shm

Junior college students: If you did really well at your A-level examinations in the last few years, give yourself a pat on the back. But don't get carried away — a British government adviser on education has become the first official to admit that the A levels are getting easier.

Sir Peter Williams, who was appointed last week by new Prime Minister Gordon Brown to review the teaching of maths in primary schools, said the A-level test standard had been slipping for a "long period of time".

Said the distinguished academic and businessman: "Over 20 or 30 years, I don't think there is any doubt whatsoever that A-level standards have fallen. They have edged south, continuously over a long period of time."

The idea that A levels are getting easier is a widely held perception, he added, but in the subjects of physics and maths it is also a "testable fact".

Looking at maths exam papers, Sir Peter, who is Chancellor of Leicester University, found that A-level students faced equations today that required less depth of knowledge and understanding than in the past.

His comments are significant because the government has always maintained that improving exam results are due to better teaching and pupil effort, not the tests becoming easier.

Ministers were accused of "dumbing down" the tests last week after it emerged that up to half of the marks in the English test would be awarded for skills as basic as punctuation. Pupils will also face multiple choice questions as part of the exam.

A recent study carried out at the Durham University's CEM centre has suggested a dramatic decline in maths standards.

For nearly two decades, up to 50,000 pupils a year have taken the same ability test before facing A levels. Researchers found that, in most subjects, pupils of the same ability achieved two grades higher in their A levels last year than in 1988.

Sir Peter, though, said that he did not think the decline "disastrous", and that the tests still had merit as gauges of ability — just needing "fine tuning" with optional, tougher questions, rather than being completely changed.

"I believe that, with some more stretch and challenge inserted into it, the A level is still the right vehicle," he added. - TODAY/ra

genzo2106

well if the A levels have indeed gotten easier per se, we shld be gettg more students scoring straight 'A's..but i dnt see this happening..so at least the standard is still there

Life is full of ups and downs. But one has to learn how to stand up on his own and continue his path to attaining enlightment...:mellow3: :mellow3:

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finaldust

lol maybe is students r becoming more slacking bah

to fall in love is always easy
to start a relationship is always simple
to build it, is always tough
to maintain it, is 'better said than done'
to break off, is 'easier said than done'
to remain friends after u broke off, is never possible
to forget the memories is 'always doing but never succeeding'
to heal the pain within is hard and tough and never near simple
but one has to try to heal your own heart...

shm

it is really difficult to say whether their standard got drop or not.

Fool

maybe its a wake up call for students... paper getting easier still nv score straight A's...

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matchstickheaven

there are a lot of students who scored straight A's. In the top jc's, more than half of the cohort scored straight A's

uyen

need to put in more effort in studies.

人情味不是偏私而是博爱，

不是施舍而是关怀。

不是表面的礼貌，

而是内心的尊重。

Friends will bail you out of jail.but Best Friends will be sitting by you saying,
" that was awesome !"

sgelite

Maybe the examiners and education board people ought to pull up their socks. Afterall, they are slipping not the students. I feel for the children of today because throughout their childhood they are so involved with paper chase.

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