to secondary school, everyone around you has already been at the school for 2 years and you're a new arrival. Now how screwed up is that.

The government is trying to move to the idea of super schools & academies. There's already piloting for a system where pupils come in at 4 and leave at 18. I think 14 years at the same place would do my head in.

What really annoyed me was when I was at secondary school all the bloody years changed - I was in 3rd year of secondary school and all of a sudden I was in Year 9, even though my tutor group was still 3B. I didn't think there was really any need to add the 6 previous years on tbh.

 

[Bugz]

Isnt Bugz still at secondary school though? if so, thats mighty impressive!

I'm still in secondary school but higher education (sixth form). So I did them in the same year as every other student (minus Maths - which was a 2 year course done in 1 year).

As for A-Levels being harder than in the past - It's hard to comment really IMO. I know that a lot of people believe the higher number of A and B grades at A-Level is due to the higher number of vocational courses on offer. An individual can complete coursework only, constantly re-model it to his/her standard and come out with 3 A-Level's for just one subject. That is where, in my opinion, the majority of the A-grades come from.

Pure subjects, such as English Lit, Maths, Chemistry & Economics are not such an 'impressively high pass rate for A grades' as people may think. A couple of individuals in my express Maths class (basically the best of the grammar school) came out with B's and C's. A lot of my economics class achieved C's and B's. English Lit. destroyed some students.

I think it damn right annoying when I read every man and his fuckin dog bringing down A-Levels and the achievements of individuals. I didn't sit on my arse this year and 'easily achieve' 5 A's. The problem does not exist in the examinations themselves but rather, a) marking, b) the amount of subjects on offer (IMO too many - you either do the classics or you sod off to do an apprenticeship or whatever) and c) remarks.

a) - Marking is so fucked up it's unreal. For examples sake, I was graded at C all through the year for my English by Oxford-standard teachers. yet I achieved an A in the exams. English, and other essay subjects are VERY much Dependant on the examiner and how they feel to your work. The lack of a strict mark scheme for some subjects has in a way, pushed the grade-giving up.

b) - explained above

c) - pay £50 you get a remark. I'm not sure if this was on offer in the past-past (can someone verify) but 9 times out of 10, from what I've read, if you get a remark you WILL go up some marks. If you go up some marks, you get your £50 given back to you. If you are 2-3 marks off an A, why the fuck would you not go for a re-mark? This is coupled with the problem of shit-lack of continuity in the marking.

That's just what I've read/experianced etc.

 

[Lucius]

This argument will be brought up time and time again but tbh just make exams harder or higher grade boundaries if too many people are getting A grades. The problem lies with the exam boards and not the students.

 

[Huntingtons]

in denmark we just have:
Elementary school (Folke Skole) (6-16)
and then you can chose high-school-kinda things, there's like 5 different (from age 16 and up) or smth and then its probably Uni

 

[Billargh]

This argument will be brought up time and time again but tbh just make exams harder or higher grade boundaries if too many people are getting A grades. The problem lies with the exam boards and not the students.

Afaik they already do something similar to that. They base their gradings (A, B etc) on how well people do, so if lots of people do shit, the grade required to get an A etc it lower. Same if people do really well, the grade required becomes higher.