Science GCSE is more stupider now?

[Damini]

Pretty interesting (if utterly demoralising) article.

Make science easier, examiners are told - Times Online

“Part of the desire is that the student can come out of the exam with a feeling of success that they have actually tackled a significant proportion of the questions, and achieved the best grade expected,” he said. “The vast majority of candidates taking this exam are going to achieve grades D to G, and they deserve a positive experience of science.

“They can only have that by being allowed to attempt questions which are at their level . . . It is making exams accessible to candidates.”

Erm... whut? I wasn't entirely sure how this would translate into practice.

Then I clicked the link at the top, and read the practice paper.

Jesus wept. Question Five.

 

[JBP|]

If that paper is real i fear for our future.

 

[Jonty]

If that paper is real i fear for our future.

I agree It seems that rather than trying to motivate students and teachers to do better, they would rather just pander to them. What kind of life lesson is that for future generations?

The move follows growing concern about ... “dumbing down”

Kind regards

 

[Kryten]

It's all across the board now I'm afraid.
I'm sorry, but if all these kids these days are happy to get 5 C's or more in their GCSEs, it doesn't make them employable or intelligent. 10, 15 years ago they were far harder. When I did my A-Level maths, it was more difficult than the degree was - once you'd done that, the degree would have been mere piss.
I don't think GCSE's are setting any of the youth up for real life properly - both in subject and how dumbed down it all is - life doesn't get any easier, jobs don't get easier - why should school?

It all stinks of schools looking for better performance figures in league tables, nothing more.

And yet kids still fail them? This could be down to mere stupidity with some of them but I feel the youth culture has changed sufficiently enough that peer pressure is far too overwhelming. After all, these days most kids of well under GCSE age are wandering the streets pissed and/or stoned, stabbing and shooting each other and/or generally being a bloody nuiscance.

One word.

Discipline.

 

[DaGaffer]

Oh. My. God. Is that paper real? Jesus wept. Even the "hard" questions are nothing more than pop science and when there's a calculation to do, they give you the formula! There's one there in the hard section where they ask where visible light sits in the electromagnetic spectrum and they give you the spectrum right above the (multi-choice!) answer. Holy crap. When I see the usual "dumbing down" stories I usually took it with a pinch of salt, but if that's representative, we're doomed.

 

[Sharma]

I wonder if this only affects the UK? Or is this starting to creep out worldwide?

I'll be glad to move to Australia soon safe in the knowledge that the UK is going to collapse in on itself with a massive unemployment rate and a shoddy system while i'm quite happily not there and living in a half arsed country.

 

[tris-]

and when there's a calculation to do, they give you the formula!

to be fair thats still done in degree/masters level, though not so obviously. usually on an attached sheet with symbols instead of words, but there all the same.

 

[dysfunction]

There's one there in the hard section where they ask where visible light sits in the electromagnetic spectrum and they give you the spectrum right above the (multi-choice!) answer.

Its in the easy section not the hard one.

But it is still a bit simple. I wonder how many got that question wrong!

 

[Draylor]

When I see the usual "dumbing down" stories I usually took it with a pinch of salt

Why? Did you honestly believe kids get smarter every single year? Or that teachers getting better every year?

Nah, sometimes the obvious answer really is the right one.

I really shouldnt comment on easy exam papers though, having once sat an English exam with a bunch of questions on the subject of childrens TV ...

 

[Louster]

to be fair thats still done in degree/masters level, though not so obviously. usually on an attached sheet with symbols instead of words, but there all the same.

They do? I wish they did in my maths exams. In May I couldn't progress in a question, despite knowing the right routine, because my mind went blank on how to integrate tan - in a module where integration wasn't the actual point.

Also, a couple of years back while I was doing an access course combined with some other random stuff, I was sat in an English Lit class where I was the only non-middle-aged-woman, and yet I was the only person there who knew that Big Brother/Room 101 were from 1984, among other things. They were only familiar with the TV shows. That was kind of a shock. Being dumb isn't limited to our youth, apparently.

