15,000 sign petition demanding review into A-Level Maths exam over claims it was harder than previous papers
England’s exams regulator Ofqual is “closely monitoring” the marking of an A-level maths paper after a petition seeking review garnered more than 15,000 signatures in less than 24 hours.
Students taking Wednesday’s Pearson Edexcel essay exam claimed it was “much more challenging than any past essay” and left them “overwhelmed” and “undecided”.
The Change.org petition detailed how the pure mathematics paper called for “multilayered reasoning,” “extended algebraic manipulation,” and “unconventional approaches,” which disproportionately affected lower-achieving candidates.
England’s exam regulator Ofqual confirmed it was aware of the concerns and said it would “closely monitor” Pearson’s approach to exam marking.
The watchdog told the Press Association: “Our priority is students and ensuring their grades are a reliable indicator of what they know, understand and can do.”
The petition, created on Wednesday, stated that class boundaries should reflect the difficulty of the exam.
“Many students spent countless hours over two years preparing for these exams,” he said.
“They attended classes, completed extensive independent study, worked on past assignments, attended revision sessions, and made significant personal sacrifices in pursuit of their academic goals.
“These students deserve confidence that their grades will reflect their mathematical ability rather than the unusual difficulty of a single exam paper.”
Pearson spokeswoman Caroline Darrington said the exam board was committed to ensuring a fair exam experience for all candidates.
“Each paper has been developed with input from experienced senior examiners and has been rigorously checked to ensure it reflects the course and meets required standards,” he said.
“If a paper is found to be more difficult than in previous years, grade limits will be set to reflect this. When setting grade limits, we examine a range of evidence, including statistical data and expert opinions.
“This process ensures that students receive results that fairly reflect their performance and are comparable across exam series.”
It comes after Ofqual issued a stark warning about the growing threat of students using high-tech smart devices to cheat in exams.
Data from the watchdog reveals that cheating using mobile phones and smart devices has been the most common category of malpractice in every summer exam series since 2018.
As more than a million students sit GCSE and A-level exams this year, Ofqual chief Sir Ian Bauckham has raised new concerns about devices such as smartwatches and glasses.
Talking about the editor’s new podcast series, Can I Just Qualify This?Sir Ian stressed that “mobile phones are not the only devices students can use to cheat”.
“Of course there are other devices, there are smartwatches and all sorts of smart things,” Sir Ian said.
“From now on, there may be smart glasses inside the lens that will play text that only the student can see.”
