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We're not saying kids today aren't as bright as kids 20 years ago. We're just saying your exams are easier. That's not your fault, it's the fault of successive governments, exam boards, education ministers and others with a vested interest in making things easier. On the other hand you do insult us when you imply that you're all working harder now than we ever did. Rubbish. Teenagers are teenagers, in any generation. They're all the same.
B Roberts, UK

Having three continuous years of exams is not for the faint hearted

Ben, Newport

I think that it has to be recognised that students now have to take exams at 16, 17 and 18 years old. Having three continuous years of exams is not for the faint hearted or for students who don't put the effort in. It is a commitment to study as it is to get a job so students should not have their work undermined by numerous people who have not undergone the present system.
Ben, Newport

A point to ponder for many posters: No-one is saying, nor implying, that the A-level students of today are less able, nor less hard working than their predecessors. However, a cursory examination of past papers in just about every subject shows the level of knowledge required to achieve high grades is lower today than before. This is not a criticism of today's students, but of the declining standards of our education system and liberal ethos pervading today's society.
Mark, UK

As a head of department and teacher of computing, I can tell you that I send off pupils each year to computing courses at university who know very little about computing. They have good grades because I can teach them to pass exams, because they have learnt the buzzwords of the endless topics in the syllabus.
David, UK

Can't people just accept that students could be working harder?

Gill, UK

This row always happens every year. Does anyone actually stop and think about the students who have just done the exams and are waiting for results? Obviously not. I am currently waiting for results myself and find it particularly disheartening to read all these comments about standards falling. Can't people just accept that students could be working harder to achieve the results, rather than standards dropping?
Gill, UK

What this country needs is fewer people with higher qualifications at university (with the full costs paid by the government) and more people taking vocational courses and qualifications via day release from their employer - paid for by their employer.
W J Andrews, England

I get my results on Thursday and I'm in absolutely no doubt that this year's exams have been easier than any from years before. Many of my teachers have taught me from old O-level books, which easily have enough detail to get a grade A at A-level. I have tried some old questions from the 1980s and they are extremely hard, I certainly couldn't do them now. Not that it really matters; the only important thing to me is that I get to university. I don't care what anyone says about how rubbish we all are now, as long as they don't expect me to vote for them.
Peter, UK

I am waiting for my A-level results, and I know that the demands made of me to pass them have been huge. The complicated theories involved in a physics A-level, for example particle physics and the atom, were considered the cutting edge of scientific research only 20 years ago, and now form some of the core components of the A-level.
Jim, UK

I took my A-levels at King Edward's, Birmingham in 1963. (Then, as now, among the schools achieving the best results nationally). At that time, we had one prodigy who managed three grade As - and nobody would have even dreamt of trying to take four A-levels. In 1990, my son got a grade B in A-level physics without even knowing what the word differentiation meant! The population does not change, and this Stalinist approach to the need for better figures every year just devalues the currency, making it impossible to distinguish between the mediocre and the good, to the detriment of all.
John Coates, UK

I took my A-levels six years ago, and there were subjects on the chemistry syllabus which one of my colleagues (who took their A-levels a number of years earlier) didn't cover till the end of a chemistry degree. I don't think the exams are getting easier, it is however getting easier to access information, as a result of the wider availability of the internet.
Liz, UK

How is it possible to get better results every year?

Mat, UK

Of course A-levels are getting easier. How is it possible to get better results every year? Past papers are visibly more difficult and the drive for coursework makes it easy for students to follow examples (if they can be bothered). Universities are constantly revising courses to make up for the poor quality of the students they are getting. The population as a whole is actually getting less intelligent - academic ability is to a large extent hereditary and those that perform well tend to have smaller families, thus breeding intelligence out of the species. We seem to have developed a culture in this country that no child shall ever fail an exam so the exams must be brought down to the lowest level.
Mat, UK

