Are school pupils getting more

[brenda]

intelligent year on year as the proliferation of A and A* Grades at A level would seem to indicate?
Are there not any average or mediocre pupils any longer. Where have they all gone?

This question is in no way meant to take away the success of A Graders in any way,but find it amazing that each year the results at A level get better and better.

[mollykins]

I know several people who'll probably fail most of their exams.

There was something on qi about how the average iq goes up every generation. Something like, the average person born in the mid to late 19th century would have the equivilent iq of about 70 or 80 I think.

[Hopkirk]

Which government would like to be in power when the achievements level declines?

[brenda]

Thank you for that molly, something to ponder on .

[tamborine]

Judging by the grammar/spelling/english usage I've observed I see standards woefully inadequate.

[woofgang]

me too. When I was at school a million years ago, 3 good grade A levels and the Oxbridge entrance exam got you into an Oxbridge coll and 2 good grade A levels got you into uni.

I think part of the problem is that we have lost sight of what these exams are for. The point of any testing for the student is to help children to learn to apply themselves in the learning process, to deal with stressful situations and to deliver under stress. the point of it for the uni/college/employer is to enable them to to make decisions about the people who will be most likely to do well in the courses they are offering and thus not to waste the places.
If the best academic students are getting 3 A's or 12 A's the same thing. Once you are in the next phase of education or are out in the workplace, school exam grades become irrelevant, we KNOW this. I am not saying this to denigrate kids result or hard work, I just don't think we have improved our intelligence so much in 30 odd years!

[buildersmate]

Come on, Brenda, you know the answer to this one. If in doubt, just ask Oxbridge why they don't merely accept the A level grades any longer as the required 'evidence' of capability.

[jno]

A levels don't measure intelligence, they measure education. If cars are better made than they were 50 years ago (and they certainly are), I don't think it's impossible that children are better taught now than they were then. It's difficult to compare, though, because they're taught different things (we didn't have computer training in my day, so more time to do history) and with different goals (success in education seems now to be calculated by how many graduates get jobs).

This writer sat an A-level at 37 and reports back that there were good things and bad things (her subject was English and of course no one subject can be representative of experiences in others):
http://www.guardian.c...17/took-a-level-at-37

[dzug2]

No - teachers are getting more expert at training average (and average plus) pupils to pass exams

[sophie_1003]

The main option presented to GCSE students is to go on to A-levels so increasing numbers of students do this.
The only option presented to A-level students is to go to university.
University places are limited therefore their requirements are pushed up e.g. 6 A*s to get into Oxbridge as opposed to 3 As.
So students (who have been told uni is the only route) take increasing numbers of A-levels to meet requirements and gain an edge on their peers.
University places get filled and next year the requirements will go up again creating a vicious circle.

[twix123]

There was a letter in the Telegraph this week from a doctor in Scotland, who informs his students that his A level grades were the same as the last three letters of the university they were studying at.... He was teaching at Dundee!

[sassy53]

I read quite recently a report on the percentage required to achieve a 'c' grade and it was 32% (admittedly this was for sociology A level) thus showing that the exams have not been dumbed down. Surely if a student can only achieve 32% this shouldn't even be a pass mark let alone a level 'c'. When I attended school in the 'hippy' sixties we had to achieve a 50% mark just to be awarded a pass at the lowest level.