Imperial College ditches A Levels: sets its own entry exam

[Falcon]

Have the students in recent years been getting smarter or the exams being dumbed down?? The amount of A's sure meets the targets set by the various government bodies....insert conspiracy theory here....

This is Imperial: not a mickey mouse university........albeit not Cambridge. 8-)



One of Britain's leading universities is to introduce an entrance exam for all students applying to study there from 2010 because it believes that A levels no longer provide it with a viable way to select the best students.

Sir Richard Sykes, Rector of Imperial College, London, suggested that grade inflation at A level meant that so many students now got straight As that it had become almost “worthless” as a way of discriminating between the talented and the well drilled.

Last year one in four A-level marks was a grade A and 10 per cent of A-level students achieved at least three As.

“We can't rely on A levels any more. Everybody who applies has got three or four As. They [A levels] are not very useful.
The International Baccalaureate is useful but again this is just a benchmark,” Sir Richard said.

source article (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/education/article4061535.ece)

[Huma]

Well this real funny in light of recent comments.

Real funny.

Now that developed folks rejecting it, lewwe see if the tide suddenly changes...

[Falcon]

not quite.

if you reject something sub-optimal and then replace it with an even more obscure, non-equivalent, non globally competitive exam..................

[oecarb]

not quite.

if you reject something sub-optimal and then replace it with an even more obscure, non-equivalent, non globally competitive exam..................

They don't make them like they used to, Falcs. A few years ago I decided to enrol on a part-time degree course in Computer Science. I couldn't believe how little work I needed to do to get straight As.

But them young people now getting four and five A levels (A grade). When I was doing my A levels, we buss book no ass and all I could scrape up was a A,B and a C. Something definitely not adding up.

One theory is that the politicians getting the examiners to lower the pass mark so it would look like more people passing and they could take the credit. I believe that must have some truth in it.

[Falcon]

Oecarb, there's a policy with a catch phrase 'no child left behind' or something like that.......I think that's the one...

[Somebody007]

not quite.

if you reject something sub-optimal and then replace it with an even more obscure, non-equivalent, non globally competitive exam..................

They don't make them like they used to, Falcs. A few years ago I decided to enrol on a part-time degree course in Computer Science. I couldn't believe how little work I needed to do to get straight As.

But them young people now getting four and five A levels (A grade). When I was doing my A levels, we buss book no ass and all I could scrape up was a A,B and a C. Something definitely not adding up.

One theory is that the politicians getting the examiners to lower the pass mark so it would look like more people passing and they could take the credit. I believe that must have some truth in it.


Actually, in the UK a teacher at High School and University levels gain credits when children in their classrooms get high grades....so the more A's they have, the more like the teacher is to be rewarded either through a pay increase or promotion....something so it reads.......

[snowbird]

Sir Richard Sykes, Rector of Imperial College, London, suggested that grade inflation at A level meant that so many students now got straight As that it had become almost “worthless” as a way of discriminating between the talented and the well drilled.


In a previous discussion thread on those 'stolen exam papers' I shared that because of that 'panic' by both Principals and Students at not being able to write an exam on a particular scheduled day; the panic was almost like an athlete 'peaking' and had to run that race at that time or risk loosing that peak. My feeling was that these students were simply regurgitating not applying knowledge.

[reva]

falco, the way yuh talking bout cambridge i coulda swear you do your undergrad in cambridge. :o
doh worry boy, not all ah we coulda go imperial/foreign for undergrad. :mrgreen:

greetings.
just stopping by for a quick browse.
the forum had get lame after elections. ah goh come back in 2011 or whenever patos call a snap elections. haha.

[Falcon]

:lol:
I see the ladas, protons and skodas of the world still biting at Rolls Royce, but not to worry. 8-)

Just think of it like in high school in trini. When yuh do yuh CXC in a place, it kinds follows that yuh doing A-levels dey once you ent really mess up the dance. Same I guess for second rate Brit Unis, but you big up yuh Uni eh, cause if you ent do it, I ent know who will.

Ah know it hard when yuh do yuh bess bess and every morning yuh wake up to see that it was all a dream, yuh never really went Cambs or Ox...........doh worry, the dough yuh making now make up for all dat, ent?!! :D