Draft science GCSEs 'plummet new depths'

By Education in Chemistry2010-09-01T00:00:00

Source: Jupiterimages

Ofqual finds that 2009 and 2010 science GCSE papers were not sufficiently challenging and rejects draft papers

Several new science GCSE papers have been rejected by Ofqual because it judged the standards they demanded of pupils to be too low. Following their earlier judgement of the 2007 and 2008 science and additional science GCSE papers as giving 'serious cause for concern', England's exam regulator has also reviewed the 2009 and 2010 papers.

The watchdog found that in many instances the papers demanded too low a level of knowledge and understanding. Edexcel and OCR boards were singled out for particular criticism. Ofqual reported that 'in OCR Science A Unit 1, the chemistry questions were judged to be of low demand and did not provide the necessary stretch and challenge for the highest-ability candidates.'

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