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Do universities have preferences over exam boards?

Just wondering, there are people saying that exam board A is harder than exam board B and etc, does it actually affect you in any way?

Let's assume that student A and student B are both competiting for a place at university X and both achieved the same marks, grades and did equally well in the interviews and etc, but one had qualifications from OCR and another WJEC, would universities go for the studnet with the harder board?o__O?
And if not, doesn't it make more sense to take the easier board? :biggrin:

And is it true that OCR is the hardest, followed by AQA, then Edexcel? thanks. :smile:

Reply 1

noojoo

2

Yes. Generally , OCR>AQA>Edexcel.

However, there are many other factors involved in the admissions process.

I doubt that universities would judge your exams' examination board as an important factor.

Reply 2

hcblingbling

1

i think WJEC is a hard exam board for sciences. chem esp
AQA is fairly hard cos in my psychology class a boy in his unit 3 got some questions wrong but due to moderation was given 100%

Reply 3

The West Wing

18

No I don't think so. They are largely consistent.

Reply 4

A Stranger in Moscow

12

Well they're all regulated.
I think Edexcel is harder than AQA to be honest.

Reply 5

</gibberish>

12

Deffinitley, AQA marking is a task completed by primates.

Reply 6

Callipygian

2

Depends what your good at, so were on AQA for physics because we get to do a pratical exam instead of coursework, and my teacher likes the sound of that.

Reply 7

Spinal

2

I don't think that universities hold preference at all. I think it's also down the the individual and also the subject when considering which exam board is 'easier'.

Reply 8

Moogen

10

How does someone know which exam board is "harder" without having taken the same subject on both boards? Just curious.

Reply 9

~tifa

10

hcblingbling

i think WJEC is a hard exam board for sciences. chem esp

I second that.
OCR is a pain too though.
mehh... I doubt Unis take exam boards into consideration thought while giving offers.

Reply 10

Sachlee

i think they give it a little more thought if u slip up in an ocr exam and ur grades drop a bit though...ocr are ridiculously difficult for chemistry!history too actually,the marking goes funny....the wjec are nice :smile:

Reply 11

Sachlee

well not just ocr...but i think they know which exam boards are more difficult and marking errors and so forth-well at least oxbridge do.

Reply 12

LE1

I don't think it's a particularly important factor, personally, as you can't help what board the institution you're studying at does. The boards clearly have general reputations but, as ever, every thing changes from year to year, level of study and module to module and I've known people that have marked for two (or more) exam boards who haven't claimed that particular trends exist. Futhermore, the Oxbridge admissions has loads of factors that it considers, so I shouldn't imagine that it's a major one.

Reply 13

Zen90

1

I think that edexcel make the most unpredictable papers

Reply 14

lilac spooge

12

well for geography you WJEC are the best because they hold the advanced qualification...

however saying that i dont think i really makes that much difference...but whoever said ocr are the hardest i would argue that in some subjects...their a peice of piss in RE...

Reply 15

Sachlee

LE1

I don't think it's a particularly important factor, personally, as you can't help what board the institution you're studying at does. The boards clearly have general reputations but, as ever, every thing changes from year to year, level of study and module to module and I've known people that have marked for two (or more) exam boards who haven't claimed that particular trends exist. Futhermore, the Oxbridge admissions has loads of factors that it considers, so I shouldn't imagine that it's a major one.