It is outdated to suggest that all students should be examined entirely on the basis of an exam at the end of the A-level course. The reason this system has been replaced is because it only allows those of a certain character to do well - not necessarily the intelligent, but rather those with an ability to perform under extreme pressure (a different ability altogether). Coursework makes for a broader and fairer assessment of a student's abilities. It also gives those of us who were unfortunate enough to become ill during our final A-level exams a fairer overall grade; I took the Cambridge syllabus maths exam, and the entire grade was based solely on two three-hour exams. Suffering from fever at the time of my exams, my grade suffered unequally compared to the other, modular A-levels, and the 'special consideration' I was offered did nothing.
Nick , UK

I failed all mine and I know that if I took them again I would fail today. I have never needed qualifications and I am doing better than most.
Paul, Barbados

I don't think that all subjects are getting easier

James A, UK

Having sat O-level geography in 1984 I returned to take A-level geography at night class in 1990. I was delighted, if not somewhat surprised, to find that the questions on the A-level paper almost mirrored some on the O-level paper six years previously - requiring much less brain power to gain a top grade. Of course exams are getting easier.
Wendy, UK

I have just taken four A-levels, and I am anxiously awaiting my results on Thursday. I have taken 42 exams in total to obtain my A-levels (a tad over-examined). Although I'm expecting relatively good grades, it's through lots of practice and an abundant supply of resources catered for each individual exam. I have also looked through past papers, and it's difficult to make a direct comparison with today due to the syllabuses changing so frequently. To answer this question it really depends upon ones definition of what's hard. It's impossible to compare the old method, revising an entire subject for two exams with little or no resources, and teachers that view exams as secondary in importance.
Andrew, Great Britain

Why are so many people determined to undermine the hard work of students?

Name Here

I wonder, if exam pass rates were to fall next year, would we hear cries of "Great, exams are getting harder"? I doubt it. It would probably be "Sack all the incompetent teachers who are failing our kids." It seems to me that there are many people who prefer to ignore the hard work and dedication of teachers and students. Why are so many people determined to undermine the hard work on the part of students and the teaching profession?
Andrew Rendle, UK

Give students a break! I'm pretty sure the average student works far harder than the average student did 20 years ago, due to competition for university places, jobs etc. Every year students do better than last, and every year those self proclaimed middle class 'intellectual elite' of our national press cannot handle the fact that their academic performance is made to look mediocre, and so they do their very best to discredit and devalue the achievements made by a new generation.
Dan, UK

Perhaps exams were getting easier but I think the new AS system has certainly put a stop to that. I had exams spreading over five weeks with seven hours of exams on three of the days. With pressure like that, I don't know how any one can say our year hasn't worked for their grades!
Helen, England

I took A-levels in 1992, and even then we were periodically being told to ignore certain parts of our set text books for physics and chemistry, as they were 'no longer part of the syllabus'. So we'd lose half a page here, a section there, resulting in progressively less for us to revise and learn. Of course the questions about the bits remaining on the syllabus were every bit as difficult as the year before, giving some legitimacy to the claim that the exam was no easier. But with less to learn in total the course as a whole was easier, and revision was easier.
Jon Cooper, UK

It seems difficult to comment on this subject without people saying that you are running students down. But anyway, I took my maths A-level in 1990. I prepared for it by going through all the past papers from 1980. And I can say without question that my paper was easier than some of them from the early 80s. It's not possible to have a year-on-year increase for nearly 20 years without exception. And this is NOT in any way being disrespectful to students. Examiners, on the other hand, may need to think long and hard about this.
Damian Tichborne, England

Exam technique, it seems, is the most important factor in gaining good grades

John M, UK

Having recently sat A-levels, gaining four A's, I was appalled by the way the exams were set up so as the student was merely jumping through hoops to pass the coursework and final exams. Exam technique, it seems, is the most important factor in gaining good grades. Intelligence does not evolve as quickly as some suggest, and we all know teachers are overworked and bogged down with nonsense work more than ever, Finally, it seems farcical to suggest that pupils are working harder. So how can grades improve? By either changing the paper difficulty, changing the marking protocols, or blatantly changing the grade boundaries. Whichever it is, the ones to suffer will be the exceptional pupils - maybe the introduction of A* in A-level would be the answer.
John M, UK

