I disagree. Exams are easier than they were 5, 10, 20 years ago.

Having said that, it is important to remember that this does not mean that children are less intelligent than they were, and neither they nor their teachers should be blamed for the apparent need for every child to be given top marks. It’s the Americanization of our school system, where no child can be allowed to fail. I wonder how long before our children ‘graduate’ from school?

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I don’t know if exams are easier. It is subjective. Lets look at some objective tests. In 1979 I began at King’s College, London to study Law. I needed 2 Bs and a C at A level. There were 100 places on my course and maybe 1500-2000 nationwide. King’s is one of the best Law courses in the country. (8th best University nationwide in the most recent league table). Now there are thousands of places in many more colleges. I think As are required for any Law course. When I was at college the only course that required 3 As were medicine and maybe Vet. Science.

This is supply and demand. There are many more places and the grades required are higher, ergo, the exams must be being marked lower. Please disprove dispassionately and objectively. I have no axe to grind. I have spend 25 years in the City of London.

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It’s difficult to say that exams are getting easier without hard evidence. What we have to look at is the facts and conclude based on the facts.

Increasing numbers of people are passing exams with higher grades, in more subjects. With these facts we have to analyse how this change has taken place.

Many subjects have become ‘modular’ so you can re-sit failed or low graded modules with opportunity to get higher grades. This was not previously an option!

It was not possible in normal circumstances to take more than 3 A-levels, now its normal to sit 4, with similar changes also occurring in GCSE’s.

Also with the change in the A-level system, where you acquire an AS-level after year 1, which is upgraded to an A-level after year 2, causing an increase in pass rates. When I was studying A-levels, if you were to drop out after the first year, then it was game over…. you left with nothing. Now you are handed an AS-level as a reward for not having the commitment to complete the course you signed up to.

So there are changes… but who am I to question the changes? I certainly cannot say that exams are easier (as I haven’t seen recent exam papers!). However, based on the information available to me, it does look like changes have positively affected results.

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Perhaps our teenblogger can elaborate on what criteria she uses to form her opinion that exams are not getting easier. As a member of the ‘older generation’, who sat these exams 25 years ago, and who now takes a keen interest in my childrens’ education, I feel reasonably confident in saying she is most certainly deluded. The exams are far easier now, and the general standard of our childrens education is sadly nowhere near as good as it once was.

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I’d be interested to know what evidence Julian and Andrew have for asserting that exams are easier nowadays.
Andrew tells us that many employers “tell me that there employee seemed to have it on paper but was actually clueless when it came to putting all what they had learned in to practice.” This suggests that Andrew must have an important job where he speaks regularly with employers. Yet he has obtained his success without having to write good English. In his comment he forgets to start sentences with capital letters, confuses full stops and commas, writes “I’m” as “im” and misspells “their” as “there”.

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I think the issue here is coaching. When I took my A levels just over three years ago I couldn’t help feeling I was being told how to pass an exam rather than being provided with a comprehensive knowledge of my subject. This has left students unprepared for university whilst lecturers have had to adapt their approach to teaching in order to cope with expanding class sizes. An older lecturer of mine lamented the time when ‘universities were academic institutions’ and could treat students individually. Students are simply a statistic now, another point on the pass percentage for the goverment or extra tuition fees for a VC. I would also question the ideology of target setting which is perpetuated by the government. Why should half of school leavers attend university? Are they actually capable of degree level study? Where is the logic in an individual being accepted onto a course at degree level with anything less than an A grade A Level in their chosen subject? It increases student numbers, which coincidentally lowers youth unemployment. It seems an attempt to undermine the status of a degree in an effort to create a vast middle class but in reality it seems to merely spread resources far and wide. Why not offer unconditional grants to the best students and let those looking for three years drinking fund their own ‘studies’. I’d rather have a meritocratic society than a glibly egalitarian one.

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Theres all these peaple sayin that exams are gettin easyer, but what do they no they havernt taken exams for about 10 to 20 years so they dont no if there easyer or harder.

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My response to roger smith all jobs are important are they not??
i admit i do not excell on the computer key board my spelling is not to good either, but i am now running two businesses so alls not lost , and i havent just taken my exams like the blogger and others . and i do mix with employers on a daily basis and they do tell me that they are amazed at the grades some students are getting, it is not possible to have such a high pass rate , make your point mr smith with out doing it with a rather poor cheap shot.

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I did my A-levels in 1982, and every single year without fail, we get told that exams passes as getting better. It always makes me smile, as I’m not sure whether this makes me the “last of the thickies”, or does it show that exams have got easier after all? I kept past copies of my exam papers and showed it to some of my rellies who took the same exams a few years ago. Interestingly, they didn’t have a clue how to answer my old questions, even though they had spent over 2 years studying those subjects! Modern students do appear to have a far greater grasp of “life skills” upon leaving school, but I think that the depth and knowledge gained nowadays in specific subjects leaves alot to be desired.

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There is little evidence in the posts above of exams getting easier or harder. Just tit-for-tat exchanges of insults.

We have to accept that there are many differences in modern teaching techniques, technologies used and assessment/marking methods. With none of these proving one way or another that exams have changed in difficulty.

It is however clear that students these days are coached in exam technique rather than learning hard facts to the depth that they were years ago, but then freedom of interpretation is now much more acceptable and even encouraged. Students now have greater life skills and now come out of school with higher expectations and aspirations, which although not always backed up with academic ability does give the motivation to succeed with their chosen career.

At the end of the day, employers do not look at A-Level results (I say this as both an employer, and as a university dropout that was seeking employment armed with A-levels. These academic qualifications are a gateway to higher education and in most cases nothing more.

Skills learned at school have changed, accept it. In the 60s I’m sure you could calculate Pi to a thousand decimal places in your head in 10 seconds, and these days people cant. However, your average 8 year old can operate a computer much more proficiently than most 40 year olds, and in that 10 seconds not only would they have Pi to a million decimal places, but they would also know the history behind it and a thousand theory’s surrounding it!

The point I make is….. is the tit-for-tat debate above relevant. Or should we welcome the changes?…. or are we massaging the egos of a load of politicians that are manipulating increasing pass rates in their favour?

x

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I understand what you are saying Andrew, but stress is an over-diagnosed condition that often self-diagnosed also. I dont think that relates to the levels of education… just modern day opportunity to sue anyone for anything even if the condition is entirely imagined! (if you cant do the job, then go and find one that you can!)

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yeah, but isn’t it all relative? I think it is possible that the academic route is much more common these days. In the past various other paths to success were respected. However at present if one does not attain even the most basic of degree it is considered socially unacceptable! Obviously the wrong attitude, though it does drive people to attain more formal qualifications. Therefore increasing the statistics. No? So perhaps GCSE’s are not getting easier. It’s just more children are being pushed into studying.

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