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I realize my interpretation of characters has been influenced since HBP by my habit of conflating OWLS scores with the American grading system: A, B, C, etc.
But I gather JKR is basing the OWLS on the O-Levels, for which I have no cultural reference.
What does it mean that Harry can do E work in most of his classes, while scraping an O in the class he's been receiving intensive tutoring in since 3rd year?
In the American grading system, you'd have to be quite bright to get absolutely straight A's. Getting mostly B's means, basically, you're a bit above average or average but willing to apply yourself. Getting a B in a class where you've knocked yourself out trying to get an A means you aren't that great. Anyone willing to work hard enough should be able to scrape a C. I've been conflating those to O, E, A--how far off am I?
(For comparison: George W. Bush "passed" most of his college classes, but never, if I recall his published transcript, got higher than a B on those he consented to take letter grades on. Which would make him comparable to Ron, if A/B/C compared to O/E/A. Am I being grossly unfair to Ickle Ronniekins?)
Thanks!
But I gather JKR is basing the OWLS on the O-Levels, for which I have no cultural reference.
What does it mean that Harry can do E work in most of his classes, while scraping an O in the class he's been receiving intensive tutoring in since 3rd year?
In the American grading system, you'd have to be quite bright to get absolutely straight A's. Getting mostly B's means, basically, you're a bit above average or average but willing to apply yourself. Getting a B in a class where you've knocked yourself out trying to get an A means you aren't that great. Anyone willing to work hard enough should be able to scrape a C. I've been conflating those to O, E, A--how far off am I?
(For comparison: George W. Bush "passed" most of his college classes, but never, if I recall his published transcript, got higher than a B on those he consented to take letter grades on. Which would make him comparable to Ron, if A/B/C compared to O/E/A. Am I being grossly unfair to Ickle Ronniekins?)
Thanks!
(Hey, don't look down on the Brit's scoring system! See what snorkackcatcher said!)
Its not actually lenient. Getting 90 marks is unheard of, unless in clear-cut subjects like maths/science. And in that area, seldom too. It is of course, quite impossible to achieve that in humanities subjects like Geography, History, Social Studies, English, Economics etc.
I suppose you have to take in account the examination type as well as the duration of the exam. By examination type, I mean - do the questions come as MCQs (Multiple Choice Questions) or open-ended ones?
MCQs are easier to score, and much easier to 'spot questions' for or train for as they often repeat the same kind of questions, with the same options no less. O Levels consists of a very small percentage of MCQs, and A Levels, almost none at all. Only for Chemistry/Physics/Biology, and that's only 1 out of 4 papers.
Open-ended ones are harder to score of course, examiners have to mark you against a sheet of 'key points' or Level Marking ( in O and A level) according to your language ability, coherence, and just overall presentation. In humanities subjects, you're required to add-on personal evaluation plus case studies and specific examples in the essays. (Eg: If you're writing about chalk cliffs and rate of erosion, you have to name Peacehaven Cliffs protected by an undercliff wall or Black Rock Marina the Chalk cliffs and the Quaternary Head)
Also, for A Levels, the duration of the exam are 'just nice' if you're well-prepared and go in to start writing immediately. If you're not prepared or if you fumble, the marks lost are easily parcels of 10 marks and above. (How to get 90?!)
Eg: For Economics (A Level), given 2 hrs 15 mins, you have to write 3 essays, 25 marks each. We are encouraged to fill at least 3 sides of writing paper - so that's 1 and 1/2 sheets at the very least for part (i) of the question - usually 10-12 marks. Part 2 - 13-15 marks, 2 sheets, 4 sides at least, excluding the diagrams which take up to 8 lines wide (depending on how big you draw them).
And when you're done, that's only for 1 question. 2 more to go. Lather, rinse, repeat.
And there's still Geography - 3 hour paper, History...etc. Our science papers have 4 parts (For O and A). ( 3 written, 1 practical split into 4 sessions throughout the year. The MCQ paper is 40 questions and only 1 hour is given. Its pretty horrifying, this paper.)
Hope this gives you a rough idea of exactly how tough and demanding it can be!
Ah, so, it might be 2 papers weighted out of 50 each, or up to 15ish each? Still, I am referring to final score. If 70 percent out of the possible marks is given the top-level grade, well... it doesn't make me feel that great about having got Summa Cum Laude (3.75 GPA or greater, I think it was?) on my Bachelor's in the US, if someone who flew well under "Cum Laude" could have got similar honours in the UK.
Also, for A Levels, the duration of the exam are 'just nice' if you're well-prepared and go in to start writing immediately. If you're not prepared or if you fumble, the marks lost are easily parcels of 10 marks and above. (How to get 90?!)
Wait -- they dock you for thinking a bit before you write? IOW for how soon you begin, never mind they can't tell what might be going on in your head?
Eg: For Economics (A Level), given 2 hrs 15 mins, you have to write 3 essays, 25 marks each. We are encouraged to fill at least 3 sides of writing paper [...] And there's still Geography - 3 hour paper, History...etc. Our science papers have 4 parts (For O and A). ( 3 written, 1 practical split into 4 sessions throughout the year. The MCQ paper is 40 questions and only 1 hour is given. Its pretty horrifying, this paper.)