 

[Sharma]

Last edited by Draylor : Today at 10:46 AM. Reason: Yeah, smart move commenting on this thread whilst unable to speel ...

LOL.

 

[tris-]

They do?

i got them in my physics exam.
i know people doing masters in engineering and electrical engineering and they also got equations to reference to.

 

[mank!]

what's the answer?

i'd shoot the old biddy.

 

[JingleBells]

Thoughts of a Physics teacher: Wellington Grey -- Articles -- A physics teacher begs for his subject back: An open letter to the AQA board and the UK Department for Education

 

[Overdriven]

As somebody who's come out of these things a few years back (3-4 years now) there's actually alot more to the exams that people think. I mean, sure. Some of the questions are stupidly easy (WTF at question 5? O_O) and the idiots are getting it wrong.

But I know a few very smart people who can't sit under exam conditions (Expected straight As.. Came out with one) without getting paranoid/agitated and generally never fare-well in exams at all. (Hell, the only exams I did well in were the ones where I had to write 10-20 pages) It's the whole mentality of the thing. If you don't do well in GCSEs you're going to fail in life. They teach you for 2 years, saying they're the most important exams in your life.. But then, fail to teach you properly.

Hell, I came out with 1B, 1c and rest below that. (Religious Studies, English Lit and something else - Though I was expected straight Cs) - I hate exams, but oh well (Nice rant for me)

80% of all cases (IMO) it's not the kids getting dumber, it's just the fact that most of them are so scared about failing, they can't do it well enough. Oh well, glad I'm past that now.

 

[pez]

Why? Did you honestly believe kids get smarter every single year? Or that teachers getting better every year?

Nah, sometimes the obvious answer really is the right one.

I really shouldnt comment on easy exam papers though, having once sat an English exam with a bunch of questions on the subject of childrens TV ...

I don't believe exams are any easier i just think teaching is more specific. Teachers don't teach you about their subject they teach you how to pass the exams. No wonder results are getting better when all you learn is exactly what will be on the exam paper.

For example i bet if you took a bunch of history students who had been studying WW1 they could answer all kinds of questions about the Somme, the assination of franz ferdinand or poetry but not be able to point to Austria on a map or tell you anything of what the world was like in 1910.

 

[dysfunction]

I have noticed that some things that used to get taught at Uni are now included in the School Syllabus especially with regards to things like maths and science.

Like pez has said there seems to be more focus teaching (ie how to pass the exam) rather than teaching the subject and letting you get on with the exam.

I'm at odds with this because there is far too much knowledge out there to expect a school child to know and yet you don't want to spoon feed them either...

 

[Lazarus]

*shakes head in disbelief*

when I was a youngster.....we had to EARN the results. going by that paper, they would be as well just bypasing the exam and giving everyone a pass

 

[Draylor]

Teachers don't teach you about their subject they teach you how to pass the exams.

That hasnt changed in the last 10+ years. Sorry, you need a better reason than that to justify the continually improving results.

 

[bob269]

That hasnt changed in the last 10+ years. Sorry, you need a better reason than that to justify the continually improving results.

They maybe getting the grades but most lack common sense and basic maths abilities, i wouldn't employ based on grades alone.

 

[pez]

That hasnt changed in the last 10+ years. Sorry, you need a better reason than that to justify the continually improving results.

Improved teaching maybe?

I would expect 10+ years of experience, time and funding would improve teaching standards.

I just don't buy the whole, 'exams are easier now' spiel. In some areas i think they are, specifically the way science and maths has been broken up in to modules.

I know anecdotal evidence should be taken with a pinch of salt but 32 years ago when my dad took his French spoken exam he sat there in the same room while the kid in front was asked the exact same questions and then corrected by the teacher 5 minutes before his turn. Suffice to say he passed that exam with flying colours.

 

[Gumbo]

I employ on experience and 'gut feeling'. I don't look at the exam results of anyone who has done their exams in the last 10 years.

I'm sorry, but as an employer, yes, GCSE's and A levels are now worthless.

 

[ST^]

pez, come off it. GCSE's are piss these days. Pretty much a known fact to just about everyone.

