Past Exam Papers

By UK Correspondents

If anyone has any doubts about the standard of science GCSEs, this link on the Studentroom website makes interesting reading.

One of the students on the website responding to the question of whether the exams are too easy said he was drunk when he turned up for the GCSE, threw up and had to be carried in to the exam hall, sat the paper (but has no recollection of doing so) and then passed out. He passed the exam.

This novel exam technique is probably not one that most pupils who are about to sit GCSEs and A-levels would embark on thankfully, but a recent study has found that A-level exam revision has become something of a science in itself.

At a seminar this week, one of the big exam boards presented findings from a study of 39 first year undergraduates who were asked about how they prepared for their A-levels.

Candidates virtually memorized the mark schemes, the guidance written by chief examiners telling examiners how to allocate marks to the likely responses from pupils. The students knew in minute detail what key words, phrases and arguments to insert to get points and in some cases, their teachers had worked out the mathematical probability of certain questions coming up. Teachers had also supplied them booklets of model answers, and even booklets for different versions of the same questions, which they memorised and regurgitated.

Obviously methods like these have always been a feature of passing exams, to a greater and lesser degree. But I can't remember any mention of "mark schemes" when I was taking A-levels (more than 20 years ago) and was given very little idea about what examiners were looking for - apart from being told to give a response that actually answers the question.

The study found that the problem with the formulaic approach of today's students was that any unanticipated questions or approach to topics completely threw them. The students admitted that their narrow focus lacked autonomy or creativity but they didn't care - they were only interested in getting the grades. Some even said they deliberately steered clear of more original thinking or taking risks in their answers because they thought they might get penalised.

From this September, the A* grade will be introduced to address the failure of A-levels to stretch the very able. It will be interesting to see if students, teachers and examiners, who have long been comfortable with this tick box approach, can cope, assuming the new question papers are truly different, which is a big assumption.