Strange Med schools are equating grade 8 and 9's to old A*

Discussion and advice on GCSEs

Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators

Locked
11 Plus Mocks - Practise the real exam experience - Book Now
MSD
Posts: 1731
Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2008 6:08 pm

Strange Med schools are equating grade 8 and 9's to old A*

Post by MSD »

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?
Last edited by MSD on Wed Aug 29, 2018 2:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Re: Strange Med schools are equating grade 8 and 9's to old

Post by Guest55 »

Both 8 and 9 are equivalent to the 'old' A* so I see it as very sensible, especially as the system beds down.
MSD
Posts: 1731
Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2008 6:08 pm

Re: Strange Med schools are equating grade 8 and 9's to old

Post by MSD »

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?
MSD
Posts: 1731
Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2008 6:08 pm

Re: Strange Med schools are equating grade 8 and 9's to old

Post by MSD »

I do not at all see it as sensible from med schools! I see it as not ready for changes in time.
piggys
Posts: 1636
Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2011 9:29 am

Re: Strange Med schools are equating grade 8 and 9's to old

Post by piggys »

What are 'strange med schools' exactly?

What is your personal grievance here. OP? it sounds like you have one.
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Re: Strange Med schools are equating grade 8 and 9's to old

Post by Guest55 »

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.
DC17C
Posts: 1197
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:34 pm

Re: Strange Med schools are equating grade 8 and 9's to old

Post by DC17C »

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.
MSD
Posts: 1731
Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2008 6:08 pm

Re: Strange Med schools are equating grade 8 and 9's to old

Post by MSD »

piggys wrote:What are 'strange med schools' exactly?

What is your personal grievance here. OP? it sounds like you have one.
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.."

Does that read better for you Piggys?
MSD
Posts: 1731
Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2008 6:08 pm

Re: Strange Med schools are equating grade 8 and 9's to old

Post by MSD »

Guest55 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.
Some aren't Guest55! Cardiff is treating 9 as A* and 8 as A, and righly so. And I see many more following
Amber
Posts: 8058
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:59 am

Re: Strange Med schools are equating grade 8 and 9's to old

Post by Amber »

People who get straight 9s obviously make better doctors - would you really want your GP only having got an 8 in French?
Locked
11 Plus Platform - Online Practice Makes Perfect - Try Now