GCSEs : 20% IS A PASS !

The news is currently full of stories about GCSE results and the students who have done well. What is less reported is the unbelievably low scores needed to achieve passes, or top grades, in some subjects.

It seems that around 20% is sufficient to achieve a pass grade of C/4 in mathematics, while no more than about 25-26% sees pupils gaining a pass in biology, chemistry and physics. These same critical subjects have seen pupils awarded grade A/7 for between 50% and 58%.

How can these gradings be justified ? How can anyone be deemed to have achieved a pass in any subject when they've only managed to get 20% of questions right ? How can anyone be judged to have achieved a grade A when they've only answered half of the questions correctly ?

With many exams adopting a 'multiple choice' approach, pupils could very well gain 25% by pure chance; given that they are sitting subjects in which they have been rigorously instructed all year and for which they have been specifically trained, 25% is a ludicrously low target for a pass. An online list published by Sky News offered 10 typical questions from a range of subjects and challenged readers to try to emulate the success of the youngsters who sat this years GCSEs - I managed 90%, which would have been 100% had I read the tenth question properly, in no more than 5 minutes, without any tuition and having left school nearly 50 years ago. Does this make me clever or the exams unbelievably easy ?

I'm sure I recall that when I was at school, pass marks were generally in the region of 45%; to achieve an A grade, one had to reach more than 70%. The reduction in grade boundaries serves our young people very badly indeed. They are given false notions about their knowledge and abilities which result in them having expectations which cannot be fulfilled. This culture in which no one can be allowed to fail is nonsensical; failure is a normal part of life.

The government and so-called educationalists laud the results as being proof of the excellence of our schools. What rubbish. One has only to talk to many young people for a few minutes to realise that their basic knowledge and understanding across a wide range of subjects is abysmal but, having been schooled towards merely achieving 20 or 30% to pass a specific exam, what more can be expected ?

When on earth will common sense and reality ever be restored ?