Strange Med schools are equating grade 8 and 9's to old A*
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Strange Med schools are equating grade 8 and 9's to old A*
Been a while I posted on this forum. I find it quite strange that most Medicine schools are seeing the new numeric grade 9 and 8's as equivalent to old A* on their pre-interview offers calculator. As far as I can see from grade boundaries there is huge difference between 9 and 8 - as much as 20% in raw marks for some subjects. For e.g. Birmingham med school looks at 7 GCSE's (5 core and 2 additional) and provides a score out of 24, which is then scaled to a maximum 6.
Student A scoring 6 9's and 7 in English language will achieve 22/24
Student B scoring 6 8's and 8 in English language will achieve 24/24
Quite unfair for student A, who has 6 9's, and student B, who has none. In the above scenario, Student B is more likely to be invited for interview, which really defies all logic.
Would love to know your thoughts?
Student A scoring 6 9's and 7 in English language will achieve 22/24
Student B scoring 6 8's and 8 in English language will achieve 24/24
Quite unfair for student A, who has 6 9's, and student B, who has none. In the above scenario, Student B is more likely to be invited for interview, which really defies all logic.
Would love to know your thoughts?
Last edited by MSD on Wed Aug 29, 2018 2:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Strange Med schools are equating grade 8 and 9's to old
Both 8 and 9 are equivalent to the 'old' A* so I see it as very sensible, especially as the system beds down.
Re: Strange Med schools are equating grade 8 and 9's to old
Guest55, Are we saying then there was no real need to distinguish between a 9 and 8? I thought the whole point was filter out the higher A*'s from lower?
Grade boundary for Edexcel Maths 9 was 202
For 8 it was something like 160
Do we not see a difference in the ability above?
Grade boundary for Edexcel Maths 9 was 202
For 8 it was something like 160
Do we not see a difference in the ability above?
Re: Strange Med schools are equating grade 8 and 9's to old
I do not at all see it as sensible from med schools! I see it as not ready for changes in time.
Re: Strange Med schools are equating grade 8 and 9's to old
What are 'strange med schools' exactly?
What is your personal grievance here. OP? it sounds like you have one.
What is your personal grievance here. OP? it sounds like you have one.
Re: Strange Med schools are equating grade 8 and 9's to old
Yes but an 8 could have got 201 and a 9 202 - not very different there are they?
The reforms were a complete waste of time and money - there was no need to separate out 'top' A*s. Oxbridge are treating the 8 and 9s the same too - you are out of step with most people's thinking.
The reforms were a complete waste of time and money - there was no need to separate out 'top' A*s. Oxbridge are treating the 8 and 9s the same too - you are out of step with most people's thinking.
Re: Strange Med schools are equating grade 8 and 9's to old
I doubt they will get enough applicants if just looking for all 9 s so makes sense that they will look at 8s and 9s. Anyone doing medicine need a wider range of skills and attributes than just a set of grade 9s at GCSE. Excellent interpersonal skills,confidence, self awareness, maturity, empathy, manual dexterity and capacity to multi task all come into mind.
Re: Strange Med schools are equating grade 8 and 9's to old
Piggys - I have no grievance against anyone - just gathering opinion on something I thought was unfair. If anything you are being quite pedantic and nitpicking. I guess the title only allow a certain amount of characters so I had to take 'that' out of "Strange that Med schools are equating.."piggys wrote:What are 'strange med schools' exactly?
What is your personal grievance here. OP? it sounds like you have one.
Does that read better for you Piggys?
Re: Strange Med schools are equating grade 8 and 9's to old
Some aren't Guest55! Cardiff is treating 9 as A* and 8 as A, and righly so. And I see many more followingGuest55 wrote:Yes but an 8 could have got 201 and a 9 202 - not very different there are they?
The reforms were a complete waste of time and money - there was no need to separate out 'top' A*s. Oxbridge are treating the 8 and 9s the same too - you are out of step with most people's thinking.
Re: Strange Med schools are equating grade 8 and 9's to old
People who get straight 9s obviously make better doctors - would you really want your GP only having got an 8 in French?