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Physics Threshold

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Well, people like Suchal and Thermentor make up the 15-20%. :p
Yes:p, but from what I've found is that most people here are obviously Higher Achievers so deducting the thresholds is very difficult at XPC
As i said, I'll create a thread when I'm free (probably tomorrow) and tag u. Then u can discuss about this topic.
 
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Yes:p, but from what I've found is that most people here are obviously Higher Achievers so deducting the thresholds is very difficult at XPC
As i said, I'll create a thread when I'm free (probably tomorrow) and tag u. Then u can discuss about this topic.

How are you NOT free? 6th June - I'll be like free as the wind. :D
 
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How are you NOT free? 6th June - I'll be like free as the wind. :D

I'm really tired after the exams+I've got so many things on my mind (Can't u wait for 12 hours:p)

As you are discussing about the comparison between the grade thresholds of IGCSE and O' Levels, then I completely agree with Saad Mughal. IGCSE thresholds are low because people from all over the world give these exams. That is why, scoring an A* is comparatively easy. A perfect example would be the grade threshold for Islamiat for Oct/Nov 2012 where the minimum percentage needed for an A* was 67%. Unbelievable, isn't it? But the reason behind this was that very few people take this subject, around the world. However, in Pakistan it is hard to get an A* in Islamiat. Similarly, the grade thresolds for sciences are also high in GCE O' Levels and would be nearly 90% but the difference won't be as much as in case of Islamiat.
 
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As you are discussing about the comparison between the grade thresholds of IGCSE and O' Levels, then I completely agree with Saad Mughal. IGCSE thresholds are low because people from all over the world give these exams. That is why, scoring an A* is comparatively easy. A perfect example would be the grade threshold for Islamiat for Oct/Nov 2012 where the minimum percentage needed for an A* was 67%. Unbelievable, isn't it? But the reason behind this was that very few people take this subject, around the world. However, in Pakistan it is hard to get an A* in Islamiat. Similarly, the grade thresolds for sciences are also high in GCE O' Levels and would be nearly 90% but the difference won't be as much as in case of Islamiat.

This is in my opinion a wrong idea as CIE is an international examination board. It makes no sense for them to assess candidates giving the same papers(IGCSE and O Levels Islamiyat have identical papers) with such different standards. It would be unfair for the candidates in O level to be marked more harshly than their IGCSE counterparts. Similarly, grading needs have to have a standard which is not significantly altered by varying candidature across sessions. It is not fair for candidates to be given such lenient grading in IGCSE and not O Levels due to difference in candidature even though exams are very similar in content and pattern.
 
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This is in my opinion a wrong idea as CIE is an international examination board. It makes no sense for them to assess candidates giving the same papers(IGCSE and O Levels Islamiyat have identical papers) with such different standards. It would be unfair for the candidates in O level to be marked more harshly than their IGCSE counterparts. Similarly, grading needs have to have a standard which is not significantly altered by varying candidature across sessions. It is not fair for candidates to be given such lenient grading in IGCSE and not O Levels due to difference in candidature even though exams are very similar in content and pattern.

Yes, I agree with you completely. They should not drop their standard on the basis of the response from the students. The grade thresholds should depend on the level of difficulty of the paper which should be assessed by the examiner, while it should be independent of the students' response.
 
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Yes, I agree with you completely. They should not drop their standard on the basis of the response from the students. The grade thresholds should depend on the level of difficulty of the paper which should be assessed by the examiner, while it should be independent of the students' response.

The performance of students is actually the measure of difficulty of paper.
 
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ok guys after much research on igcse grade boundaries i have come up with these files (in the zip), which are my deduction on how the grade boundary for A* is calculated.... READ wordpad file for the description and use EXCEL file for trying out the formula urself

Suchal Riaz
Saad Mughal

remember this is my assumption only but its also the most likely method ;)
 

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The performance of students is actually the measure of difficulty of paper.

Actually it is not when it comes to IGCSE. Here, the case is not like Pakistan where students work extremely hard. Many of the students just appear for the exams without any aims of good results which why the thresholds go so down even though the papers are not that hard.
 
