DMB
27 Mar 2009, 10:11 AM
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article5983661.ece
It must be really bad for the exam regulator to criticise it!
Many of the multiple choice questions were too easy because the wrong options given were “too obviously incorrect”, it said. There were also too many “short-answer questions that were fairly limited in their requirements or in the scientific content that they addressed”. The GCSE physics paper had replaced the testing of physics concepts with questions about the advantages and drawbacks of CCTV, mobile phones and the internet, it said.
A separate study found a “decline in the standard of performance” in GCSE physics. Papers had got easier because fundamental principles of science were removed from the syllabus.
Read some of the comments at the end of that article. It seems to be part of the "all shall have prizes" mentality. If something is a bit difficult, remove the hard bits.
What I can't understand is that children in international schools can take IGCSE, which has maintained its standards. Many of these children are taking anglophone IGCSEs, even though their first language is not English. And many of the independent schools in England have given up on GCSE altogether. Some don't replace it; others are taking to IGCSE. Similarly, the International Baccalaureate is gaining ground at the expense of A-levels.
ETA: International General Certificate of Secondary Education and IB Diploma Programme
It must be really bad for the exam regulator to criticise it!
Many of the multiple choice questions were too easy because the wrong options given were “too obviously incorrect”, it said. There were also too many “short-answer questions that were fairly limited in their requirements or in the scientific content that they addressed”. The GCSE physics paper had replaced the testing of physics concepts with questions about the advantages and drawbacks of CCTV, mobile phones and the internet, it said.
A separate study found a “decline in the standard of performance” in GCSE physics. Papers had got easier because fundamental principles of science were removed from the syllabus.
Read some of the comments at the end of that article. It seems to be part of the "all shall have prizes" mentality. If something is a bit difficult, remove the hard bits.
What I can't understand is that children in international schools can take IGCSE, which has maintained its standards. Many of these children are taking anglophone IGCSEs, even though their first language is not English. And many of the independent schools in England have given up on GCSE altogether. Some don't replace it; others are taking to IGCSE. Similarly, the International Baccalaureate is gaining ground at the expense of A-levels.
ETA: International General Certificate of Secondary Education and IB Diploma Programme