Jan modules

[Tom]

Hi everyone, I don't know about you but my school in Lancaster will
not allow me to do maths/English/french/spanish modules in January.
This annoyed me because mods are done in phys, bio. chem and even
business studies. So why not English eh? they dont even let you do
resits citing a need to concentrate on modules being sat in January!!
As i only have a general studies module (fairly unimportant) this
reason is fairly shoddy.
Has anyone else had this problem at their school, or are most
headmasters a bit more flexible than mine.
Come on, post a gripe or something like that.

[Tom]

Actually, in general, what do people think of modules in general as a
means of testing us students. Personally, i think they are good for
spreading the workload, although as a result we do not get so much
tested on our mental stamina in long runs of concentrated exams. Any
thoughts, anyone?

[Robert de Vincy]

Post by Tom
Actually, in general, what do people think of modules in general as a
means of testing us students. Personally, i think they are good for
spreading the workload, although as a result we do not get so much
tested on our mental stamina in long runs of concentrated exams. Any
thoughts, anyone?

I thought one of the complainst about the introduction of the AS/A2
system was that it *increased* the number of exams you took, in effect
making you sit more exam-hours than the previous system. I certainly
remember some complaints here about how so many exams clashed and
arrangements having to be made so that students could take them under
proper conditions (e.g., being "quarantined" overnight to take one of
the clashing exams the next day after its scheduled time).

[Ian Ford]

Post by Tom
Actually, in general, what do people think of modules in general as a
means of testing us students. Personally, i think they are good for
spreading the workload, although as a result we do not get so much
tested on our mental stamina in long runs of concentrated exams. Any
thoughts, anyone?

I can see pros and cons with modules. I'm concerned about the stress
levels that I think they can lead to and that they don't seem to allow
people any time off at all between the start of the course and the end
of it. The synoptic modules haven't really dealt with the gradual
building of understanding either imo. I'm certainly glad that the plan
still seems to be to knock them down to 4 modules rather than 6.

Sure, there are advantages to spreading out assessment and I have no
problem with some stuff done that way - that's the way it works in the
real world afterall. I'm not sure about "mental stamina" though :-)
Not sure that I have any of that!!

As for your school, well, it's their call. We enter in Jan in some
subjects but not in others. That's the pov of the subject teacher. In
Geography we would do so, whereas in English they don't. That's the
way they see as best to deal with the content and so on. Certainly I
think there's an advantage to doing at least one module in one subject
in Jan of Yr 12 as it wakes people upto the fact that AS is a wee bit
harder than GCSE. At the same time it can also be too early - the
academic maturity reallybuilds over yrs 12 and 13 - which is why
people whoresit yr 12 mods in yr 13 always seem to do better despite
claiming to have forgotten the stuff or not done any revision - I've
literally had kids who have done no work, gonein and written and
imporved from a fair mark to a good one, often adding 10-20 marks. Of
course, they've tended to be bright kids who didn't do that badly
first time round.

Ian