A level results

[UncleEbenezer]

PS. Do Oxbridge ...

Any monolithic question like that, the answer is No. Or, more accurately, N/A.

You don't apply to the University, you apply to one of the Colleges. Different colleges, and indeed those within them responsible for your subject, each take their own approaches.

If the college you apply to considers you a strong candidate but doesn't itself offer you a place, only then does your application get seen more widely when it gets put in "the pool" for consideration by other colleges whose policy extends to looking at such applications. That happened to me, and I was very happy with the college that picked me. Thirty years on, my nephew went to the same college that had put my application in the pool!

As for A-level results, they're hopelessly inadequate: if you're a remotely serious candidate, those top grades are far, far too trivial to distinguish the sheep from the goats. My Cambridge Entrance exam (1979) was, by contrast, a real challenge - and my nephew sat something similar despite those exams notionally being abolished!

I don't know where those "3 Ds" stories come from: we were faintly aware that Upper Class Twits must be somewhere (after all, we still have a Royal Family), but our paths never crossed. There was a genre of joke about them, and Cambridge had a degree called Land Economy widely seen as a joke - a qualification for a PG Wodehouse character to manage the ancestral Estates.

[bungeejumper]

However, it's like with over promoting ppl at work, if non academic pupils go to university they will struggle with academic demands, and will be unhappy winging it in something their not suited to. Some have practical skills and skills in other areas which are better suited to.

I think that's the most likely scenario. We remember the exceptional years when nothing was quite "normal" - the 2000 dotcom bust, the 2008 crash, and now the 2020 coronavirus epidemic - and afterwards we scale our expectations for that year up or down to take an account of the circumstances.

An A level earned awarded in 2020 will carry just a little bit less weight than usual - or at least, a little more circumspection from a potential employer. That's probably the best we can do.

BJ

[scotia]

With degree inflation also rampant (Surrey, I'm looking at you), then recruiters have to look at institutions, as not all 2.1s are equal, as no-one oversees the universities, who are of course incentivised to offer better results to pull in the cash-cow students.

Not quite true. There is an external examiner (from another University) associated with each subject. They inspect the proposed examination papers, and can insist on changes. After the examinations have taken place, they look at the marks, and around grade border lines they look over the entire work of the students, and may also request interviews with some students, before reaching a conclusion on the grade to be awarded. These functions should provide some control over quality, but I will readily admit that there has been degree inflation - which was bound to happen when successive governments decided that an increasingly higher fraction of the population should attend university, and gain a degree. And yes - there is a hierarchy of universities. In the UK there are 24 members of the Russell Group. Whether or not their "world-class research-intensive" claim suggests that they produce better educated students is a different matter.
The inflated English A-level and Scottish Higher results of 2020 are going to create problems for universities. It seems likely that a number of less able students could be admitted. So will there be a higher failure rate - or will results be adjusted? However I think that the universities face a much bigger problem from Covid-19. Can any "live" teaching take place? What about laboratory work in Science & Engineering courses? Will the cash-cow foreign students pay their large fees for a purely on-line course? And what will be the economic impact of un-occupied student residences? I think that consideration, by the universities, of the (probably) inflated entrance qualifications is well down their priority lists!

[JohnB]

Degree results are like executive pay. Its never in the interest of the setters and their regulators to reduce the numbers, as the organisations the regulators work for also benefit from rises they manage to get through. As with all inflation, those who suffer are those with fixed assets, existing degrees. Now my 30yo degree is not under thread, but mentally I knock off a level for any modern result I see. I guess HR and admissions departments are more granular, and will take more notice of other factors for the 2020 cohort, except for those that rely on filtering AIs on CVs. At least this year won't be forgotten in a hurry.

[scotia]

but mentally I knock off a level for any modern result I see.

That's a bit dangerous. No matter what you think of grade inflation, a potential Nobel laureate can't get any higher than a 1st.

[tjh290633]

I get the feeling that it would have been best to award all candidates an A-level (unclassified) and let the universities or future employers do their own sorting out. Maybe even having entrance examinations during October.

TJH

[zico]

I've used the OFQUAL metholodogy to work out the Premier league standings if the 2019/20 season had been cancelled back in August, based on performances in the previous 3 years.

OFQUAL final standings. Congratulations Liverpool on your recent improvements, still way behind Man City, but closing the gap to Spurs and Chelsea. Yes, I know, you've been above Chelsea for the latest 2 years of data, but don't forget how far behind Chelsea you were in 2016/17 years ago.

1. Man City
2. Chelsea
3. Spurs
4. Liverpool
5. Man Utd
6. [expletive deleted].

[zico]

Just in, Ofqual-approved 2020/21 final league positions, based on last 3 years of rankings, including the season just completed. Well done again, City on your continued dominance. A special mention to plucky Liverpool for your well-deserved runners-up spot, keep it up and one day in the future the title may be yours!

1. Man City
2. Liverpool
3. Chelsea
4. Spurs
5. Man U
6. [expletive deleted]

[monabri]

Just in, Ofqual-approved 2020/21 final league positions, based on last 3 years of rankings, including the season just completed. Well done again, City on your continued dominance. A special mention to plucky Liverpool for your well-deserved runners-up spot, keep it up and one day in the future the title may be yours!

1. Man City
2. Liverpool
3. Chelsea
4. Spurs
5. Man U
6. [expletive deleted]

I'd go along with that method as a Manc!

[zico]

This is from Eton's website. Maximum class sizes for A-level are 12, so teachers' estimated grades will have been used in every case this year. This will be an absolute gift to Labour when they find it.

When boys arrive at Eton they usually find themselves in classes of 20 to 24. As they progress and they make their own choices about what to learn, the class sizes tend to reduce, the size depending on the subject and its popularity in a given year. A typical GCSE class in D block (year 11) would contain about 15 boys learning a second modern language, for example, and 20 in mathematics. Once AS-level and A-level choices are made, class sizes reduce again, to about 12 in subjects such as mathematics, or to smaller classes in subjects chosen by fewer boys.

[zico]

I'd go along with that method as a Manc!

Presumably a blue Manc! Red Mancs will need at least two consecutive years as champions before the Ofqual model puts them on top for the next season.

[Itsallaguess]

Well done again, City on your continued dominance.

How did things look for City when you run these tests against the Champions League for the past few years?

Just askin'...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2AygEtrMjc

Cheers,

Itsallaguess