GCSE in Maths ‘to Be Easier’

PUPILS could get a grade A in GCSE maths exams without answering any of the hardest questions, it emerged yesterday.

Eighty per cent of questions in trial papers for a revamped maths GCSE course were pitched at B-grade standard or below but pupils needed only 67 per cent to earn an A.

Maths experts warned pupils would be able to achieve top grades without mastering key topics such as algebra.

The study by London’s Institute of Education researchers, reported in the Times Educational Supplement, renewed fears that maths standards are being dumbed down.

Similarly, it emerged that pupils could gain a C grade by correctly answering questions designated as E, F or Ggrade difficulty only.

At present, pupils can be entered for one of three GCSE papers ‘foundation’ which covers grades D to G, ‘ intermediate’ (grades B to E) or ‘higher’ (A* to C).

Ministers want the exam reduced to two tiers from 2008, with the top grades available on the difficult paper and grades up to C on the other.

A spokesman for the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority said the two-tier GCSE maths exam would be ‘designed to ensure that it challenges the brightest candidates’.