MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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Did you actually read the article?
The allegation (according to the biology teacher I sat next to earlier today) is that the topic areas and depth of knowledge detailed in the specification were not tested by the exam. Not sure what extra study you think they should have done.
The kiddies are going to be even more angry when they discover that facebook isn't the official channel to lodge a concern 🙂
Yes convert but they are not complain about the syllabus but due to the exam questions were different to previous papers.
What they had been revising is how answer the questions they were Expecting???!
That is a joke as it used to be that you would study the subject and not previous papers-wait till they hit uni and they will be complaining even more.
I have it on good authority that a chief examiner was in trouble after one of last years AS papers which was rubbish too and this guy had written this exam (they are written far in advance). Not seen it myslef as I'm offsick.
Anyway they couldnt have been looking at memorising past papers as its the first time this syllabus has been examined.
To be fair it's a bit of both - the fact remain that the syllabus content and relation to the exam in question is what is being appealed by a number of schools (the proper way - no via facebook!)
Blimey though - you must be of an age. We were certainly shown past papers in the run up to A level exams when I was a nipper; and that was 30 years ago!
Zaskar, read the article!!
"mismatch between what they had been taught and the content of the questions they found on the exam paper."
There were no past papers because it was the first year that spec had been used, there were specimen papers but there is a pretty big difference between knowing the information and being able to write it down in the way the exam board wants you to.
Also, I'm in my second year at uni, its no different from college in the revision aspect, loads of past papers to look at its just youre required to do some more work off your own back.
My OH *might* have some better quality info, I'll try to remember to ask here tonight.
Certainly one of the quotes on the bbc link sounds like they're complaining that specimen questions weren't on the paper (as has been said, study the subject, not the paper...).
At uni or otherwise we had what were effectively 'specimen papers' - ie past papers - but you know the questions they asked wouldn't appear (tho' if you looked at an alternate year you'd find something similar).
>being able to write it down in the way the exam board wants you to
I'm a bit puzzled, with science it's a bit of an open and shut case in my experience (which is why I liked it) - no weasel words/interpretation involved.
as has been said, study the subject, not the paper
but to get the best results, do both! It helps to practice answering the questions as economically as possible
I know but it seems it is getting too easy to avoid the actual syllabus and study is my point.
I know if past papers existed they can give you an idea into the style of questioning not the type of question!
Exams should test anything that is not stated on the syllabus.
Yes, if I was student I'd be upset too but it's our fault for the letting A'levels get that way and grading teachers/schools for the student grades rather than teaching a balance.
I have exams coming and have no idea of what will be in there except it will be from what I have been taught.
Sorry if I wasn't clear.
There are new specifications for many A levels this year. It sounds like the exam questions weren't asking about what was on the specification.
Imagine a mountain bike A level. You study a syllabus which says to study Welsh trail centres, suspension forks and dérailleur gears. In the exam you're asked "what tyres for rigid SS at Glentress?"
Glentress is a trail centre and therefore it has similar trail conditions to those found in Welsh trail centres.
Suspension forks serve to provide comfort and control over rough ground and trail obstacles.
Due to the nature of the trails one would expect to encounter at Glentress, having experienced the Welsh trail centres, a large volume tyre would suffice in place of suspension forks on a rigid bike.
Trail centres are known to lack loose technical climbs and steep ascents and are therefore inherently suitable for singlespeeds, the use of which avoids the problems and complexity of dérailleur gears.
With a tyre of suitable grip a singlespeed would be more than adequate for most trail centres.
For these reasons and drawing on previous knowledge I would recommend the use of 2.35" Schwalbe Fat Albert tyres for a rigid SS at glentress.
I'm a bit puzzled, with science it's a bit of an open and shut case in my experience (which is why I liked it) - no weasel words/interpretation involved.
it was about shrews, not weasels
😀
Exams should test anything that is not stated on the syllabus.
welcome to your biology A level!
1) describe the major features of Brian Clough's management of Nottingham Forest 1985-1995
2) give an account of quantum electron energy states and their relevance to classical valency
etc
I remember my 16+ Geography exam - we'd spent yonks going through glaciation and formation of land areas by physical processes and urban planning to find that most of the questions were on types of weather. Almost all of us from that course failed the exam.
I've always found that taking using past papers to prepare you for an exam (after studying and revising of course) to be one of the best ways to actually passing it.
Admittedly my last exam (2 full days) was in 1998 and I had to submit a 15,000 case study, a 5,000 word career evaluation, a home based (40 hour) fee proposal exam and attend a viva, so I might not be quite up to current exam practices.