I can remember when I was preparing for the mathematics A-level about six years ago. Our teacher gave us an old O-level paper, the equivalent to today's GCSE. I was shocked to find that this paper was just as challenging if not more so than the A-level papers that I was doing at the time. Standards have definitely fallen and I am starting to feel betrayed by this system.
Andrew, UK

I am a physics teacher and I am in no doubt whatsoever that the level of knowledge needed to pass the exams has fallen each year for at least a decade. This is not to say that the students have it easy. The stress placed upon them by the number of exams they must sit is enormous. Nonetheless, I do not know of any teachers who have taught more than five years, who do not believe that standards have dropped. Are there any out there?
Michael, UK

I am in the unusual position of having repeated an a level maths exam after a break from education of eight years. Was it any easier? Of course it was. The content and difficulty had fallen by such a large amount I had no trouble at all with the second exam despite only attending night school for half of the syllabus. In the past a fixed proportion of the population each year would get each grade. This not only allows differentiation between people sitting the exam that year, it also allowed direct comparison with results from earlier years. Prospective employers can't be expected to weight your exam results according to the year they were taken, yet that is the only fair means for comparison.
Kev, UK

The whole exam system became easier at about the time when polytechnics became universities.

T Heckles, UK

I sat my A-levels in 1989 and recall that some of the previous A-level papers prior to 1989 used as exam preparation proved to be much more involved than the final ones. Indeed the whole exam system became easier at about the time when polytechnics became universities. It's not the fault of the students - the good ones will always get the best results no matter what the standard of the exam.
T Heckels, UK

If people claim that the A-levels are getting easier, I would like to see them sitting them. On the A-level maths syllabus this year there were topics that had previously only been included on higher maths papers. If that's not making the subject harder I don't know what is. The pressure that is put on students is incredible, and it could be because people have to get better grades to get into university that they are working harder. I have been predicted three A's in my subject, and still haven't managed to get a place a university studying veterinary medicine. 20 years ago, I could have got in with three C's!!
Helen, UK

Helen,
three C's. Two A's and a B was the minimum that you could get away with.
Phil, UK

It's the same old story year after year. The pass rate gets higher every year. I am quite sure that the A-levels are no easier now than in the past. Nobody can say that the new system (taking five subjects in the first year) is easier. A higher percentage of pupils take A-levels as more and more people have the need to go to university in order to find a job. You have to be a lot more qualified now to get jobs than in the past and students see A-levels as an important step towards a career. This does not mean that this year's A-level students are any more intelligent then the latter, they are just a lot more motivated to work hard for it.
Natalie, UK

The best students will still get the best places

Liam, Glasgow

It really does not matter if exams are getting easier or harder, the best students will still get the best places. The point that everyone is missing is that it is a lot tougher to be a student now than ever before, not because of academic reasons but because of the financial burdens that previous students never had to deal with. Therefore we should not be worried that the top students will miss out as their results are not exceptional enough, we should be more worried that our top students from deprived areas can not even afford to go to university in the first place.
Liam, Glasgow, Scotland

I have a collection of old GCE O-level mathematics papers dated 1972. I doubt if many of today's A-level students would be able to answer them. Students are rarely taught how to think anymore.
C.Bishop, United Kingdom

I am about to start an A-level course in September and I am 15. Surely A-levels must be getting easier if people are allowed to take them earlier?
M, UK

Even if exams are getting easier, this is greatly counterbalanced by the fact that we get five exams in a day, shambolic marking standards (with Grade E's being re-marked as A's), virtually non-existent moderation, glaring inconsistencies between different exam boards... and the list goes on.
Anjool Malde, England UK

I am disappointed with the level of student knowledge I see.

