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45% required for A at maths GCSE
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
whats going on?
i havent found much on the story, but this is the result of percentile based exam grading, where 10% of students get A*, 15% get A etc etc which kermit was saying the old A Levels we're like
i just think its noone bother with maths anymore cause "formula for solving quadratic equation doesnt matter in work" which it doesnt, but it there to teach logical thinking as well as argumentative thinking like in English
i havent found much on the story, but this is the result of percentile based exam grading, where 10% of students get A*, 15% get A etc etc which kermit was saying the old A Levels we're like
i just think its noone bother with maths anymore cause "formula for solving quadratic equation doesnt matter in work" which it doesnt, but it there to teach logical thinking as well as argumentative thinking like in English
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Comments
Maths GCSE can either be foundation, intermediate or higher. The higher paper is the most difficult therefore students do not need as high a percentage to pass. the other papers are aimed at students who are less able at maths (i think a B and a C or a D being the highest marks that can be gotten in those papers)
That specific example is crucial in functions concerning economics (growth), biology (again growth of cells and bacterias etc.) and construction (lengths and spaces)...
Math promotes logical and systematic thinking, but it is also a specific tool in other fields than accounting.
Either way, the British system confuses me more and more. I mean, I seriously doubt I'd get a top mark for getting 45% of a test correct. I think I'd rather be looking at the lower end or even the failed end of the scala.
Yay, the radio is currently playing Karma Police. Totally irrelevant, but I felt the need to tell someone - This is what you get when you meeeeeeeeeeeees with uuuuuuuuuus.
What the news articles don't state is how many people got over the 45% mark, and how many people were significantly below it. Given the tiering system in GCSEs in Higher Tier papers the pass "mark" is lower, as the paper is harder.
45% of a very difficult paper, of which only 10% of candidates got over 45%, doesn't mean that the grades are cheapened; it is actually harder to perform well on a hard paper, because confidence ios key to many candidates' performance.
The only thing that pass mark indicates to me is that the exam was badly written, and was too difficult for the standard examined. GCSEs are norm-referenced to the extent that the "pass mark" fluctuates according to how well everyone does on it; if everyone gets 80%, then the pass mark would be 96%, if everyone gets 20% then the pass mark would be 25%. If that makes any sense.
thats how norm referenced exams work, if the years clever the % required for each grades goes up until aroundd the same percentage than last year
and if the years thick the mark required goes down
must of been really hard paper and another year of more people deciding "GCSE maths - who needs that"
i wont make any judgement though unless i see the paper, and see what i done which i only got about 70% and got an A, that was 2001
thats how norm referenced exams work, if the years clever the % required for each grades goes up until aroundd the same percentage than last year
and if the years thick the mark required goes down
must of been really hard paper and another year of more people deciding "GCSE maths - who needs that"
i wont make any judgement though unless i see the paper, and see what i done which i only got about 70% and got an A, that was 2001
It depends, doesn't it. If it is a very hard exam, and consequently people do worse in it, then 45% isn't unreasonable. That's how norm-referencing works: it makes sure that people get the grade they deserve even if they are unlucky enough to have a very hard exam set for them.
Last years paper was about the same - pass mark of around 45%. The thing is the paper is solid and like has been said, the pass rate is lowered if less people do well on the paper. Just because the percentage is lowered it doesn't mean more people get good grades: it means a round about number of people get the right grades.
Compare this with the SATs, where over several years my parents, both teachers, have noted a marked decrease in the standards for the paper. This is government regulated, and they fiddle the figures to make it look like they're raising school standards. This is the area where exams are getting easier, not GCSE maths, where a lot of the material was stuff my father only studied at A-Level 30 years ago.
Are you being willfully stupid, or are you just not reading what I'm saying.
Each exam paper is different, yes?
As part of this difference, some years the questions set are slightly harder than in pervious years, and in some years the questions set are slightly easier than in pervious years.
Examinations are norm-referenced- this means that the mean mark you get in an exam is compared to all the other people taking this examination.
If most people get high scores in a paper, then the grade boundaries are adjusted upwards so that the proportions of people getting As, Bs, etc, remains roughly the same as in previous years. This happens if the exam paper is slightly easier than in pervious years- easier questions, but you need to get more marks.
If most people get low scores in a paper, then the grade boundaries are adjusted downwards so that the proportions remain the same. This happens if the paper is slightly harder than in previous years- you need fewer marks to get a grade, but it is more difficult to get these marks.
I would suggest that one reason that this paper was set at 45% was because people found it a difficult paper, and so people found it harder to get marks. Therefore the amount of marks required is lower, to compensate.
Have I said this slowly enough for you?