I have had a copy of the Unit Chemistry C1b examination for 2008, which was taken on Wednesday 5 March 2008, handed to me for comment. For some years now there have been allegations that the GCSE Examinations have been "dumbed down" so that more students have a chance of passing. This "Chemistry " paper covers "Oils, Earth and Atmosphere" and is basically a multi answer paper where the student puts ticks against the answers he, or she, thinks are correct. Now I know many of the contributors to this board are not chemically inclined, or maybe never even studied anything associateed with science. But please bear with me. This is just one question which was put in the paper. How much chemical knowledge do you think is needed to give the correct answers?

"Margarine is an Emulsion. This statement then has a carton of the margarine on which the label shows:

Saturated Vegetable Oil ............ This is item A
Unsaturated Vegetable Oil ......... This is item B
Water .................................... This is item C
Potassium Chloride. E508 ........... This is item D

The student is then asked to match the ingredients A,B,C & D with four descriptions numbered 1 to 4 in a table. The ingredient decriptions are:

1.. It is a permitted additive
2.. It can be detected by its reaction with bromine
3.. All its carbon bonds are single
4.. It is mixed with oils to form an emulsion

This type of question is absolutely nothing like the questions which used to come up in examinations a few years ago. If this is the level of chemistry which is being taught in schools it is no wonder Universities are having problems getting students who have a good grounding in the subject. What do you think?

I think I would get it wrong cos I don't have a clue so I would have to guess. Presumably students would have looked at this in lessons so for them it should be no problem.

In my opinion questions like these are a lottery as there has to be a probability that many students who have not worked effectively will guess and by pure chance will get answers correct.

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Bunny

anyone has the right to be stupid...some just abuse the privilege

Thanks for that Esca.

I took Chemistry at O and A level and went on to do a degree in Biology and specialised in Biochemistry.

I have had my doubts about the exams that they take these days, and as an example I will cite my beloved daughter.

She is bright, make no mistake, and she hates geography.

She took her mocks a while ago and did not revise at all.

Her mark was given as an A*.

I love geography and didn't do as well as her possible grade when I took my O level.l

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Who can hate geography? My degree is in geography and I also have a PGCE making me a qualified teacher of geography. Never taught though as an NQT I spent 18 fruitless months trying to get a job, in the end I gave up and went into office work.

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Bunny

anyone has the right to be stupid...some just abuse the privilege

My wife took an A' level in Law a few years ago. She had to answer only 4 questions. She ran out of time and only completes 3 questions of which the last one was rushed. Guess her grade....... Yep an 'A'.

In Maths I am astonished at what is not taught at O 'Level anymore. For example Volumes of Revolution has moved over the last 15 years from O' level through A' level and is currently taught at first year degree level.

I kept all my O' and A' level exam papers (I can't quite put my hands on them at the moment) but I still remember taking copious notes on deriving de Broglie wave-particle theory from first principles. Only to be told after about a hour that it was outside the exam syllabus and was non-examinable. Great!

I do remember a specific question on benzene rings and Markovnikov's rule.

When I find then papers I'll post a sample question here

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I wouldn't know the answer to that. I was rubbish at sciences, when I was in school unless you were super clever you just took "science" which covered physics, chemistry and biology in one, and you ended up with the equivalent of two GCSE's. This was what I did, and I was actually told by my teacher that I was unlikely to pass. Inspiring! So I gave up revising and used my science lessons to write poetry. I got two grade C's anyway. I still don't know how!

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I have been having a look at some of the revision stuff which is on the BBC site and there only sems to be the Scottish Higher qualifiications which show any questions which require a good knowledge of the particular subject. This link gives access: BBC - Schools Ages 16+ - General Studies Sites

I wonder what happened to the Education system to make this "dumbing down" so prevelant? No-one these days seems to want to go to any great depth with subjects. It all seems to be scratching the surface.

I don't remember any multiple choice questions in any of my exams!

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Just my own thought and I can't back it up, but I think that it may be due to the situation where pupils are now pawns in the Politics war.

They are measureable, and so if a government can say that under our stewardship the level of passes went up...... etc etc.

So rather than teach them better, make the exams easier.

I hope I'm wrong and this is not to suggest that there are many students willing to do their best, my daughter being one of them.

If exam results cannot be trusted, then industry and others offering jobs will have to set their own criteria.

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BTW, I think that I was taught to say teach them better, though nowadays they say better teach.

I don't know.

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