I am all for high academic standards. But it seems to me that the approach to maths and English at GCSE is a bit puzzling.
I think the issue with maths is that the exams are set at such a high level that only the most mathematically gifted students can do the hardest questions so you end up with very low grade boundaries. Targeting so many questions at such a high level can quite off putting to many students.
For English, both English literature and English language are really quite similar in that it’s all about analysis, which seems very narrow. It seems to suit people who can just waffle on in a meaningful way, under exam conditions, but really English is so much more than that…
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Secondary education
GCSE maths and English - why so hard?
Notcontent · 20/05/2022 12:00
Fireflygal · 20/05/2022 12:08
Grade boundaries will be low. I think a pass is 4 or 5 and you don't need to answer all the questions correctly to get a pass.
The range of abilities across a GCSE will be signifcant so the able students need exams that meet their abilities.
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BlueRabbitWasNaughty · 20/05/2022 13:18
Another one here that found maths hard today... he needs at least a 7, preferably higher so is now concerned.
He thinks it was much harder than all the past papers but that seems crazy considering the last couple of years. I suppose it all depends how they perform against each other (which seems a little sad).
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