The Final Push - how's it going for your dc (and you) ?

[bondgirl]

DS was nervous/excited this morning as he needs an 8 (and wants a 9) for next year. At least for maths and English they have last year’s papers to give more of an idea of what to expect. Hope it’s going well for them all.

[Guest55]

piggys - there are FEWER boards now not more. Just look at how it was further back in the 1970s.

The standard of each board is monitored to try to ensure a certain grade on one board is the same as that for another - hence different grade boundaries.
Some reasons for the choices:
History - some boards offer different time periods.
English Lit - different books.

Some boards offer more practice materials and support for teacher when there are changes; this would be important if you have new teachers in your department.

[piggys]

Yes I know Guest; my point was about the many different permutations of exam boards through the decades !

I can't speak for the other subjects but I would say whilst the A level syllabuses differ a fair bit, the GCSE ones are broadly similar, plus the choice of books is VERY similar. So for example I know lots of dc doing the AQA, OCR and EDEXCEL boards for lit but they are all studying the same Shakespeare play, the same modern text and the same 19th C novel. So one has to ask - what is the point? The AOs are exactly the same as well.

In many other countries there is a single national exam. There should be here too, IMO.

[Guest55]

The AOs have to be the same because these are set externally and then the exam boards have to get their specs approved before they can offer them.

Are the actual lists of books the same or just the chosen ones? Many schools will choose a text they already have in stock, have the resources for and which they enjoy teaching.

[tiffinboys]

Different text in different forms as well.

[loobylou]

.... in the same way as doctors get wined and dined by drug companies. .

Used to.
Not allowed any more.

[Reading Mum]

DD's timetable has

OCR - Latin
AQA - German, Maths, Biology, Chemistry & Physics
EDEXL - Geography, Art & Music
WJEC - Eng Lang & Lit

Far too complicated.

[Guest55]

Why is it complicated? Not much choice for Latin.

Most boards schedule subjects at the same time anyway -

[Reading Mum]

OCR for Latin makes sense, for the rest ...

It leads to different syllabuses being taught and kids being compared to each other when they have not been tested against the same material. Not very standard.
It just seems unnecessary. Why can't everyone being tested on Eng Lit in a given year have the same set books and have to answer the same questions?

[Guest55]

Why should they though? There are systems to ensure the standard is the same. We all have preferences and I see no reason why everyone should study the same books - even when I was at school each class did a different novel for O level.