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Average Point Score on League Tables

9 replies

Aigle · 01/04/2013 18:14

Secondary Schools A Level: Curious on how others interpret the "Average Point Score per Student" statistic on league tables. The average for England seems to 714 points. My rough interpretation is: below 700 (pretty dodgy) 700-800 (average) 800-1000 (strong performance) above 1000 (excellent performance). Is that a fair interpretation in your opinion?

(BTW I realize that a school cannot be judged on one single statistic, and there can be some anomalies in the stats - I am simply asking for some opinions to see whether I am making a reasonable assumption or not.)

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senua · 01/04/2013 18:21

On its own, it is a meaningless statistic.
For some schools it simply covers 3.5 A Levels. Other schools boost it with Gen Studies, Crit Thinking etc. I would take more notice of 'points per exam entry'.

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Aigle · 02/04/2013 17:24

Yes of course the composition of A levels is as important (more) important that the actual results. Not sure if you meant "3-5" A levels or "3.5" - if the latter, a bit confused as to what that is? What is the 'points per exam entry' and why would you say it's a better measure to focus on?

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senua · 02/04/2013 18:18

I did mean 3.5 A Levels. It's shorthand for the usual i.e. 3 subjects taken all the way to A2 plus another subject only taken to AS Level.

Points per exam entry gives an indication of the grades achieved. I would rather a school got an average of A in three subjects in preference to B in four subjects. Quality not quantity.

If you have 'points per pupil' and 'points per exam entry' then you can easily divide one by other to see how many exams the average pupil is taking. If the whole cohort has more than 4 exams each then you know they are doing Gen Studies or something like that to boost the League Table.

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Aigle · 02/04/2013 19:19

That's good insight, thank you.

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sashh · 03/04/2013 06:01

You also need to know how many students took the exam. A friend's dc is currently aiming for D grades in A Levels, he is in a class of 3 for one subject, the other 2 are looking at A grades.

So obviously the average will be dragged down for that class, but I admire the school for letting him continue, many would have asked him to repeat a year.

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Aigle · 03/04/2013 19:51

Not sure any admiration is called for, the other way to look at it is that by permitting a "D" the school is not doing the student any favours. Mind you it depends on the person in question, the actual A level, and other A levels being taken. IMO.

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eatyourveg · 04/04/2013 07:59

I assume average points are in no way the same as ucas points - the average point scores seem almost double what you 'd get using ucas points. Anyone know how APS works?

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senua · 04/04/2013 09:21

Annoying, isn't it.

For league tables: start at E=150 and add 30 points per grade to get to A=270 and A*=300
For UCAS: start at E=40 and add 20 points per grade to get to A=120 and A*=140
For AS, halve the points (there is no A* at AS).