C, UK

As someone who has lectured mathematics at university and who has to spend more time each year teaching the basics before going on to the real course work, I am disappointed with the level of student knowledge I see. This has no reflection on the intelligence of the students or the teachers that have taught them thus far. It just means they have been taught what is needed for that years exams, rather than being taught the essential basics needed for the real world.
C, UK,

Given the amount of work I put in to get my A-levels, if the exams got any easier the students would pass simply for turning up with a pen. What's discouraging, though, is that exceptional students are lumped in with the merely good, and there's no opportunity for the very best to shine.
Will, UK

I think each generation is more intelligent than the last

Eva Pendragon, UK

I think each generation is more intelligent than the last - and this explains the rising grades. Each generation is taller than the last and physically fitter than the last (look at the way world records in sports are frequently bettered). Given this it seems obvious intelligence also increases.
Eva Pendragon, UK

Eva, obviously you didn't do biology A-level then. Human intelligence evolves very slowly. Perhaps over hundreds or thousands of years you could measure a difference - though even then only very slight - there is certainly no difference from year to year! You're no brighter, and you're not working any harder than we did. In short - your exams are just EASIER!!
D Williams, UK

Dear D Williams, I did do A-level human biology over 12 years ago. I was one of the first students to sit the 'new' exams. It does take generations to make people more intelligent but just few years to ensure people are trained to pass exams. Many teachers will now be of a similar age to myself and they sat these exams and so are well placed to teach others to sit them too. I also recall a experiment done recently where today's students sat exams from 30 years ago and students from 30 years ago sat modern day papers. The results were almost equal and neither group did very well. The style of exams and teaching is different. Let us stop knocking young people who have worked very hard for many months for these exams and feel proud that there are still some people who can apply themselves to take very difficult exams and aim to improve themselves.
Mel, UK

There are so many stupid things in the exam system. Why can't we focus on fixing them rather than complaining that Britain's schools are improving?

Andrew, UK

Why do we always assume that when someone succeeds that there's something wrong? Teachers are continuously getting better, schools are improving, students are trying so hard many get depressed or stressed. These are the reasons why results are increasing.

And this is against the continuous increase in the amount of work and the decrease in the time to do it. Only people who have never tried to take a recent exam says they are getting easier... doesn't that say something? There are so many stupid things in the exam system. Why can't we focus on fixing them rather than complaining that Britain's schools are improving?
Andrew, UK

It was obvious to everyone in the class that the papers from the 70s were much harder than those from the 80s

G Roberts, UK

People who think that A-level exams are not getting easier are simply deluding themselves. I took five A-levels in 1993, and achieved good grades. As part of our studies, we worked through past papers. It was obvious to everyone in the class that the papers from the 70s were much harder than those from the 80s, and that the more recent ones were much easier. The trend of easier exams over time was in front of us in black and white.

I can admit that I had an easy ride compared to those that went before me. Look through some past papers, and honestly ask yourself if current ones compare - you will find that they do not.
G Roberts, UK

It is obvious to me that standards are falling, but why leave the issue so indeterminate? Why don't you publish a couple of exam papers from different years on your website, so that we can all see for ourselves?
Brian Crabb, Wales, UK

After Christmas, this is the second-biggest time for a huge row every single year. It always happens because whoever the Opposition is can't just say, 'oh, educational standards have risen, very well done.' They have to come up with a reason why pupils are doing well, and the only thing they can come up with is that exams are easier. It's as if there was some 'golden age' where all pupils could do the calculations to get a rocket into space in their heads in two before offering a minute analysis of the role of Protestantism in The Complete Works Of Shakespeare (including Henry VIII) in no less than 10,000 words. Exams are just exams, not some excuse to demoralise our youth and rubbish what for many of them will be their finest hour.
Thom Boston, London, EU

When I was a student I was taught how to think and I was regularly challenged with questions which took you beyond the standard syllabus

Neil, UK

As an ex-teacher, my main reference was the difference in the way I was taught to the way children are taught now. Schools are forced to focus on exam success and therefore teach to enable the students to pass the exams. Certainly in mathematics A-level, one of the main difficulties is trying to get the student to think as opposed to just being able to answer standard questions. This has regularly been noted by universities as a major problem. When I was a student I was taught how to think and I was regularly challenged with questions which took you beyond the standard syllabus.
Neil, UK