I just don't understand how anyone involved in running our education system thinks it's a good idea to falsely raise students grades like this.

 

[Tom]

Too much emphasis placed on exams these days tbfh.

Fact is you can speak with any number of 50 year olds, and find a large percentage of them that are thick as pig shit, can't write, can't spell, and can't add up.

 

[00dave]

even if the exams aren't getting easier people still over look the fact that students are choosing pointless easy subjects. Obviously this applies mostly to A levels but I was watching the news when the results came out and some smiling teenager opens her results and reads out "I got an A in sociology, an A in drama, and a B in English" Sociology? Drama? why do they even teach these subjects. When I was studying for A levels it was science, business and finance, add to that retaking maths GCSE thanks to a fuck up with the papers, driving lessons and a part time job. As it was I ended up dropping out and taking the job route but I still feel I achieved more with my ungraded science exam than getting an A in drama.

 

[Ch3tan]

As somebody who's come out of these things a few years back (3-4 years now) there's actually alot more to the exams that people think. I mean, sure. Some of the questions are stupidly easy (WTF at question 5? O_O) and the idiots are getting it wrong.

But I know a few very smart people who can't sit under exam conditions (Expected straight As.. Came out with one) without getting paranoid/agitated and generally never fare-well in exams at all. (Hell, the only exams I did well in were the ones where I had to write 10-20 pages) It's the whole mentality of the thing. If you don't do well in GCSEs you're going to fail in life. They teach you for 2 years, saying they're the most important exams in your life.. But then, fail to teach you properly.

Hell, I came out with 1B, 1c and rest below that. (Religious Studies, English Lit and something else - Though I was expected straight Cs) - I hate exams, but oh well (Nice rant for me)

80% of all cases (IMO) it's not the kids getting dumber, it's just the fact that most of them are so scared about failing, they can't do it well enough. Oh well, glad I'm past that now.

what bollocks, if they were taught properly, or had the will to learn then they wouldn't be scared in the first place.

 

[Samaroon|Terracotta]

Holy shit man, I only done my GCSE's last year, but this years... I'm speechless. Question 3 and 5, wow.

 

[DaGaffer]

Holy shit man, I only done my GCSE's last year, but this years... I'm speechless. Question 3 and 5, wow.

How about, conjugate the verb, "to have"

 

[bob269]

Question 9 is a tough one

Well i could pass that exam with flying colours, having no physics training, purely on common sense and my age/experience. So i guess i could take some GSCE's at Adult learning, do a higher degree (hopefully this is still a little more taxing) and land a well paid job without studying

 

[Everz]

i got B/C/C i did seperate sciences

B for Biology - Ace
C for Chemistry - Expected (no real teacher for the whole course)
C for Psychics - Meant to be an A.. oO

I am one of those people who panic and forget things in exams, if i cant answer one question then my mind goes blank for every other one and i cant remember anything, hence why i came out with a A in english lit when i was predicted a C cos i could just look a right, and some kids can panic because they think if they dont hit the grade then thats it, i know, i felt like this, if i didnt hit this then that was it, most nights before exams i would revise without sleep because i couldnt stop incase i forgot this etc. Hence why some of my rubbish science results because i went over the top of revising for them and heavily panicked/nervous about doing the exam. Whilst looking at what i got a good result in, e.g. English i didnt even revise. I turned up to the exam having only read an idea essay and the book for the paper, i didnt have a care whether i passed at C or A for this aslong as the pass was on paper, and because of the lack of nerves and care i walked the exam with a clear head and had no problems.

If you can make anything from the mumbo jumbo, its that people arent thicker etc, its just it seems like the pressure is that immense, if you really want that subject at a good grade, the stress is really bad, like OD said, as you can tell ive myself just came outta gcse's (even though i passed all of my subjects at a decent grade) it was the most pressured rised time ever , i was constantly told if i screw these up ill end ruining my life that it wouldnt be worth bothering and that these 2 years are the most important of your life, it all adds up and piles on to the end. I'm glad there over, and looking forward to a-levels