In the news today. This is the pathway to becoming an Engineer for many and considered "equivalent" to having completed a skilled apprenticeship by the educational establishment.
Now they tell us that the grade boundaries are moved depending on how easy/hard the exam is to ensure that the right number of people pass...
That's always been the case though Alasdair. Even when I was doing my A levels (ahem... many years ago ?) we were told by one of our teachers that there was a percentages ratio at play in there too. So they had to show for example 20% of students achieving A grade 20% at B, 30 at C etc etc. Which was unfortunate if you were the one that got downgraded to a lower grade simply as it lowered the percentages...
I also remember being told that you had to achieve a test mark of at least 45% to get any grade in the A level exams.
Another irritant of mine is that you never get your exam papers back to see what you've got right and wrong!! So you can go through your entire life thinking you know the answer as you passed your exam in it and yet that was one of the incorrect answers you gave... ?
Now they tell us that the grade boundaries are moved depending on how easy/hard the exam is to ensure that the right number of people pass...
That's always been the case though Alasdair. Even when I was doing my A levels (ahem... many years ago ?) we were told by one of our teachers that there was a percentages ratio at play in there too. So they had to show for example 20% of students achieving A grade 20% at B, 30 at C etc etc. Which was unfortunate if you were the one that got downgraded to a lower grade simply as it lowered the percentages...
I also remember being told that you had to achieve a test mark of at least 45% to get any grade in the A level exams.
Another irritant of mine is that you never get your exam papers back to see what you've got right and wrong!! So you can go through your entire life thinking you know the answer as you passed your exam in it and yet that was one of the incorrect answers you gave... ?
