The whole exam grades thing.

[Ribenapigeon]

Is it as bad as the media say or are we watching lots of middle class types having hysterics because their little darlings might have to just leave off going to University for a year? Can't they just do their exams next year? Am I still in the age of pen and paper and not understanding the current problems of the digital yoof?

[Nobby the Bastard]

It's all about the expected bell curve and the fact that teachers have inflated grades.

My understanding isnt that the grades were inflated, but that the algorithm downgraded by school location etc and not the same bell curve applied equally.
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha:"Remember this simple rule - scooters are for men who like to feel the breeze on their huge, flapping cunt lips."
Sprint ST 1050

[Ribenapigeon]

[stinkwheel]

They do this exact moderating process every year, it's just based on the actual exam results rather than teacher predictions.

The top x% get an A, then next y% get a B and so-on, it's all down to the bell-curve and they vary the cut-off mark to achieve the gradings (then add a fraction of a percent so the incumbent government can crow about increased student performance under their rule).

The process they have used does exactly the same thing to give the same spread of results overall but they have done it in a complex fashion. Effectively they ignore the teachers actual predicted grade but take their ranking and assign grades based on this as a function of previous performance in that school.

So if a school has had 10% of their maths students awarded an A for the last 3 years, the top 10% of their students (according to the teachers rankings) are awarded an A under this system.

In a big school, this will be pretty fair. In a small pupil number school, it doesn't work so they have taken the teachers predicted grade.

Guess what? In shit schools with persistantly shit performance, they award shit marks.

It's unfair if you have a school that has significantly upped its game recently, got a shit-hot teacher etc. It's also unfair if you have a very gifted pupil in a crap school.

It seems that, on average, 40% of pupil marks have been over-estimated by teachers and those pupils have been down-moderated. It just so happens the poorer performing schools have over-graded students more.

Thing is, the computer is blind, there is no account taken of relative wealth of the schools or ethnic make-up. It's just looking at the raw numbers and the fact is, poorer areas return poorer results year-on year

Of course there is a lot of bawwing. People think (probably correctly) that if they baww loud enough, they will get a higher exam grade.

The solution to me would be to allow people not happy with their grading to sit an exam, or for unis to have an optional entrance exam this year.

The really interesting thing to my mind would be if someone legally challenged the result under the legislation for decisions made by algorithm and demanded a human assessment...
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[stinkwheel]

I'll add that I personally would have been totally screwed under this system.

I coasted all the way through school, did no homework or unecessary coursework, fucked about in class and did nothing but turn up for prelim exams making no real effort. However I quietly submitted gold-standard assessed coursework for the exam board and pulled it out of my arse for the actual exam.

Most of my teachers thought I was thick and I was constantly in trouble. My predicted grades were apalling. I finished as the top pupil and was awarded the dux medal. This caused a large amount of consternation in the school staff and there were actually moves to award it to someone else because "It's not fair, other people put a lot more work in". However the head teacher was adamant that it's not about how much work you put in, it's about the results you got. A life lesson right there.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[yen_powell]

When I was 14 I did my English Language O level. I was handed my mock results about 15 minutes before I went in to the real exam and it was a D or an E, talk about build a kid's confidence up. We did the exam early so we could spend the next year doing English Lit.

As it happens I got an A, imagine if my grade had been based on the mock. I'd have rather had the algorithm version, I bet it helped some of the A level students out who would have had rubbish results otherwise.

I failed the English Literature (ungraded), mostly owing to the fact I didn't actually read any of the books we were meant to, god there was some boring old pony to wade through, Henry the 4th part something or other, My Family and Other Animals, can't remember the rest they were so dull. Might have been a poem about dying for your country, not sure now.
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Blackmail is a nasty word........but not as nasty as phlegm!
XT1200Z and a DR350 in bits

[Ribenapigeon]

I got O level Eng lit and O level Biology then an A level in sculpture. All useless. The career adviser showed me how to fill in the A1 form which was far more useful, it was the form for claiming dole.

[Kawasaki Jimbo]

I remember one year my parents came back from parent's evening and they said the 'O' level biology teacher didn't even know I was in her class. I was a quiet kid but still... the old duffer! I had a maths teacher who hardly spoke a word, it was all about following the exercises in a textbook. I know OFSTED hasn't eliminated all the poor-performing teachers but those two would have been straight out the door.

This year it looks like the students have all won the lottery. They'll have to wait a bit longer before learning that life isn't fair.

[Polarbear]

It was fcuked when Scotland chickened out and awarded the teachers grading with no modifiers. Once that was done everyone was pretty well forced to follow suit.

I doubt there's a teacher in any school that didn't award their pupils the best grades they could get away with and then some.

And now they've got their way they are bawing about the fact it wasn't given straight away.
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[biker7]

You can inflate or deflate grades for one reason or another but a B student for instance, should be about the same intellect as one from last year, next year, another county etc. Otherwise the letters don't help much. An employer looking at CV's needs a level playing field.
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Swansea area
Fat Bob (2019)

[stinkwheel]

[Ribenapigeon]

[biker7]

If an employer sees B for English, he knows the applicant can probably write coherent sentences - if it was a D, maybe not. If for the job, and there are loads beneath med school, a decent command of English is an advantage, then yes, an employer is very interested. If the applicant has had grade inflated, he/she might not be up for the job. Not all jobs need basic skills but many do. There is a big variety between clever and dim! Most of us fit somewhere in between. No, accurate grading has a place in society. The best candidates have decent ability and a bit of 'common' too. What bugs me is politically correct grading. If you have 3 candidates, see them all. If you have 200 letters, grades are a start to short listing, so some accuracy is useful.
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Swansea area
Fat Bob (2019)

[yen_powell]

[Lord Percy]

[Polarbear]

AFAIK it's nothing to do with the government, it's the exam bodies that do it. There's way more than just one, so they are vying for the contracts and as so, one doesn't want to be way outside the parameters of the others.

Too many high passes and it detracts from the exam kudos. Too many low and it looks like they are setting papers badly.

Universities obviously look long and hard at the results and they are the first to say if they are not happy with what they are seeing.

As much as I would like to consign Gove to the Slough of Despond in this case I don't think you can pin too much of this on him.
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[MCN]

[Ribenapigeon]

[Lord Percy]

[Ribenapigeon]

[stinkwheel]

[Diggs]

[Polarbear]

[Easy-X]

I can sympathise with the kids. Based on predictions I should have done much worse in my exams, especially A-Levels.
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Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Polarbear]