A level grade leak

My DD did a Nurse Prescribers course a couple of years ago. She had to get 100 per cent in the maths questions in order to pass.

According to BBC news there were less A grades this year than last. But 2001 was a low birth rate year...I know as DS got his A level results this morning and he has been in classes of 17 pupils, whereas DGS has 34 in his class.
His was also the last year to take AS levels.

Obviously grades need to be adjusted with regard to the dufficulty of the paper, but
I feel this paper must have been too difficult, and left students feeling disheartened, rather than satisfied that they had shown what they were capable of.

Pittcity it’s the % that’s fallen - to use absolute numbers would be a bit silly for comparative purposes wouldn’t it? The innumerate journalists we suffer use words carelessly.

allule yes I think many students were upset after their exams but the grade awarded because of the use of grade boundaries will reflect their relative achievements and I’m sure getting the grade they deserve this morning will have banished all the upset felt straight after the exams.

april with all respect to your daughter, she was being tested on her arithmetic and ability to manipulate numbers, not her mathematics.

The reduction in pass levels has been going on for 20 years at least. A Professor friend who lectured at a top level University was so fed up being asked to reduce his pass levels that he emigrated to Canada. That was 1999.

My DD did both nursing and midwifery degrees. In both she was expected to pass maths modules or would not have been able to continue her degrees. Perhaps medics have to do similar?

Regarding maths my husband obtained O level Maths in mid sixties and used his trigonometry learned for that on building sites throughout his working life.

On sites he had A level students and indeed maths graduates through 1970-90s who couldn’t do what he could do without insisting on calculators and computers to help them.

These exams should be scrapped absolute rubbish. Surely someone can come up with something that’s less stressful. Rediculous and old fashioned.

Suziewoozie has explained the process very well. It is indeed far more fair to set grade boundaries carefully each year taking into account all relevant information including the relative demand of the questions and the characteristics of that year's cohort. It is intended to ensure that candidates get the correct award no matter which year they sit the exam and is, on the whole, very successful at doing so.
A huge amount of effort and expertise goes into setting the exams, marking, quality assuring the marking, and setting the grade boundaries each year.
Various qualifications bodies explain the process on their website:
qualifications.pearson.com/en/support/support-topics/results-certification/understanding-marks-and-grades.html
www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/files_ccc/A_Guide_to_Setting_Grade_Boundaries_v1.3.pdf

SheilaSue How would you assess how a couple of hundred students knew all they should know of what you had taught them, and could apply the mathematics involved in all possible situations - most of those situations stressful? I am sure the examining boards would be grateful for all solutions.

I agree that an A pass should be a great deal higher than 55%, but I don't see the relevance of maths to medicine. Most GPs look the correct dosage up in MIMS or another pharmaceutical catalogue.

Multiply up my numbers - I was thinking of the students in one school, not schools throughout the country. When thinking up alternative ways to test, be sure to remember that for each exam each year, marking standards should not vary between one school and the next, or be biassed by the markers knowing the pupls personally.

I was moaning to a doctor friend one day that I always end up having to tell my GP what I want done and my friend said well always remember they may have only passed their medical exams with 50% so they only know half.

According to the Times A level maths pupils only need a mark of 14% to pass this year in one exam board.

This is nonsense. The exam surely must be too hard. 14% is meaningless. Maths is a rigorous subject and for a pass to mean anything it should mean the candidate got a minimum of 50%.

When I sat my Highers there were only three pass grades. I think we were told that an A grade needed 80%, B grade 65% and C grade 50%. If you got between 40% and 50% a pass at Lower Maths was awarded.

In Scotland at that time Highers and Lowers were both taken in the fifth year so if you were good at a subject you would be entered at the Higher level. Giving "a Lower out of a Higher" as it was called at least ensured that someone who was borderline didn't end up with nothing. Most people who ended up with a Lower would have gone on to resit the exam at the Higher level.

grandtanteJE65 My DD is a nurse. As an example of why mathematics is important for doctors and nurses, she has to be able to calculate how much of a specific medication to draw into a syringe, and then how much water to add to bring it to the correct amount to keep a syringe driver going for the time required while delivering the correct dosage of - say - morphine to the patient. There is obviously no room for error in such calculations...!

varian I don’t know how old you are and I know you are referring to the Scottish system. I took my A levels 54 years ago and the world was a very different place - I wouldn’t dream of drawing any comparisons. A very small % took A levels and the whole format and structure was very different and aimed at a much more tightly defined group, I do know though that norm referencing was practised even then ( ie setting grade boundaries although it would not have been called that then). There was nothing like the transparency we have now but if examiners from the 60s were around, they would tell of shifting the pass mark to broadly reflect the norm of previous years. But we wouldn’t have known of this. This year’s A level cohort also faced a very different GCSE maths exam ( don’t know about other subjects) and in general the exam system has been subject to much upheaval over the years which is difficult for all the players in the system. Of course there will be much analysis but it’s not so much what % the pass mark is but what it’s a % of . It’s easy getting 90% of something simple

But Sue that’s not A level Maths - honestly it isn’t. The point is that in many jobs you need to be numerate, to be able to calculate, manipulate numbers but you don’t need an A level in maths. What I hope all medics and nurses ( in fact all clinical staff) come out of their training with is the ability to read and evaluate a research paper.

I can state, categorically, that in my subject at least, exams have NOT been dumbed down and in fact are harder than the O or A levels we took. I am an examiner in this subject in addition to being a teacher of it.

On top of this, in my subject, teaching required knowledge for the exam is exceedingly boring, unlike the pre Govian exams. This is borne out in a reduction of students taking A level in this subject.

Finally, as both an overseas and UK teacher, A Levels are THE gold standard. More than International Baccalaureate. I wish we didn't have the furore over exam quality every year. It's based on a rose tinted spectacled/arrogant view of the past and devalues the exceptionally hard work some students put in.

Maths or Arithmetic? Link to a list of questions in past A-level Maths exam papers on different modules.
www.physicsandmathstutor.com/a-level-maths/past-paper-questions-by-topic/
Click on any module to see a more detailed list on which a pupil may be questioned. They would need to be competent in ALL of these when they sit the exam. This is Maths, not Arithmetic. Calculating drug doses allowing for various influences is not easy, but it is Arithmetic, not Maths, no matter what it is colloquially called.

I just thought I would add a factual definition of what exactly is in a Maths exam.

Maddyone totally agree with everything you say. ( similar experiences)

'Sad day when a thread descends to telling various posters that their contribution, by announcing 'those who do know what they are talking about' is deemed nonsense. We each have our experiences and opinions, and as one who has been involved in education, both in schools and universities, for over thirty years, I wanted to express my thoughts. I am not alone I am sure on this thread of feeling that GN is becoming aggressive and confrontational when there is no need.

suziewoozie. Very helpful. Thanks,

Re medics/doctors and standards, there are good and bad. There is no doubt that it has become easier to become a Doctor than 30 years ago. But we have always had a rather strange idea that Doctors are amazingly clever, which is definitely not true as a Doctor made a point of telling me when I was 18.