AQA VS EDEXCEL A-Level Maths

Does anyone know the difference between AQA and Edexcel syllabus.

Other than the typical lack of resources for AQA and more for Edexcel. And the structure of both being different .

aqa has lower grade boundaries

In other words, the percentage pass is lower than that of Edexcel?

I think they are pretty much the same content-wise. I prefer the way Edexcel word their questions over AQA. I also prefer that with Edexcel, papers 1 & 2 are pure, and paper 3 is applied, whereas AQA paper 1 is pure, paper 2 is pure + mechanics and paper 3 is pure + stats. I really don't like the multiple choice questions at the start of the AQA papers - sometimes there's too much work for the marks on offer for these questions IMO.

In other words, the percentage pass is lower than that of Edexcel?

Ofqual will moderate to ensure that the qualifications are of equal difficulty - so if one has harder exams then its grade boundaries will be lower.

Okay, so depending on the questions presented in a given year of exams. The percentage mark may differ in what’s needed to pass?

So, Edexell In 2019 as above looked easier to pass but that’s likely because the questions were harder than those in AQA?

With linear exams (which means all A levels and GCSEs in England) the grade boundaries change every exam season depending on how difficult the exam is to ensure the standard remains constant. Ofqual is responsible for ensuring that the difficulty of getting any particular grade in a subject is constant across all 4 exam boards offering A level and GCSE in England (AQA, Eduqas, OCR and Pearson Edexcel).

As above, there is little difference syllabus wise, but the exam papers have their own style.

Okay, great. What about students that home study? Lol. How do they keep their studies fair with those being taught by schools lol

Do you think a tutor that has experience in Edexell, would be fine teaching someone studying AQA?

For learning the content, pretty much. Ask them what advice/help they'll give about aqa exams. Without being funny, Id get the content under your belt asap then worry about exam structure later.

Okay, content prioritise. Exam structure later.

I was a little worried incase the way the content is presented may differ from each exam board and may be harder to apply if learning for example edexcel and then taking an AQA exam and vice versa

Its a valid concern once you've learnt the content. The "obvious" solution is once you've finished a section of work, you blitz past AQA exam questions on that content and go over them with your tutor. If there are any problems with applying the knowledge to AQA exam questions, you get the sorted as you go along. Personally, Id expect that to be sorted quickly. Tbh, people have some problems making the transition to exam questions, whatever the taught syllabus.

Tbh, being concerned about which exam board, the difficulty of the paper, thresholds ... is really just taking time away from getting on with learning the content.

Yeah, I wasn’t asking this question to find out which one was easier. It was because I’m seeking a tutor, therefore, finding a tutor that would align best for my syllabus was the main purpose.

Also, never having a tutor. I wasn’t sure what I should be considering. You’ve help outline those issues for me though. Thanks

aqa has lower grade boundaries