How times have changed

[jaysay]

My other half acts as an exam adjudicator at her local secondary School, she told me that she has an exam today a 1pm, but she would have to be there by 12.15 because its maths and she would have to hand out calculators Calculators, I said, thats changed since our day, we didn't have calculators but we weren't allowed to use a slide rule or anything like that, we had to use what god gave use, brain power

[Tealeaf]

Originally Posted by jaysay

My other half acts as an exam adjudicator at her local secondary School, she told me that she has an exam today a 1pm, but she would have to be there by 12.15 because its maths and she would have to hand out calculators Calculators, I said, thats changed since our day, we didn't have calculators but we weren't allowed to use a slide rule or anything like that, we had to use what god gave use, brain power

Presumably you were too thick to use log tables.

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by Tealeaf

Presumably you were too thick to use log tables.

No we used log tables leafy and I did pass as well

[Bonnyboy]

Looks like your mathematical ability is now judged on your ability to punch numbers into a gadget. You used to have to show how you came to your solution, how you worked out the problem. Hitting a few buttons on a calculator hardly demonstrates a grasp of the subject.

Seems to make a bit of a mockery of the exam to me.

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by Bonnyboy

Looks like your mathematical ability is now judged on your ability to punch numbers into a gadget. You used to have to show how you came to your solution, how you worked out the problem. Hitting a few buttons on a calculator hardly demonstrates a grasp of the subject.

Seems to make a bit of a mockery of the exam to me.

exactly, Bonnyboy

[garinda]

We were allowed to use calculators when I took Maths O-level in 1981, at school. I failed.

We were allowed to use calculators when I took Maths GCSE in 1990, at Brixton College. I passed.

It's also much easier than it used to be.

[derekgas]

I remember we used to have to give the answer, and show the working out beside the answer, so, does a maths problem now have to have the numbers of the calculator pressed and the order in which they were pressed? Along similar lines, my eldest son who is now 27, lit some of the magnesium in science class, he got detention, and in his opinion it was out of order, I reminded him that we would probably have got '6 of the best' he didnt have a clue what I meant.

[emzy]

We had to use calculators for certain things in the exams but on the others we couldnt just "cheat" and use a calculator, we had to show all working out on the page. It may be getting easier but it was 12 years since I passed my GCSE so dont know how it is just now but i know calculators are being used more and more.

[emamum]

when i did mine you were allowed to use them for one paper but not for the other, you still had to show how you worked it out tho. calculaters arent cheating, you still have to know how to do the math, the calculator just gives you the answer quicker.

[andrewb]

Originally Posted by garinda

We were allowed to use calculators when I took Maths O-level in 1981, at school. I failed.

We were allowed to use calculators when I took Maths GCSE in 1990, at Brixton College. I passed.

It's also much easier than it used to be.

Its not easier according to the teachers though, I know who I'd believe!

You're right though, doing an exam developed for 16 year olds when you're 26 you'll find it easier.

Jaysay, they should have a calculator and non-calculator exam.

[garinda]

Originally Posted by andrewb

Its not easier according to the teachers though, I know who I'd believe!

You're right though, doing an exam developed for 16 year olds when you're 26 you'll find it easier.

Jaysay, they should have a calculator and non-calculator exam.

The teachers would say it's equally hard though, otherwise they'll look like they aren't teaching it as well as they used to.

O-level, one exam, which accounted for all the marks.

GCSE, one exam, which accounted for 50% of the final mark. Oral test, which you could use a calculator for, and which counted as 25% of the final mark. Project, which was done at home, and which could be checked before being submitted, and which made up the remaining mark.

Fact.

Having done to two, rest assured it is easier, including the questions.

[cashman]

Originally Posted by andrewb

Its not easier according to the teachers though, I know who I'd believe!

i'd believe that if i was your age, its better than looking dumb.

[entwisi]

I once got a proper shouting at school. I have an uncanny knack with maths that I can 'see' the solution in my mind and would often just write the answer down. The teacher used to berate me all the time for not showing the working out. one day I submitted my homework with pictures of a head with gears whirring inside or with fingers pressing buttons on a calculator. He went absoutely ballistic!

We wre allowed calculators in my day(1985) but you culd equally do it all in your head. In fat calculators often made it harder as tehy naturally 'rounded' teh answer and when you have calculations that are 15 - 20 'layers' deep these rounding errors would accumulate to give teh wrong answer.

e.g, sin 45 = 1/square root of 2 ( hard to write on a post but always what i would use ) or 0.7071068 to 8 significant figures. use teh latter as a basis of a calculation and you have 'gained' a small fraction that will mean your next layer will be that bit further out. continue and its soon pushing you further and further away from teh 'correct' answer.

[churchman phil]

Which school were you at Entwisi?? I left in '85 too - from Mount Carmel

[Less]

Just wait until, instead of 'you may use calculators', the adjudicator says, "You may use your lap-top and internet connections are, here, here, here and here, just like a Stewardess telling you about emergency exits!