One major function of A-levels is in selection for universities. With so many people getting A grades how are the universities to select the best people? Until the exams are made harder entry to the top universities will be a hit and miss affair. I was at Cambridge and in my subject and college the lowest entrant scored AAA. How is an admissions tutor to pick the 10 best students out of 500 candidates fairly, faced with this?
Peter Sharp, UK

Grade-inflation is partly due to teachers being pressured to produce "good" results, no matter how poor their students are

Dr Norman Day, UK

There is one way of determining whether the A-level candidates of today are as clever as those of 20 or so years ago - abolish the "open-to-abuse" practice of a substantial part of an A-level course being based on coursework/continuous assessment that is marked by the students' OWN teachers - and go back to a system where the final A-level grade is based SOLELY on the marks they obtain during the final examinations. Then you would see just how poor many of these so-called "brilliant" students really are. This A-level grade-inflation is unfortunate, but it is partly due to teachers being pressured to produce "good" examination results, no matter how poor their students are. Their levels of pay and career progression are dependent upon it. ...

This tendency to inflate grades has now seeped into the university system - both the new and red-brick universities are guilty of this crime. I find it laughable that the number of graduates achieving first class honours degrees has reached almost epidemic proportions in some university departments. This inevitably leads to many of these "bright" students finding themselves on the dole when they leave university, due to their inability to perform well at job interviews, and more worryingly, the inability compose a half-decent, and grammatically-correct CV!
Dr Norman Day, UK

Teachers are educating pupils better than before and pupils are responding to it and working harder

Andy, UK

If doctors were to cure more people year on year, no-one would go around saying the diseases were somehow getting less virulent. We'd all accept that medical science had improved. The same goes for teaching and exams. Teachers are educating pupils better than before and pupils are responding to it and working harder. That's why grades are improving.
Andy, UK

Competition between exam boards is the problem. There is a conflict of interest, because the exam boards make money by setting exams. If a school has a "bad experience" with one board, they can and do change to another. (This was even happening 10 years ago when I did mine.)

So, if the exam boards don't give high marks, their profits drop. If a school wants to choose a new board, it looks for one that awards lots of A grades in that subject. Simple as that - it happens.

The only way to stop it is for the boards to collaborate on setting their grade boundaries. If the students are randomly scattered between boards, then no board should be awarding more A grades than any other.
Alex, UK

The exams are not getting easier and the students are not working harder. It is the teachers who are becoming more knowledgeable with respect to the content of the exam papers and what is required from the students in order to gain a higher grade. It is obvious, the more years you teach, the more you are going to know about how to teach to achieve the best results.
Becky, UK

I sat my final exams 10 years ago, and even then people were saying the exams were too easy. It's very unfair on the students who are putting in the effort to pass them. Have these people considered that with the greater possibility of getting a university place, and more resources available for students (internet, computers, summer schools, etc.) that youngsters are just putting in more effort than they ever were?
Stewart MacPhee, Balloch, Scotland

At my school we did literally exams every week, when we went into them, the questions were a shocker, almost exactly the same as the ones we'd been practising every week. Doesn't show increase of intelligence, just merely an increase of the school's ability to cope with the way exams are done.
AB, UK

Of course exams are getting easier! How else are kids supposed to look up to their elders?
Ed Vista, UK

The students of today are taught with one purpose - to pass examinations, which is a pre-requisite of measuring the success of teaching methods. This should and has resulted in increased performance across students which is borne out by exam results. This has robbed this students of the pleasure of studying and gaining knowledge of their chosen subjects. This should be sufficient penance, without robbing these kids of their achievements.

The government has got what it set out to achieve, bums on seats with certificates in hands

M Childs, UK

The system has produced robots and I should know, I am the mother of one of them. The government has got what it set out to achieve, bums on seats with certificates in hands. Well done to the students, if the powers that be don't like it, change it again, you do every other year anyway.
M Childs, UK

This is the first article I've seen that has offered some cogent reasons for the steady improvement in grades. The easiest point to make, and in my mind the most sensible one, is that the commentators who complain about reducing standards are not comparing like with like. Syllabuses have changed, students have changed, schools have changed. Not necessarily all for the better, but that is how the results are being effected.