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As you are discussing about the comparison between the grade thresholds of IGCSE and O' Levels, then I completely agree with Saad Mughal. IGCSE thresholds are low because people from all over the world give these exams. That is why, scoring an A* is comparatively easy. A perfect example would be the grade threshold for Islamiat for Oct/Nov 2012 where the minimum percentage needed for an A* was 67%. Unbelievable, isn't it? But the reason behind this was that very few people take this subject, around the world. However, in Pakistan it is hard to get an A* in Islamiat. Similarly, the grade thresolds for sciences are also high in GCE O' Levels and would be nearly 90% but the difference won't be as much as in case of Islamiat.
How are you NOT free? 6th June - I'll be like free as the wind. :D
This is in my opinion a wrong idea as CIE is an international examination board. It makes no sense for them to assess candidates giving the same papers(IGCSE and O Levels Islamiyat have identical papers) with such different standards. It would be unfair for the candidates in O level to be marked more harshly than their IGCSE counterparts. Similarly, grading needs have to have a standard which is not significantly altered by varying candidature across sessions. It is not fair for candidates to be given such lenient grading in IGCSE and not O Levels due to difference in candidature even though exams are very similar in content and pattern.
thementor
Please check these files. They are June 2011 Pakistan Studies papers(Posted as the site was down). Notice that the papers are IDENTICAL for IGCSE and O-Levels.
Now check these Statistics for IGCSE and O-Levels.
A* IGCSE: 4.8% A* O-levels:15.1%
A or above IGCSE:16.8% A or above O-Levels:36.0%
Now this is where the standard comes into place as Pakistan Studies is probably a newer subject and not taken widely and seriously just like Islamiat (couldn't find its papers) as mentioned by Iridescent
Do u think CIE is so crazy that they will have different standards for something same. I don't think they're very different for the sciences as people outside Pakistan also take them in O-Levels (ok,much lesser than IGCSE) and in IGCSE students are somewhat more serious in them probably. They may be higher but even in them 10-15% difference is too much. I just wanted to show that CIE are experienced and have taken exams for years. They can know the standards of the papers and student performance doesn't always show that. That is why there is a large difference in Statistics between the June and November papers (Both O-Levels)as standard is much lower in November. The complete Statistics for IGCSE are here and O-Levels here.
Btw Saad u have seen here that even the High Achievers in XPC are rarely stating there MAX numbers to be above 90%. So how do you expect 15-20% of all candidates achieving it.
 

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thementor
Please check these files. They are June 2011 Pakistan Studies papers(Posted as the site was down). Notice that the papers are IDENTICAL for IGCSE and O-Levels.
Now check these Statistics for IGCSE and O-Levels.
A* IGCSE: 4.8% A* O-levels:15.1%
A or above IGCSE:16.8% A or above O-Levels:36.0%
Now this is where the standard comes into place as Pakistan Studies is probably a newer subject and not taken widely and seriously just like Islamiat (couldn't find its papers) as mentioned by Iridescent
Do u think CIE is so crazy that they will have different standards for something same. I don't think they're very different for the sciences as people outside Pakistan also take them in O-Levels (ok,much lesser than IGCSE) and in IGCSE students are somewhat more serious in them probably. They may be higher but even in them 10-15% difference is too much. I just wanted to show that CIE are experienced and have taken exams for years. They can know the standards of the papers and student performance doesn't always show that. That is why there is a large difference in Statistics between the June and November papers (Both O-Levels)as standard is much lower in November. The complete Statistics for IGCSE are here and O-Levels here.
Btw Saad u have seen here that even the High Achievers in XPC are rarely stating there MAX numbers to be above 90%. So how do you expect 15-20% of all candidates achieving it.

I repeat, CHINESE. They're bizarrely perfect. :p
 
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ok guys after much research on igcse grade boundaries i have come up with these files (in the zip), which are my deduction on how the grade boundary for A* is calculated.... READ wordpad file for the description and use EXCEL file for trying out the formula urself

Suchal Riaz
Saad Mughal

remember this is my assumption only but its also the most likely method ;)

Well, the problem of calculation still stands. I can just take the average of all the people here but what do I put in the A and C rows? That can only be assumed.
 
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Man what i spent 40 min of my precious time there did u even read the whole post.

Yes, I did. I appreciate the fact that you researched so much for us. But, I've kinda accepted the fact that an A isn't all so bad.
Besides, Computer is seemingly endless (from its syllabus).
 
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Well, the problem of calculation still stands. I can just take the average of all the people here but what do I put in the A and C rows? That can only be assumed.
You just can never find the thresholds for O-Levels,leave it. I'm just telling u about the average thresholds they're almost the same for every year just difference of 3-4%. The problem is we can't find that range:unsure:
 
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