All those moaning fucking cunts...
Who decide to ruin results day for schoolkids who actually studied hard and earned their grades by moaning that 'Exams are easier, that's why they did so well' should be forced to do the following.

1) Pick a subject which they stduied at GCSE (or equivalent) or A Level (or equivalent).
2) Publish, on the record, so any member of the public can see it, the mark they originally got.
3) Sit that years exam in their chosen subject. Under strict exam conditions. No revision necessary, the exam is easier now, they should walk it.
(williamthebloody, Thu 22 Sep 2011, 16:37, 14 replies)

This!
Very much this.
(The Empress it seems you CAN polish a turd!, Thu 22 Sep 2011, 16:51, closed)

Similarly
Kids who claim that this year's test isn't easier should be made to sit the tests from their parent's generation. Shouldn't be a problem, they've been learning it for two years after all.
( evil_andy Stick stick stick stick sticky sticky stick stick, Thu 22 Sep 2011, 16:53, closed)

Fair enough
I'll give you that one
(williamthebloody, Thu 22 Sep 2011, 17:01, closed)

And...
Can we have one exam board that everybody uses? None of this "this kid's a thickie, let's put him on the WJEC syllabus or he's doomed."
( shinyshinyscalp less a man, more a way of life, Thu 22 Sep 2011, 18:21, closed)

Goes without saying
Different for Scotland/England though (different qualifications)
(williamthebloody, Thu 22 Sep 2011, 18:29, closed)

Glad to
Where do I sign up?
( Ghoti Fingers, Thu 22 Sep 2011, 17:25, closed)

I have
to disagree.
My uncle is a Maths teacher.
I took GCSE maths years ago at school and got 'E'. I retook it. I got an 'E'.
A few years ago I went through a copy that my uncle got me; I got a 'B'.
(dchurch bah, Thu 22 Sep 2011, 18:03, closed)

That doesn't mean much though
I've just been through an example paper. An awful lot of the stuff in it is mental maths - the sort of thing you would expect to get better at as you get older and have more experience of actually applying percentages and fractions to the real world. For a good comparison, you would want to look at a paper in a subject you haven't used in the intervening time.
( MatJ LOOK, Fri 23 Sep 2011, 16:38, closed)

There
may be some truth in that. I don't recall using maths in that respect, although I had been a programmer for a fair few years at that point, so that alone may have changed the way I think about things and may have had an effect.
Although, I still consider my maths to be shite.
I just don't know.
...that said, the results have increased year on year since 1982. I'm fairly sure people in 1982 weren't as thick as pig shit.
(dchurch bah, Fri 23 Sep 2011, 19:59, closed)

I know my daughter's science lessons contain things that I did when I was two years younger
but then I didn't have to fill up the school day with lessons like 'responsible citizenship' and how to make powerpoint presentations so I expect it all gets diluted somewhere. I know I wouldn't fancy the calculus in 1960s GCE maths which I didn't have to look at until A-level physics.
( Rotating Wobbly Hat That's not a banana. THIS is a banana., Thu 22 Sep 2011, 19:08, closed)

Grow up you whining cunt.
I know that exams have become easier because, in the run up to my GCSEs, I took past papers many times as practice exams and guess what? They were harder.
As for taking the exams again, you give me a report on a book you read 20 years ago, and tell me an equation you haven't used for the same amount of time and I'll think about it.
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Thu 22 Sep 2011, 22:18, closed)

I've been a teacher and I've seen older exam papers
E.g. English papers from the 1960s. They were harder, no doubt about that.
(McChinaman banned, Fri 23 Sep 2011, 3:26, closed)

Bring it on
...and in my day, you didn't have 'modules' for A Levels, which meant you could do a draft version, get feedback from your teacher, then re-do it!!

No question were they harder in the old days. Let's see how far you get with your booklet of log tables eh?
(Che Grimsdale Best before:, Fri 23 Sep 2011, 12:33, closed)

Teenagers think everything is about them ...
which is why we get this argument every year. There shouldn't even be an argument. The results have been getting better every year for the last 20 or so. This can only be explained by grade inflation.

Teenagers: no-one is saying you didn't work hard for your 10 A stars. But do you imagine that every year for the last 20, teenagers worked harder at school than the cohort directly preceding them? If that's the case, why has no-one noticed all this extra pressure?

I'll repeat that: we are criticising this phenomenon of grade inflation. NOT you. Stop sulking.
(slowly play it cool, Trig, Sat 24 Sep 2011, 17:44, closed)