The bottom line, don't knock these kids - it wasn't them that changed the syllabus or the system, they are just trying to survive within it. By all means spread the two announcements apart if it will preserve some of their glory, which they richly deserve.
Jax, England

Give us some credit for the work we do

Mark, UK

So the number of high grades has risen for the 19th time in a row? So what!?! Why make a big deal and a constant issue out of a success rate that should be praised! If other areas such as health and transport showed such gains over the years those sectors would be congratulated for the work and effort put in. Give us some credit for the work we do...as Jax said we only cope with the system...you designed it!
Mark, UK

I would like to ask these people that think A-levels are getting easier to do this: Sit four A-levels with some exam days there are 8.5 hours of exams and get four straight A's. If they cannot succeed in the challenge, they must shut up for good!
Helen, UK

Why can't people just accept that young people are getting cleverer and are more focused than in previous times?
Clare, England

Clare, England: my parents did calculus for their O-levels. I didn't learn basic calculus until I took A-level maths (about five years back). And we didn't even learn set theory at A-level. As for "more focused" - well, I can't compare to previous generations, but I can't imagine how ANYONE could describe my generation of students as focused. Having said that, I don't think that all subjects are getting easier. Maths is definitely far easier than it used to be, but languages, biology and arts A-levels can still be very difficult.
James A, UK/Germany

I'm afraid that I'd have to agree that year on year, school exams are getting easier. I took three science A levels nearly 10 years ago and the physics and biology was on the old Nuffield syllabus whereas the chemistry was a brand new syllabus. Needless to say the chemistry was far far easier.

Why is it that most engineering and science degrees are now four years long? Simply the first year is becoming a foundation year where the universities are having to make up for what the students lack from their schooling. With the government continuing to set arbitrary and completely meaning-less targets for higher education participation, it will just mean that you'll need a degree to make the tea as an office junior and have no clue about the real world.
Terry, UK

I did English Literature A-level in 1986 and have recently taken one again to sample for myself what my children will be facing. I certainly feel that this recent A level was easier, with course work and books being allowed into the exam. I sat the AS level part in Jan. getting an A and I think that was generously given, I thought, that my efforts in the exam were not of an A standard. The course work that we had to do is certainly an easier option to exams.
Janine, UK

Fine, kids are getting cleverer and Tony Blair wants 50% of the population to pass through university by 2010. Where am I going to find a qualified electrician or plumber?
Geoff, UK

Scientific tests in the US showed that IQ had been rising by almost one point per generation, although I think that rising 'A' level standards are more likely to be due to better prepared teachers and a growing awareness of young people that they have to start early to compete for the most sought after jobs at graduate level.
Naomi, England

So up until 19 years ago kids all had the same intelligence and teachers teaching ability remained constant

B Thompson, UK

Clare, why can't YOU just accept that A-levels have become a joke. Kids are getting cleverer, teachers are teaching better, blah blah. Can't you see the holes in your own theory. So up until 19 years ago kids all had the same intelligence and teachers teaching ability remained constant, then all of a sudden this new phenomenon begins - better and better results every year. Wake up!
B Thompson, UK

Is it really fair to compare this year's candidates when there is a new exam system in place, and they have had to work twice as hard as previous years? Don't group all candidates together - some of us really did work hard and we deserve not to have our results belittled!
Helen, UK

We need academic elitism to allow students to shine

Dan, UK

Its not really relevant if the exams are getting easier. More worrying is that more pupils are getting better grades - if the trend continues soon everyone will be passing - surely that defeats the object?!! A decade or two ago O-Levels/GCSEs were the benchmark for success, anything after that was for the intellectually 'elite'. Through the years as more and more people pass, this benchmark has moved up the educational ladder. Now the benchmark is degree level and anything below that is seen as under par. While once employers were happy with good O-levels now they are barely satisfied with a good degree result. We need academic elitism to allow students to shine.
Dan, UK