Barely half marks needed for top A-level grade
STUDENTS can get almost half of the questions wrong and still get an A in some of the new “tougher” A-levels, leaked grade boundaries reveal.
Documents detailing pass marks required for two of the country’s biggest exam boards, OCR and Edexcel, surfaced online last night on the eve of results day.
Just 55 per cent is enough to achieve an A grade in the new OCR advanced biology A-level, the leaked documents show, while 59 per cent will obtain students an A in biology. It takes 66 per cent to secure an A in the reformed mathematics A-level, and 64 per cent in advanced physics.
Today students across the country will receive their A-level results, many of which have been redesigned with coursework and modules scrapped.
The package of reforms, initiated by Michael Gove when he was education secretary, followed concerns from universities that school leavers were insufficiently prepared for higher education.
Universities also complained that thousands of students were predicted As or A*s at A-levels and GCSES, mak- ing it impossible for them to pick out the top candidates.
To prevent students taking the new, harder exams this year being penalised, Ofqual is ensuring that the proportion of children awarded pass marks is roughly the same as last year through a process it calls “comparative outcomes”.
But experts have warned that artificially lowering the pass marks to ensure consistency between different
cohorts creates an illusion that students are doing better than they are. Thousands of students are expected to enter the clearing process after receiving their A-level results today.
A dip in applications has left even top ranking institutions, including most Russell Group universities, scrambling to fill places, as a decline in the population of 18-year-olds has led to applications to British universities falling by 1.6 per cent. It was estimated that there could be more than 30,000 vacant university places to choose from.
Students are being urged to enrol for two-year degrees through clearing, with some universities offering savings of up to £30,000.
Sir Anthony Seldon, the vice-chancellor at the University of Buckingham, which is one of the biggest providers of two-year degrees, said: “They were always a very good option but nobody talked about it and nobody knew about it. It appeared cranky and odd. But now it has entered the mainstream.”
Tuition fees for two-year degrees at a handful of universities – including Staffordshire and London Metropolitan – are £18,500, representing a considerable saving from the usual £27,750 for a three-year course. In London, living costs alone can be more than £20,000 per year, according to University College London analysis.
An OCR spokesman said the leak was “disappointing”, adding that the board did not officially release grade boundaries ahead of results day so as not to “add to pressure on students”.
Pearson, which owns Edexcel, said: “We set the grade boundaries for each exam paper each year. This ensures a fair system, so that students of the same ability will get the same grade in different years, even if there are marginal differences in the demand of papers.”
Ofqual said: “Grade boundaries have been set using statistics to carry forward standards from previous qualifications. Senior examiners have confirmed that the standard of work in each subject is appropriate for the grade.”