Maybe you'd get more respect if you didn't use made up words like "unconcerting" in letters to the paper.

> We don't appreciate it when our hard work is belittled by groups who aren't happy that exam success is rising.

If exam success is rising one has to wonder what the purpose of those exams has become. Their purpose used to be to enable employers and/or universities to determine which pupils were better than others, but if more and more pupils are no better or worse than others (i.e. if more and more pupils are the same) then exams will not assist in telling better pupils from worse.

The upshot is that employers and universities have begun to resort to other measures in order to tell pupils apart, which is a shame because while the subjects you've worked hard on for the past 2 years will have been useful insofar as anything in life is useful, they will not have guaranteed you a job, or a place in university.

This is the reason some of the older generation have difficulty giving praise to modern A level students - if the qualifications you have say that you're excellent at, say Biology, but at the same time everyone else is excellent at Biology then what's the point of having them?

I wouldnt say that it is me to judge what role that examinations are playing, all I know is that they form the backbone of my academic qualifications, - I can confirm that my place at University has been guaranteed with the results I achieved, which I will admit isn't the top grades asked for from Universities such as Oxford and Cambridge. - The scale that is provided is to tell how good someone is and Universities ask for certain grades. - Any pass is a qualification and the requirements for these have remained the same. - All I want to know is why are examinations supposedly easier now exam results are rising and that why are they not becoming harder because results are falling. It seems to the students of today, (myself included) that they are getting either more "lucky" with rising results, or more "thick" with falling results.

What I wanted to express is that I worked hard for my results, and I am very proud of them, I am very proud that I will be the first in my household and only the second person in my family to attend University with the results I achieved. - What I and other students dont want is the instant dismissal of rising results from people who took them in yesteryear.

I welcome anyone who can get an A-Level from writing a letter to an exam board to contact me and I will follow their line, since it cannot be done. - Those who took exams 15-20 years ago can raise their marks through resitting modules, I say why not take the opportunity to raise your marks and grades without it possibly damaging your original marks.

My point, I and my fellow students worked hard for our results and we dont like them to be just dismissed without second thought

I suppose its all a matter of expectations. I never expected to take a calculator into an exam room( they werent around in my day)nor did I (or any of my contemporaries) hope to receive such high scores as are commonly recorded today.

Examination Boards ( from my current experience)are more interested in "passing" a candidate than they were in years past. One reason is all the publicity which currently surrounds the publishing of results. Theres too much of it...it means very little to people like me and its all become too involved in politics and has less to do with personal development.

Having said all of that, I am sure young people work hard and congratulations to all those who do well ( but are 15 GCSEs really comparable with the old Grammar Schools where 8 subjects was the maximum at a sitting?

Education certainly is not as good as it was. Far too many subjects taken in school could be taken after a student leaves full time education. Some days ago I read an essay written by my friends son. I mentioned to him that his grammer was not very good and needed some work. His reply was to say that his grammer is too old for work. The same person brought me a job application for help filling it in. His spelling was atrocious, His writing could hardly be read. Yet he was given A level in English and other subjects.

Firstly you state that you did not recieve congratulations from said person mentioned in your article. Well the question I pose to you is; do you really lack the self esteem to rely on praise from random strangers?
Whilst your achievements cannot be taken away from you and I personally congratulate you on whatever grades you achieved as you stuck through the 2 years(which really only shows commitment), why do you feel the need to comment on a random strangers comment. The only person you should care about is yourself and if you care what others think you are flawed as an individual.

Secondly I'd like to comment on your overall article. You seem to portray yourself as a monotonous individual. Your arguments are repetative and seem to have very little or no structure or validation. You challenge people who say exams are easy to take them next year, yet do you know the optimum age for your brian is 20 and it is scientifically proven that people under the age of 20 retain more information than over that age.
That being said of course people who re-take their examinations won't do as well. It is not neccesarily a case of intellect but it is the case that their brain will have either forgotten said subjects (unless practiced) or will not be able to retain/recall the information of an average person sitting their A levels.

I personally believe exams have gotten slightly easier but their is also the teaching staff to thank for the improvement. Undoubtedly as technologies advance and schools/teaching becomes more modernised the level of teaching staff is going to increase. School is no longer a place of learning and gaining valuble life skills but it is a place you go to put your head in a book and 2 years later sit exams that define the rest of your life.

If asked about particular academic subjects such as: maths, sciences, english then yes those subjects are still useful and respected. However people who take subjects such as media studies (That required 40% for

Peter, good to hear from someone who's recently been through the system and at the same school. - Thank you for your congratulations

Recommending others to do exams would be of course with practise. I had the advantage of doing them with two years of teaching behind me, and that I would allow anyone wanting to either sign up - or resit their modules.

I wouldnt say that the comment would bother me but after hearing plenty of exams being to easy to be approached by a stranger saying that exams are too easy did make me feel annoyed and very disappointed. - It could be that if it hadnt been in the news it wouldnt have bothered me that much - I hope that I was standing up for the younger people of sheffield who have worked hard for their results.

I was greatful that I received congratulations from my family and friends,
I understand your arguments, - I am not saying that I
expect people on the street to stop me by and say, "I dont know what you got but congrats anway" But what I dont like is when I have worked hard for my exam grades for them to be simply belittled by someone else who's little knowledge of the system (I saw this gentleman in town two days after the letter was published and he said that he left school at 14, this is a 62 year old gentleman and he confessed he had no knowledge of the A-Level system that me and you did at Notre Dame or that anyother A-Level system then why should he personally criticise me - To his great credit he came across much much better and in a more friendly manner than the stern manner which he greeted me in the aftermath of the results.

To question you all what right did he have to personally criticise me?

To answer the other comments I can understand that boards are wanting candidates to pass, but remember that the requirement of x number of marks is required to pass. I wouldnt judge that Education is worse than 20 years ago, I would let someone who has been involved in the educatoon system much longer than me,

> All I want to know is why are examinations supposedly easier now exam results are rising ...

If it were a case of pass-rates rising for a couple of years and then falling back we could account for that as either a statistical anomaly, or a bright bunch of students. However if the pass-rate rises year-on-year with no apparent increase in the overall competence of students then it should at the very least be causing you to wonder about pass-rates.

Chris Woodhead (former chief inspector of schools) in 2003:

"When you look at the rate of increase and the fact that each year each new generation does do better then I don't think you are a cynic, you are just intelligently sceptical, if you raise questions about the nature of the examination.

It can't all be down to better teaching, greater dedication, more intelligent students."

Are you suggesting that nurture has made current students more intelligent than their forebears? Our ancestors were, surely, equally as intelligent as our current crop of exam-takers just to have survived in a very hostile world.

What I actually want to know is why is it people who are not involved in exams or have children who have taken exams in the recent years think exams are getting easier whilst people who are involved fully i.e. teachers and examiners feel that exams are more difficult.

The question I have said to you all is to sit these exams and see how tough they are, (Peter Turk aside) or is it that you are willing to criticise, but unwilling to priase?