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Exams ARE easier these days despite all cop-out arguments thus far.

The argument that 'teachers are better at teaching and are in better stead and intimate with the coursework and are thus better able to transfer knowledge and study techniques' is laughable.

This suggests increasing intelligence of teacher, not pupil/student.

Sure, there are various amazing new learning techniques... but the majority of people are either not interested or 'too long in the tooth' to be open to new ideas.

Kids these days are getting thicker, and hence, the exams are getting easier to get the masses through their studies. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the brightsparks are having a field day with these easy exams, with starred 'A's aplenty, hence the 'amazing' news each year that the UK education system is excelling and generally fantastic.

So, at one end, the thickies are making the grade- the brightsparks excel, making the the next generation look far brighter than it actually is.

I'll blow my trumpet here- I got straight As at A-Level when it was difficult to do so, circa 1994. I am tutoring my cousins, and other kids. The exams and past papers are hideously straightforward; very little thinking out of the box required.

Indeed, back in '94, looking back ten years to the 80s, or looking back to old O-level papers of the 60s and 70s, they seemed relatively IMPOSSIBLE.

So, therefore we now have a glut of 'bright kids'- and there are universities and degrees aplently in an academic free-for-all.

It is because exams are now so easy, that getting to Uni is a piece of piss, and that is why the next door neighbour and his pet gerbil can get a degree. In short, it is the relative ease of exams that has undermined the value of a degree.

Exams are NOT getting easier?

Don't talk soft and wake up.

That wasn't a dig at you Jono, btw!

!wink!

Don't do this. If you're caught ALL of your examination results will be void and you'll have no qualifications. You may not even be able to sit any further exams with a new Board. You'll be branded a cheat and a liar and may close down your opportunities for life. It's just not worth it.

Get the coaching you need. It's the only way. If you fail, re-take it. If you fail again, re-take it. Other jobs will come.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Todays exams relyless on rote learning and long-essay based questions.

The majority of exams at universitites theese days are essay-based.

Furthermore,this very forum is in the midst of a prize tosser, WZR the WKR (self-proclaimed GZR), who puports intelligence through anonymity and contrived research.

Sorry, [not] just "opinion"! [not].

Fabulous game.

One good piece of evidence for you to fall on your sword, make this forum a better place, and to honour the "RIP" bit of your 'Name' is the fact that numerus forumites of longer standing have readily identified you as a tosser.

Is that evidence or opinion? !laugh! "Fight me on the beaches.............." in cyberspace? If you did indeed attend Uni, and Aberdeen were daft enough to accept you, it didn't do you much good. Using an 'education' to compulsively talk shite????

Anyway. To clarify. I am secure enough in my intelligence and abilites such that I don't seek ways to make myself feel smart or 'intelligent' (through opinions, anecdotes or 'evidence') and my stance on the standard of exams is not one of self-aggrandising.

I retract my statement about kids being thicker. A lot of them are merely uncultured and uneducated, with Heat magazine and Big Brother their ideals in life.

I am merely disappointed that the brighter kids are not receiving sufficient challenge, and that there are too many unis, too many degrees stagnating the market today. As someone who interviews and rewards CVs a lot, a qualification means little- it proves you can learn...........

Like........... any other human being. Experience is the key in the modern age.

As for you, WZR.......... please, for us all................

RIP.

I don't believe that's so.

Friends of mine who are teachers, with no axe to grind, are extremely worried by the present simplicity of exams. Part of the problem is coursework which is continuously reworked, with teacher guidance, until it reaches the required standard. Also marking schemes are now so generous that even in subjects like English and Modern Languages, corect grammar, spelling and syntax are not considered essential as long as 'communication of intent' has taken place. You can get a top grade in Maths, but with every answer wrong as long as you display the correct methodology to answer the question.

Learning culture is now obsessed with breadth, which is good, but has sacrificed depth. Oxbridge now ignores 'A' level grades as they recognise that a candidate with all 'A's at 'A' level is no longer academically exceptional. Many universities now spend the first term bringing freshers up to speed as the gulf between what they've learnt at school, is so inadequate that they can't bridge the divide. This is particularly so in science-based subjects.

Nobody can tell me that suddenly the teaching at schools and the intellect of pupils has inexplicably rocketed. That's not what teachers or lecturers are saying. They say it's simply governmental spin, and the creation of an educational culture in which nobody is allowed to be seen to fail and everybody is supposedly of similar ability. This enables the Department of Education to crow about results and the number of kids in further/higher education. It's patently bollocks.

Kids aren't any more or less intelligent today than they were in the past. Teaching's probably more stimulating, but that's as far as it goes. Standards have simply become malleable to satisfy the political agenda.