A level examinations are necessary

Thank you for your argument. You mentioned the 'unfairness' of the grading system- I would like to rebute this claim. It is true that a student may feel disappointed that he or she missed the grade by one or two marks, but there are several factors to consider. For example, every AQA, EdExcel and OCR sciences are comprised of three units for AS, three for A2. A scenario whereby one misses an A grade for example for one of the unit is not very likely to be repeated in the other papers. The overall results are calculated to generate a grade, which will change in proportion to the 'difficulty' of the paper (though arbitrary, the distribution will be reflected in the distribution of the raw marks). Furthermore, this scenario does not happen every time, and that if a student does JUST get an A in his/her AS, it will make a difference as to how easy it will be for him/her to attain an A or A* overall in his A level. To further reinforce my point, I would like to point out that the UMS is shown on the result sheet (though not necessarily on the certificate). Moreover, some university will lower grade requirements if one NARROWLY misses the required grade (i.e. 1 or 2 marks) if other supplementary projects are carried out- for example, LSE stated that: 'LSE recognises and values the addition of the Extended Project (EP) to the post 16 curriculum, although we acknowledge that not all applicants will have the opportunity to complete one. For this reason, it is not normally included in any conditional offer that we make. However, the skills of independent study and research which can be demonstrated through the EP are clearly good preparation for undergraduate study. We therefore encourage those of you who are undertaking an EP to make reference to it in your application. Whilst the grade that you achieve for your EP may not be specified in any conditional offer, it may be taken into consideration in the summer if you narrowly miss your A level grades. ' Also, for the other points, I would like to point out that exam boards such as AQA take into 'special considerations' for students with special needs: Disadvantaged candidate - for a student who was disadvantaged in a written exam. Absent candidate - for a student who was absent from a written exam. Group request - for a group of students for any assessment. Non-timetabled assessment - for when a student's coursework, oral or practical assessment has been lost or is incomplete. Source: http://www.aqa.org.uk... This demonstrates that the exam boards are not as rigid as some make it out to be. In fact, I might add that such a proposition that public exams are more to do with rote learning is a straw man argument made by certain chemistry teacher/ conspiracy theorist (only my opponent will get the reference xD) You said that 'Limited time can cause people to rush their exams, and skim read questions' Firstly, I have mentioned that exam boards do take into account of special needs (see above). I must also reiterate that although it seems harsh, limited time is given as another mean of 'filtering' candidates. To give candidates a set amount of time is not the same as encouraging them to 'rush' their work. A slight digression- as an economist, we understand that human beings must deal with alternative use of limited resources. In this case, the resource is time- productivity of work is about both speed and quality. I personally think that 1 hour and 30 minutes for OCR mathematics modules, 1 hour 15 minutes for AQA AS biology unit 1, as well as 2 hours for GCSE English literature (which is ample time) are sufficient for the production of decent works. Also, I might add that some exams, such as the ISA practicals for science (which in reality really do test one's practical and scientific skills) allow unlimited time. I might also add I don't see any connection between Bill O'Reilly the crazy creationist and this particular topic. Regarding the 'one size fits all' argument, perhaps you are confusing general topics covered with this proposition. Except for this AS unit 2 biology, of 46 past papers I have used, ranging over 6 subjects, almost all of them cover a broad range of topics in their respective unit, as well as drawing some topics from earlier units to make sure it isn't just a memory test. I now turn to you, comrade...