On 12/04/2021 21:30, RJH wrote:
On 12 Apr 2021 at 21:26:28 BST, "Paul" wrote:

#Paul wrote:
NY wrote:
It was quite a shock to read something which was *so* illiterate from
someone who would have passed his A levels to get to university ...

When I went though secondary school, it was not uncommon for
pupils on the science/maths side of the distribution to have
dropped any subject that required them to write essays; just
as the other "humanities" group had dropped science and
maths subjects as soon as possible; naturally, this greatly
exacerbated the weaknesses of both groups.

#Paul

But you know why this is.

It's not rocket science.

A humanities professor, by design, cannot give a mark
higher than C to a STEM student. The STEM students know
this.


IME, things have moved on, and grades in the 90s are not uncommon. I'm
expecting somebody to break the 100 barrier some time soon . . .

Back in the days of 'O'-level maths, the exam (JMB) consisted of two 3
hour papers, each marked out of 113. Pupils were not expected to get
above 100 and the numbers were used directly as percentages. So 90/113
on one paper and 80/113 on the other, got you 85% - yes, a very odd
idea, but that was how it worked.

In the mocks, a classmate scored something like 108/113 and 98/113, but
was only given 99% ... because "You are not allowed to score more than
100% on a single paper"