Maths Getting Easier?
A report has indicated that maths exams are an awful lot easier than they used to be.
Analysis of public maths exam papers taken by 16-year-olds between 1951 and 2006 shows standards have declined markedlyBBC News
Do you think exams are easier than they used to be?
- Yes
- Angelina Jolie
- Potassium Chlorate
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Joking aside, I know maths exams are easier than they used to be. I was one of the first years (either 2nd or third) to sit GCSEs, and our maths teacher used to continue to teach other parts, but tell us “not to bother revising this one — it’s not on the syllabus”. In addition, in the run up to the exam time, he’d test us with previous exam papers, and I can clearly remember that the GCSE papers were markedly easier than the O Level ones.
Also, when I did my GCSEs, you differentiated between a good candidate and a very good candidate by giving one a B and the other an A. Unfortunately, as all good candidates now get As, this distinction can no longer be made, which is why they introduced the A*. But as more candidates get A* grades, how are you going to distinguish between them? A**? A***? How far do you go?
But now is not the time to be talking about such things. Between now and August, children are studying hard for exams, and waiting for their exam results. It’s not their fault if the exams have got easier and it can be quite hurtful to them when people imply that their qualifications aren’t as worthwhile as someone else’s qualifications from twenty years earlier.
Part of the problem is that schools are marked according to how well those children do at GCSE. Naturally, this is going to push the schools towards choosing the syllabus and examining body according to which presents the better chance of passing. The examining bodies themselves are therefore under economic pressure to make their exams easier — because if they don’t do so, less schools will take their exams.
If you want to get rid of this, the only way to do it is to remove the economic incentive. Set up an independent body that offers more than one syllabus per exam (e.g. you can do slightly different ‘flavours’ of history). Get this new body to act as a broker between the schools and the previous exam bodies: the schools buy from the independent body, which buys from the original exam boards.
That way, if one exam board sets an exam which scores significantly better (or for that matter, poorer) than other bodies, or the exam is deemed to be too easy (or hard) then the independent body can tell the examining board to change the paper/syllabus, otherwise it will no longer buy that one to offer to schools. Obviously, this would need to be over a couple of years — you couldn’t have kids finding out after year 1 of GCSE study that this exam would not be offered in year 2 — but this would remove the economic incentive for easy exams.
As long as there is economic pressure on exam bodies to make exams easier, they will get easier.
Hello. I am 
I do not see what is wrong with grading based on percentiles (top x% each year get A and so on down). The current situation is clearly ridiculous with pupils getting significantly more intelligent (on paper at least) whilst universities and employers say pupils with perfect grades lack the academic prowess of supposedly lesser students from years gone by.
It is simply devaluing the education system to the point where exams are becoming impossible to fail, and the sole outcome is selling the children short every one passes, intelligent pupils do not get pushed and become bored, and it becomes impossible to differentiate between a pupil of average and high intelligence without further testing.
I do not live in UK, but I think, that it is the same here… When I was at elementary school, they told us, that maths is every year harder (but I do not know if it is true). But on he high school, the maths was easier and easier every year. They said, that it is because the students are more and more stupid… Here, when you end the elementary school, you make a test. It is called Monitor - it is the same test for all schools. When I ended the elementary school it was the first time the monitor was made and it was just something like a test of the system, so I did not see the latest version of it. But when you compare the maths tests for university, it is really easier every year…
Maybe it is starting to be a whole world problem, that students do not need to know as much as it was in the past
By the way, the system of marking a school by the amount of good students is a good idea, but they should be not paid according to that, or the ministry of school should make a test for all schools in the country, and that would be fair. But on the other hand, teachers might help to the students with the tests to get a better marking and that should be solved too…
…or let’s stop the endless targets, testing and arse covering that perpetuates today’s national curriculum and just educate our kids.
Like how to boil an egg. How to manage your finances. How to mend a car. How to change a light bulb. The history of this wonderful island we live on. How to get a job.
…and breathe…