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A* grades

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/secondaryeducation/8739422/Want-an-A-grade-Do-Art-not-French.html

Glad to see that the issue of the lack of A* grades for A-Level modern languages has been picked up by the national press. Only 19% of the A*/A grades in French this year were A*. Only drama and media were tougher subjects to get an A* in. You'd be much better off doing maths (40%) or sciences (around 28%) if you need a top grade for the so-called top universities.

When you also take into account the fact that a small percentage of candidates will be native speakers, who tend to score very highly at A-level, it becomes even more difficult for able students to get an A*. Incidentally, the exam boards do not record the number of native speakers.

Ofqual's limp response is that subjects vary and cohorts vary. Curious, because the ability profile of A-level MFL students is high. They get a large number of A grades. Are they saying that because languages are hard there should be fewer A* grades? So why are there even fewer A* grades in drama and media?

Put simply, they are not doing their job properly. They can easily adjust the raw mark to UMS calculations to manufacture more A* grades and to bring language more into line with other subjects. There can never be a perfectly level playing field in this area, but the current situation is unacceptable.

When one also considers that the percentage of A* grades fell this year at GCSE too, even though the number of entries fell significantly (meaning, in all likelihood, that the quality of the cohort rose a little), I think teachers and students would be justified in getting a serious answer from Ofqual and the examination boards.

Please speak to us.

Here are the numbers:

http://www.all-london.org.uk/2011_a_level_a_star_issue.htm

http://www.all-london.org.uk/2011_gcse_numbers.htm





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