The modular nature of A levels has meant that pupils have had unlimited chances to resit each module to achieve a higher grade. Cram to clear a hurdle then forget about it. This is one of the aspects of education that Michael Gove is planning on changing.
In my day, O-Levels were 90% inspiration, 10% perspiration. With A-levels, the ratio was reversed and the shock nearly killed me.
Not any more. My son has one chance and thats it: no resits until next year so if he wanted to do one again (or needed to!!) he'd have to sit both AS and A level exams next summer. It changed this year and I was amazed how GCSE was much more on exams than I thought, especially when at the higher end trying to get A's etc. re learning to pass, as I say the breadth of what is learned seems so much wider you have to give them a chance to pass.
Well given we are roughly the same age we must have taken them on different continents ;-) because effort, revision and pre testing was what worked in my day, not just read a book, pitch up and wing it
There were always subjects where you had to know endless facts, like history and geography, and there were subjects where you applied stuff you'd learnt, and if you hadn't learned it, you were doomed: French, Maths etc. You can't wing the latter. You either know French and can do the maths problems when you hit the exam, or you can't. With the facts subjects you can waffle, but I found cramming my head with facts, places, names, dates etc deeply horrible. Now remind me, Bobo-Dioulasso in Burkina Faso - am I meant to know about it because of slash and burn techniques, groundnut culture, or exceptional rainfall? I just can't remember.
As I recall it the Oxford entrance exam/interview was on different lines entirely from O & A levels. What they wanted to find out was: faced with a problem you know next to nothing about, what would you do? Waffle? Lie? Panic? Cry? Or make a good fist of analysing the problem and starting to work towards a solution.
