8月10日，CIE A-level放榜，不少學生的成績令人大跌眼鏡，實際成績與預估成績相差甚遠。17日，Edexcel和牛津AQA兩大考試局的A-level成績也相繼公佈。今年的分數線紛紛上漲，且漲幅較大。On 10 August, CIE released its A-Level results, and many students were stunned by what they saw: their actual grades fell far short of the ones they had been predicted. On the 17th, the results from the other two major boards, Edexcel and Oxford AQA, followed. Grade boundaries have risen across the board this year, and by a considerable margin.
放榜前，The Guardian就提醒考生要做好失望的準備，尤其是在兩年前的GCSE中取得優異成績的學生。Ahead of results day, The Guardian had already warned candidates to prepare themselves for disappointment — particularly those who had achieved outstanding GCSE grades two years earlier.
有同學説，今年數學和物理壓分嚴重。One student said that grading in Mathematics and Physics had been severely tightened this year.
有同學説，今年經濟高分太難了，壓分壓得也太狠了。Another said that top grades in Economics had become almost impossible to reach, so ruthlessly had the marking been squeezed.
還有同學説，差一分就能過con，太難受了……Yet another said they had missed the conditions of their university offer by a single mark, which was almost too much to bear…
其實，早在之前，英國教育部就宣佈2023年大考A-level/GCSE評分將收緊，考試等級界限將回歸疫情前的水平。白金漢大學教育主任艾倫·史密瑟斯（Alan Smithers）教授預測，與去年相比，預計今年獲得A*和A的學生將減少近10萬人，成千上萬學生將失去大學位置。In fact, the UK Department for Education had announced well in advance that grading in the 2023 A-Level and GCSE examinations would be tightened, with grade boundaries returning to pre-pandemic levels. Professor Alan Smithers, Director of Education at the University of Buckingham, predicted that nearly 100,000 fewer students would be awarded A* and A grades than last year, and that tens of thousands would lose their university places.
放眼2023年全球範圍內的升學公開試，IB、DSE、A-level、IGCSE等等，分數都是一壓再壓，目的就是為了將整體成績恢復到疫情前的水平，減少分數通脹。小編預測，未來兩三年裏會延續這一壓分趨勢。Look across the public examinations used for university entry around the world in 2023 — the IB, the DSE, A-Levels, IGCSEs and the rest — and grades have been pushed down again and again, all with the aim of restoring overall results to pre-pandemic levels and curbing grade inflation. Our own prediction is that this tightening will continue for the next two to three years.
壓分可能導致很多學生與大學失之交臂，為什麼各大公開試還要這樣做？是否僅僅為了提高教育質量？我們不得而知。Tougher grading may cost a great many students their university place, so why are the major examinations doing it? Is it purely a matter of raising educational standards? We cannot say for certain.
最近兩個月以來，香港地區最受關注的公開試並非A-level和IGCSE，而是IBDP和DSE，這説明了什麼？Over the past two months, the public examinations that have drawn the most attention in Hong Kong have not been A-Levels and IGCSEs, but the IBDP and the DSE. What does that tell us?
香港考生通過IBDP和DSE進入大學的人數遠多於A-level，因為在香港，越來越多國際學校採取IB教育體系，也有越來越多本地學校在DSE之餘採用了IBDP作為預科課程。反觀A-level，最大的支持者恐怕只有香港哈羅國際學校、啓歷學校和一小部分本地學校。種種跡象説明了什麼？答案不言而喻。Far more Hong Kong candidates enter university through the IBDP and the DSE than through A-Levels, because more and more international schools here have adopted the IB framework, and more and more local schools now offer the IBDP alongside the DSE. A-Levels, by contrast, are championed mainly by Harrow International School Hong Kong, Kellett School and a small handful of local schools. What do all these signs point to? The answer speaks for itself.
小編的話Editor's Note
「路漫漫其修遠兮，吾將上下而求索。」"The road stretches long and far ahead; I shall search high and low along it." — Qu Yuan, Li Sao 《離騷》
考試有盡時，求知終無涯。Examinations come to an end; the pursuit of knowledge never does.
同學們，大學見！See you at university!