GCSEs – Are they getting easier?

Exam season is back, and as millions of pressurised and perturbed Year 11 students across the UK are burdened with the task of preparing for their GCSEs, they are faced with biting criticisms – Are GCSEs are getting easier?

Every year as exam rates in the UK get higher and higher, there have been various reports published stating that GCSEs are getting easier, and not the fact that children might be getting smarter as the years pass on. So what's the truth? Are exams getting easier or is it just plain sensationalism from an older generation?

GCSEs were introduced for teaching in September 1986, and replaced both the GCE O-level (General Certificate of Education, Ordinary Level) and the CSE (Certificate of Secondary Education) qualifications, which suffered problems. Although in its inception there were three tiers, Basic (Foundation), Intermediate and Higher, all subjects were changed to the current two tier system, just Higher and Foundation, with the exception of Maths, which followed suit in 2006.

The major ammunition for the older generation, and the media, is to compare GCSEs to O-levels. These exams were taken over 20 years ago, and the GCSE syllabus is completely different to the O-level syllabus. The modern GCSE allows students to see a subject in a more practical light, and in addition to this, there is also an abundance of vocational subjects offered to students, like Media Studies and Food Technology, in response to industry’s demand for more relevant qualifications.

In addition to this, research carried out by the Qualifications and Curriculum authority (QCA) has shown that exams have stayed broadly the same over the past 20 years.

Biology GCSE papers have become more demanding in the 20 years since 1978, with students required to interpret information instead of simply recalling facts, but the authority criticised discrepancies between boards.

"There were some differences in performance across awarding bodies, especially at grade A. This was in part because of undemanding question papers," said the report by the government's exams' watchdog body, which looked at seven subjects as part of its programme of monitoring standards over time.

It added: "It was hard to be confident that there was comparability across tiers. In coursework, there was evidence that marking and moderation had not been effectively standardised within awarding bodies, and there was also some variation in standard between awarding bodies."

In addition to this, teaching has changed over the years. 30 years ago, there was not much interactivity, it was just a teacher, standing at the blackboard. However, classrooms nowadays have changed dramatically. There are Interactive whiteboards, computers, the internet, which all help with the interactivity of the lesson.

In my opinion, I feel that it’s not that fact that GCSEs are getting easier, or that students are getting smarter. I feel that GCSEs are flawed; it is mostly just regurgitating information, and not actual thought or analysis, and students over the years have noticed this, and are using to their advantage.