Are 'A' levels still the educational gold standard? Reviews

I often end up extremely frustrated when I hear people saying how A levels are getting easier and exams should be harder. What irritates me even more, is that often these people have not taken the exams in recent years or have never taken them at all. I fail to see how they can therefore speak about them in such negative terms. I do ...  Read the complete review

Increasingly the standard of A-levels is going further and further down. This is reflected by the ever rising increase in grades. Today, a staggering 43% of students taking A Level Mathematics achieve grade A. Grade inflation continues to take place as the government aims to encourage more young people to go into further education and university. ...  Read the complete review

According to the BBC news website 67.79% think that they are getting easier (you can vote at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/2189325.stm) The pass rate for this year's A-levels has shot up by 4.5% to 94.3%. The high pass rate has, once again, led to accusations that the "gold standard" exam is getting ...  Read the complete review

Personally, I would have to say “No”. A-levels alone are simply not worthwhile and I don’t think they ever have been. They are and always have been the entry exams for further education. This doesn’t mean that they’re irrelevant once you get to university though. I know that a lot of recruiters see them as entry ...  Read the complete review

I am doing my last year of the A levels at the moment and the exams are about to start, this is what made me think of what I am about to say. I dont know what the A levels started out as because I am a little young to remember, but I am sure that back then there was not such a huge gap between amounts of work that was needed. I am doing 4 A levels ...  Read the complete review

Hmm, we're told all through our childhood and teens to go to school, study hard, get our exams etc if we want to get a good job and get on in life - but just how vital is this? I myself am the grand old age of 34 and attained 7 'O' Levels and 3'A' Levels during my education days aswell as certificates for typing and ...  Read the complete review

It seems that every year the question of 'are secondary school examinations getting easier is asked' This query is always coupled with a report that A-level results are getting higher and higher. Yes it seems that every year our schoolchildren excel, teaching is getting better and that this is the only reason that results are going ...  Read the complete review

Its that day again when attractive middle class boys and girls hook their hands into their hair, throw it around and shout” OMG three As and a B”. Its annoying, its wonderful, it makes us older ones very jealous, its A-Level Thursday!.Sadly fifthteen years ago the same person would have said three Cs and an E.That’s the ...  Read the complete review

I think it’s pretty obvious that its easier to pass A-Levels than it ever was. But on the other hand I don’t think that’s such a bad thing as kids get more confidence and independence from three years at a new Uni, than they would working in a call center or Sainsburys checkouts with the grades they should and would of got ten ...  Read the complete review

I'd like to make a point on the recent argument that A levels are getting easier. I personally believe that A levels are still as hard as they used to be. The only difference now is that there are a wider variety of subjects on offer. Newer subjects such as media studies, sports studies, communication studies and computer studies are on offer. ...  Read the complete review

I don’t think a student could tell you if A-levels are getting easier as they work hard and can only have a crack at what s in front of them. Most people in education for a long time will tell you different and league tables have recently highlighted the issue. I know that when I had a crack at the standard in 1983 only one in eight kids ...  Read the complete review

Why is there such a commotion about our education system? As a teacher I constantly see children exerting themselves to gain the best results they can. But every year we are blasted as having a second rate education and that the ever better results are because we are giving them easier tests. If tests are becoming easier then why do ...  Read the complete review

A-Levels are of course still the gold standard. I find it very disheartening when every year the new GCSE and A-Level results show an imporvement it is claimed that they are getting easier. Yet the curriculum and syllabuses have not changed. If anything this is an indication that our students are working harder and ...  Read the complete review

Is there any truth in the often quoted statement that A-levels are getting easier? I think that there is overwhelming evidence that there is. But, and this is important, this is not a new statement and it has been raging for many, many years. However, there have been many changes in recent years that seem to indicate that the drop in standard has ...  Read the complete review

At time of writing I am 31 years old, when I was 18 and took my 'A' Levels, there was a FIXED pass rate. Exactly 5% of people would get a grade 'A', 10% grade 'B' and so on. The percentage required to pass would vary depending on how well other people did. The system made life a lot easier for Universities to recruit. ...  Read the complete review

I am an Upper 6th Form student preparing to take my 'A' Levels. I think that they are a blueprint for the rest of your life. It is the first chance in life you get to start to specialize in a particular area of work. If you want to be a vet, there's no point in taking Geography, Physics and History. You need to be taking ...  Read the complete review

A Levels are reconizied all around the world at every college, uni and company. The are known for their high standards,levels of difficulty and dedication needed to complete them. They cover a wide range of subjects carrying on from GCSE'S. They can't be achieved by the average drop out but what can ? Experience however can't also ...  Read the complete review

Are A-levels still a gold standard?? The answer to that depends on what you take gold standard to mean. As a qualification A-levels are important and they do a good job of judging raw ability and intelligence, but they are not and never were designed to be anything else. There are very few A-level subjects I can think of that lead you straight in ...  Read the complete review

I can’t believe people are still saying that A-levels are getting easier, is it that hard to accept that the younger generation today are taking their education seriously as opposed to the older generations, where most of the population left school at fifteen or earlier to go into a job straight from school with no qualifications. You were ...  Read the complete review

When I did my A Levels way back in 1969 it was rare for anybody to get all A Grades. If you got a couple of C's and a B you had done well and were fairly certain of finding the University place you wanted, if you wanted! The A Level pass grades used to be adjusted to take account of easier papers, i.e. the examining boards didn't ...  Read the complete review