Some 30 years ago I took a GCE maths exam. ISTR it was hard work - but I passed it with a 'B'.
Given the ongoing debate about standards in education, I decided to hunt down a 'modern' paper for comparison.
http://www.gcsemathspastpapers.com/
Having worked through a couple of the 'higher' examples, I can only assume that the time allowed is 10 minutes (to allow for thorough checking) and that the pass mark 98%. What's the calculator for?
I think I now know where I stand on the issue.
The post that was quoted here has been removedI tried '96 versions. The biggest problem I had was getting through the jargon to understand the question. I had no idea what the net of a shape was, but looking at the flattened square-based pyramid drawing sort of gave it away!
Edit - should be '06 - sorry, never was much good with numbers.
Not sure where I heard the joke, but will try and tell it from memory.
2 guys were supposed to take a test, but decided to skip the class that day because neither had done any studying at all. The next time they went to class they told the teacher how they got a flat tire and spent the hour or so on the side of the road changing the tire and just couldn't make it back in time.
The teacher decided they could take the test after classes that day.
When they got to the class after hours, they got their test and there were 10 questions worth 1 point each on the first page. Pretty simple.
When they flipped the page, there was one final question worth 90 points:
What tire was flat on the car?
P-
Originally posted by duecerI agree on some levels. Yes, testing is not the be all and end all of education, but the fact remains that todays curiculum has managed award a B at Higher to student who can't even spell curiculum correctly. No, that isn't the point of teaching at school. They teach you to look at stuff critically and so on, not how to spell, but I only learned how to do that (look at stuff critically and write essays about it) in my 6th year, the year after I gained my Higher B.
testing is subjective, and does not take into account personal experience, or cultural point of view. school systmes that teach geared to comprehensive exams, only teach students how to pass a test, not how to think critically. Testing is a useful tool, but not the be all end all of education
However, I found this a while ago. It shows that there are still some places that maintain high standards.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6589301.stm
I think a lot of the problems stem from the Government wanting an educated workforce. Everyone can (and must!) go to university. Back when my parents went to uni a degree was good enough, now you must have honours! Heck, where i study a masters degree has become the new honours! We're given the opportunity to skip doing an honours project and go straight onto a masters one (after we have completed enough masters modules though).
Then once i graduate the 3 career choices i'm contemplating all require me to study some more.
I don't know who to blame, but i'm sure they're out there...grr...