Edexcel maths A level today

[Maray1967]

Anyone else’s 18 year old had a bad time with Edexcel Maths today?

Mine says it was horrifically hard. I’ve said all the usual stuff about trying not to dwell on it and focusing on the next exam, but it might be helpful if he’s not alone!! He didn’t hang around long after school but says it looked like everyone thought it was hard.

Which teacher on this thread is not understanding grade boundaries? Which statement are you talking about?

Late to the chat, but my daughter was in tears yesterday because of it and due to that anxiety she thinks she’s messed up in her biology because she didn’t sleep, and got nervous it was going to be just as hard!

Tears at home here too from DD who is pretty capable at maths and usually very stoical. She needs A so she thinks her future has disappeared. I am doing my best to jolly her along for next week. The future will be what it is….

It's called moderation.... It will be fine.

They'll change the grade but, don't worry.

Of she been on track for an A these past 2 years, this one paper won't be the reason she doesn't get it.

There isn't a calculator that you must have for further maths. My further mathematicians have exactly the same calculator as normal A-level mathematicians.

If you are talking about graphical calculators, there's no requirement for a further mathematician to have one, nor is there any prohibition on A-level students having one.

There is now a petition you can sign on change.org demanding a review of the exam.
Https://www.change.org/p/demand-a-fair-review-of-a-level-mathematics-edexcel-2026-paper-1

The grade boundary for an A* for Edexcel last year was 86% - this suggests that the papers have been on the easy side previously. Edexcel probably deliberately made the paper harder with the aim of bringing down the grade boundaries, but possibly overshot. Unfair of them to do this without warning though.

I very much doubt that anyone is going to take that petition seriously what with the hysteria, incoherent ramblings etc. This, as just one example, is an absolute classic…

They've literally asked for something that always happens. Grade boundaries are always adjusted according to the difficulty of the paper.

Exactly! After all the waffle, they just ask for the outcomes to reflect their knowledge. Grade boundaries and moderation will do this.

Explain to them if the paper is hard, the grade boundary will move.

I loved this satirical post! It ticked all the boxes: snowflakes, trenches, world owes them a living.

@noblegiraffei agree they’ve likely produced a harder paper to try to bring the upper boundary down but i think it’s probably backfired a bit as those middling student scores will likely be the ones affected most. I just think the grade boundaries for maths need to be set by taking out the FM student scores. It just skews things too much and a harder paper won’t really affect the already v strong students.

Thank you to everyone for their comments.

Yes, this is my son’s response as well.

Papers should be challenging but when they appear to have been set purely to enable the very high flyers to show what they can do and grade A/B students cannot tackle several parts of the paper something has gone wrong.

I invigilated the exam. I had 50 people in my room. No one cried. But would explain why not one of my 50 went to the toilet…

Just shared this so parents on here can show their children that they are not alone but thank you for highlighting the changing boundaries for exam papers. Hopefully both posts will help to reassure parents and pupils in some way.

Did I say on this thread?

I was talking about in rl.

If a and b are odd then sub in a =2x +1 and b = 2y +1, multilevel out and you get 4x2 + 4y2 + 4x + 4y + 2 = c^2

separately a2 and b2 are each odd so c^2 myst even, and even square must have an even root.

But if you divide 4x2 + 4y2 + 4x + 4y + 2 by 2 you get an odd number, as all terms are even apart from the final +2, which then becomes +1, therefore c^2 / 2 is odd, which is a contradiction as c must be even. Worked out the starting point easily, but took be a little while to suss out the c must be even piece for the contradiction.

A-level maths exam so difficult that pupils describe it as a war crime

https://www.thetimes.com/article/a09f0a3a-840b-4fab-93da-c3d1a7c60420?shareToken=404a75fc64a43d3a0fe502216a1569d7

My DS said it was fine, he’s done every past paper from 2019 onwards he says and he didn’t find it particularly more difficult than any other paper. He is however a highly capable mathematician and doing further maths too.

Reading the comments on the petition confirms my opinion that they are snowflakes.
Why don't A level maths students know what a bell curve is and how the exam boundaries work.
If the exam truly was difficult, the same bell curve will apply. The same % will get a grade A.
You'd think their Maths teachers would have explained that.

JCQ rules state that invigilators must not look at the papers before or after the exam so if a teacher has done this and it was found out, the school would be penalised. Only once have I seen an Exams Officer look at a paper and that was because a student pointed out an error on it.

I’m embarrassed for them using that analogy

Do JCQ rules say invigilators can look at a paper if a student points out an error? Just wondering what should happen in that situation?