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GCSEs: A record year for results
9:30am Thursday 21st August 2008
TEENAGERS notched up record GCSE results today, with one in five exams awarded top grades.
Overall 20.7 per cent of grades were at A+ or A, an increase of 1.2 percentage points on last year.
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More than 65.7 per cent were at grades A+ to C, up from 63.3 per cent last year.
The rises come despite the number of entries dipping to a five-year low.
There were more than 5.6 million entries this summer compared with 5.8 million in 2007.
The Joint Council for Qualifications, who released the national GCSE results today, said this was due to a decrease in the number of 16-year-olds and evidence of pupils being entered early for GCSE English and maths.
There was a massive slump in the numbers of pupils taking information technology - with entries down by more than 14,000.
Modern languages also took another hit, with French and German both suffering drops in entries. French was down by 6.8 per cent on last year while German fell by 5.4 per cent.
There was also movement in science entries, which officials put down to changes to the science curriculum.
There were small improvements in English and maths results this year.
The overall pass rate for the proportion of teenagers scoring at least a grade G rose by 0.4 percentage points this year to 98.4 per cent.
Jim Sinclair, director of the JCQ, said: "Once again, we have seen a welcome increase in results at GCSE despite the lowest entry for five years. This is evidence of the hard work of the students and the continued dedication of their teachers.
"The core subjects at GCSE continue to dominate and still account for almost half of the full course entry."
Your Say YourSwindon
nansview, Swindon says...
4:58pm Thu 21 Aug 08
Always Grumpy, Swindon says...
5:45pm Thu 21 Aug 08
The expectations of GCSE's over the last twenty years or so have been in terminal decline, that encourage students to go on to A Levels that are also becoming easier and easier. Just look at the Universities comments on this if you want evidence. The appalling literacy and numeracy levels demonstrated by 16 years old's is a clear testament to what is wrong. All those students celebrating their A* and A grades have been sadly conned into thinking they are much better than they really are.
Don't lay all the blame on the teachers however, but blame successive governments and examination boards for the sad decline.
Mum's The Word, Walcot, Swindon says...
9:14pm Thu 21 Aug 08
Futures, connoryehhh@hotmail.co.uk says...
12:55am Fri 22 Aug 08
I presume that you've sat these exams to know that they're getting easier?
I've just got my results and I worked bloody hard for them. I don't appreciate some idiot such as yourself then saying that my results are meaningless as the exam was easy! I know full well that those exams weren't easy. They were actually harder than the past papers (2001-2002) that we used during our mocks.
Idiot.
Always Grumpy, Swindon says...
6:46am Fri 22 Aug 08
Futures wrote:Quite clearly you know nothing about educational development over the last thirty years.
Always Grumpy.
I presume that you've sat these exams to know that they're getting easier?
I've just got my results and I worked bloody hard for them. I don't appreciate some idiot such as yourself then saying that my results are meaningless as the exam was easy! I know full well that those exams weren't easy. They were actually harder than the past papers (2001-2002) that we used during our mocks.
Idiot.
Continue living in your dream world.
I stand by everything I've said - as you will understand in a few years if the trend continues downwards.
Al Smith, Swindon says...
9:30am Fri 22 Aug 08
When you grow a bit up you'll realise that something is not right and won't be afraid of admitting the truth. If university lecturers and employers are saying students don't have the basic skills required of them then there is a problem.
Oh and I have no problem admitting the GCSEs I sat were easier than the O levels that people were taking a few years beforehand.
A reason your mock paper was "easier" is that you were familiar with the questions because:
- You've got a revision guide, they've always included past paper questions
- Your teachers have used past paper questions to prepare course materials like homework
Futures, connoryehhh@hotmail.co.uk says...
4:04pm Fri 22 Aug 08
I wasn't atall familiar with the questions either. I wasn't ever given homework in my GCSE year as our teachers prefered us to spend our time going over what we'd already been taught. The revision guides only include questions from the past year, check them if you want verification.
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Pupils at Highworth Warneford School queueing for their results last year
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Bobfm, South Marston says...
1:08pm Thu 21 Aug 08