Ahh. So basically, they give a lot more, and expect less percentage?
For A Level Chemistry (and similarly in O Levels)
We have Paper 1 - 40 marks, 40MCQ. Q1-30 are normal MCQ, while the last 10 are 'evaluative MCQs' where the 4 options are statements, and you have to choose whether all of the statements are correct, only 1 is correct, or only 2 is correct or whether 2 and 3 is correct or 1 and 2 is correct.
Paper 2 - 60 marks, 1.5 hours. This consists of structured questions where different topics can exist in 1 question to test your integration of knowledge. All compulsory questions, each varying from 10-15 marks, usually 6 questions or so.
Paper 3 - 80 marks - 2 hours. For this, we choose 4 out of 5 questions. Each question is 20 marks, with (i), (ii) carrying different marks in it. This is the longer and tougher version of P2.
Paper 4 - 64 marks (This is the year-long practical, testing Skill A, B, C, D. ABCD refers to specific skills like calculation of data, evaluation of data etc.) Experiments are done alone in the lab, each Skill is 8 marks.
The total doesn't add up to 100, but instead each paper is given a percentage weightage on how important it is, eg: Paper 3 is very very important, so the percentage may be about 40%. The total score is still computed to a 100% - but that's for internal exams.
About the As and the Os, they use a bell-curve to cut the levels, but of course, I'm not privy to how exactly they compute it. In the A levels, there's no specific scaling like I've provided up there - it will depend on the scoring of students nationwide. For all you may know, for a particularly difficult paper, the highest score may only be a 55, but that's an A as far as everything is concerned.
For Econs - Paper 1 - 50 marks - but only 40%. Paper 2 - 75 marks but 60% weightage. And this applies to the H2 level only. (H1, H2, H3 refers to different depth of study for the subject - this is another topic altogether.)
I think its very hard to reconcile US and UK's system, particularly if you're used to the 90+ points as grade A...well, I'm sure everything is tested differently in the US, am I right? What are the exam formats like? That may account for the difference in marks expectations. The A level equivalent in US is? Is it the SATs? We can take that here too, but at our own leisure.
Regarding your qualification, I'm sure it is another matter totally as A Levels is not the same as university level. A Level is what we take to get to the U. So I don't think the comparison applies. Your qualification is quite safe. :)
Hm. That's not what I meant exactly. Thinking time doesn't really exist, because all the preparation has to be done before the exams. When you look at the question, you only process it and immediately start to answer it. You must 'get it' immediately. More time spent thinking means less time answering, and in the end, only what you wrote would be marked.
If you spend more than 10 minutes thinking about what the question wants, then your time is running really short. At the most, 'thinking' must be done in tandem with planning out your answers (for writing out essays).
I'm not too sure about what you mean by your last sentence. If you would care to elaborate, I'll be happy to answer. (Though I'm wondering if we're off-topic already. ;p)
What are the exam formats like? That may account for the difference in marks expectations. The A level equivalent in US is? Is it the SATs?
I guess? That's the exam that most institutions are interested in as far as admission to a university. However, we normally take that exam around the junior (third) year of high school, which age-wise sounds to me more like O-level. Also, you can attempt it multiple times to improve your score, which I don't get the impression you can do with O or A levels?
I'm not too sure about what you mean by your last sentence.
They offer a more difficult exam, expecting that people will not be likely to score 100 because they don't have time to get to all the questions, and therefore much lower marks are considered passing?
Well - yes, papers consists of essays questions, and this is particularly for humanities subjects. Not so for Chem/Bio/Physics of course. Although, Bio does have a small essay section. So the answer is "yes" to this first question.
Hmm. You can retake particular O Level subjects if you've failed them, and combine them with your first. But then you have to wait for a whole another year before taking the exam. (You can take SATs about 4 times throughout the year yes?) But for A Levels - only results in one sitting are accepted, so if you fail one subject, you're obliged to repeat everything you've taken at the next exam (next year) - this can be and is extremely draining.
So yes, you can repeat, but most people don't, the effort put into revising and studying for the whole entire syllabus is way too daunting for some people, particularly because this repeat would be without the guidance of school teachers. You're on your own. (Unless you're having tuition of course.)
I think the main difference is that - SATs - they consist mainly of MCQs and is thus easier to accumulate a higher numerical score as compared to the grading for the short answer questions/essays. The bar for the A Levels is never set at 100 marks as being the highest benchmark because you cannot grade the essay the same way you tick off an MCQ - its not that definitive and clear-cut. The A Levels don't have MCQs as part of their examination, and in the case where they do, it is way outweighed by other components. (Eg: Chemistry).
So the scores in A Levels are more subjective to a marker's whims (although they do have a marking scheme) rather than the very straightforward right/wrong, 1 point for each correct answer in MCQs. This is especially prevalent in the "essay papers" I've mentioned, they mark according to "levels". L1 - 0-7 marks. L2 - 8-12 marks. L3 - 13-16 marks (This is a school gauge, if the essay totals 16 marks) So, the examiners have leeway within each level to mark according to their own impression of your work as well.
So the succinct answer would be "yes" to this.
Overall- and I hope no one is offended I think this- I think the O/A Levels is a harder qualifying exam than the SATs. Much, much harder.