My A-level history teacher still had flashbacks about a student of his who, after spending 2 years studying the French revolution, napoleonic France, and British political history from 1815 to 1890 settled down in his A-level history paper, ignored the questions that related to things he'd been taught and proceeded to try to answer a question about the influence of rock and roll on British culture. 🙂
Your history based career evaporated about that time did it?
Its a very common error in exams for people to give perfect answers to questions that were in last years paper on that topic.
Although that attitude will set them up nicely for university. I remember at Leeds the only thing that used to change between maths exams from year to year were the numbers. Still got 4% in Advanced Linear Algebra.
23% is the pass rate for a GCSE maths paper these days. Our kids are doomed! How are the Universities going to tell who to pick when all the kids have A*****+++++++(super-dooper to the power of 100) grades! In a global market place I fear our kids will be laughed out of the interview room.
And what grade do you think you might get for 23%? Not all passes are equal you know - a G grade constitutes a pass in that it is not an unclassified (U). You are are not going to get very far with that "pass" on your UCAS form so the world is not yet doomed!
The Pass mark for this year was reduced by 8% for a grade C to 42% otherwise the pass figures would of been dire, so bad in fact they didn't even consider leaving the pass mark at 50%.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1158768.ece
we're taught to pass the exams, not to appreciate the subject and develop a solid understanding. So, if their failure was to base their answers on previous examples it is more to do with the pressures of teaching given by politicians, over demanding parents and clueless examining boards. It is the quickest and easiest way to get a good grade.
But, yes, the paper was unfair. It's the same story with my degree course at the moment, and i guess for any post-doc work i take too. And, i'll make a big general assumption that this was done in the 50s when the British education system was the [i]force de rigeur[/i] that it obviously is not today...
The Pass mark for this year was reduced by 8% for a grade C to 42% otherwise the pass figures would of been dire, so bad in fact they didn't even consider leaving the pass mark at 50%.
They did that this year? Wow, the Times is good writing about it in 2003 then.
Grade boundaries have always been moved to take account of differences in exam difficulty.
Zaskar- 'Exams should test anything that is not stated on the syllabus.'??? I'm assuming a typo here.
I have not seen the specification, or the paper in question. I am a biology teacher.
If material/ content/ concepts etc are not in the specification they should not be assessed. However, it is accepted that the first year of any new specification is going to be difficult, and allowances should be made for this by the examining body to ensure consistency from one year to the next. How and when this takes place I'm not clued up enough to know about to know enough about to comment, so I won't. Having said that though, I believe that referencing of one kind or another plays a major role.
Any teacher/lecturer worth their salt will spend time preparing students for their examinations. This will inevitably involve the use of materials published by the exam board- and if the materials the board provide as exemplars do not match the assessment criteria then I believe that there may be grounds for a valid complaint.
Facebook and other social networking sites may work well to help garner opinion and raise awareness. However IMHO it will probably be better to enrol the support of the schools/ colleges systems when it comes to communicating with the exam boards.
is how answer the questions they were Expecting???!
ive been doing this for years through school and my first undergrad, never did me any harm and its only on my new course where there arent past papers made available and they actively prevent question spotting where things have changed
Munro "The kiddies are going to be even more angry when they discover that facebook isn't the official channel to lodge a concern"
MrsG teaches A level economics and business. Her students now have facebook revision group that is very active in assking/answering relevant questions. When it was snowing and there was no school she got them all working in the evenings via the Facebook group. It's a different world to when we were at school.
To be fair though the new GCSE and A-level exams and syllabus are shocking. Absolute pap. The kids were looking for an idea how it might work from examplar papers ad knowong how the Chemistry one went got absolutly no help with question style. There are a surprising number of marks which are related to questions which have to be answered a specific way no matter how the question may read..
That is a joke as it used to be that you would study the subject and not previous papers-wait till they hit uni and they will be complaining even more.[i]...is how answer the questions they were Expecting???![/i]
ive been doing this for years through school and my first undergrad, never did me any harm
I teach at a uni as part of my job. Seems that the accepted way forward is question-spotting and finding the means, through appeal due to "family emergencies", of not taking all exams at the same sitting.
I used to share a unit with another guy - he had a very regimented (and predictably rotating) way of teaching & examining and students used to do very well in the unit. One year he accidentally set the papers in the "wrong" order and they had to answer questions that were expected to crop up on the resit paper. Outcome was utter mayhem and record levels of complaints, appeals and general angst. Oh, and mass failure - over half of the year had to resit which buggered up their first jobs (final year & delayed graduation).
still, made a few people open their eyes