Monday 17 August 2009

'Monkeys could take A-levels' claim

A monkey could be trained to sit today's "Mickey Mouse" A-level questions, according to a survey of teachers.

The study by the social policy think tank Civitas also found that modular courses and resits are responsible for the rise in top A-level grades.

The A-level system allows today's students to get better results than they would have in the past, because they have more opportunities to succeed, teachers claim.

One director of A-levels, based in the North West, told researchers: "You could train a monkey to do the questions today."

Another head of sixth-form from the East Midlands said: "This is Mickey Mouse stuff - what they learn at A-level today is not sufficient for GCSE. The system is an absolute shambles. The standard of the candidates is very low - it's a national disgrace."

The survey is published just days before teenagers across the country receive their A-level results.

Last year, more than one in four grades (25.9%) were A grades, and that figure is expected to top 26% this summer.

The Civitas study, based on responses from 150 A-level teachers, found that not one thought that the rise in A grades was due to students being brighter.

More than four in 10 (43%) thought the reason for more top grades was that students are more informed about what will be in the exams.

Modular courses means students are tested at the end of each "bitesize" section.


so what do you think? are people getting smarter or are exam getting easier? personally, i still think that most exam are a test of memory rather than a test of understanding or intelligence... i don't think a certificate is an exact measurement of one's intelligence... i've seen people who have a Degree but are dumb when they are in the real world... real world as in when they have started their job and also their social interaction...

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