This One Goes To A*

Another year, another news report on record numbers of teenagers getting A* GCSE grades. Some would put this down to exams getting easier, while others - particularly the students themselves - would argue that the exams are as difficult as they ever were. If that's true, then either teachers and schools have improved, or the kids themselves are more intelligent. Of course, that last one would suggest that there's somehow been some kind of evolutionary leap, and that we're all just a couple of steps away from being Captain Picard from X-Men (I don't know his proper name, because I'm too thick, having got no A* grades at all). Obviously, that hasn't happened, so it's either better teaching or easier exams.

Although I think there might have been an improvement in teaching standards and the equipment that schools have to hand, based on absolutely nothing other than my own gut feeling, I think exams probably have become easier. Indeed, they weren't even that challenging when I took them, with many being multiple choice.

However, I don't think it really matters why people are getting higher grades. Either way, the exam process is becoming less and less suitable for purpose.

When I was at secondary school, an A* grade was still something of a rarity, and was reserved only for true excellence. These days, it seems like everyone's getting them, and the prestige of this grade is cheapened as more people achieve it. The whole point of exams is to differentiate between people based on their abilities and skills, so they can fulfil their potential. How do you then pick out the best of the best, if you've already freely spunked away your highest grade? The A* was meant to do that job, because getting an A was no longer enough to make a student stand out.

The more I think about it, though, the more I see it as being like the Spinal Tap guitar amp that goes to 11. To paraphrase (badly), whereas exam markers used to be stuck at ten, when today's markers want that extra push, they can go to A*. Of course, one has to ask: why not make A a little louder and make that the top grade?