Exam Results

GCSE results later today, so expect the usual howls about how exams are getting easier. Well, it must indeed be difficult to distinguish the very best if so many people are awarded top marks. So I have a modest proposal: in addition to the grade would be given, and would be expected to be disclosed ever thereafter, in which percentage of those sitting the exam the candidate’s mark placed him or her.

At A-level, universities could use this, rather than the grade itself, to select among applicants. However, it should be added that universities need to get over themselves where A-levels are concerned: A-level is not a university entrance exam, but a qualification in its own right.