Edexcel C3,C4 June 2013 Thread

The content tested in this paper was the same as the previous ones. The exam questions were slightly tricker/more difficult but that's all. The past papers have been made available, but Edexcel never told anyone to jump to conclusions based on the other papers.

You should notice that the papers have been getting slightly more difficult every exam session recently too. This is because Edexcel are trying to stop the papers from being too repetitive. If you're going to look for patterns in past papers, at least do it properly...

The format was the same as well.

Yeah, I remember two years ago, there was a report on the news about a D1 maths exam having the wrong question or something where it was impossible to have the right answer. Can't remember if it was Edexcel or not but that's unacceptable to put impossible questions. This paper was just very hard, that's all......

You have the right attitude

I'm not saying it should be easy, I'm saying why should it be any harder than the other years to such an extent? Other people can be doing the same course as me having got there with an easier ride? Is that fair? You stated it shouldn't be easy, so why did the other years get it easier? And who says the other exams were easy? Sure, they were easier and probably easy to people, especially the type of people on TSR, but believe me, I know a lot of people who try with Maths and do not achieve the kind of grades people like you do.

Maybe you find it hard to believe other people can find the easier exams a challenge, but if they were always that easy, the why were the boundaries relatively consistent through the years at 85-80% for an A, which seems to me around where you'd expect a paper to be?

Also, I thought exams were a test of your ability; how is stress management involved in my mathematical capabilities? Should psychiatry be involved as part of an A-Level syllabus to help? Not everyone can cope the same under the stress. Most people would panic if they found themselves running out of time, struggling with a question that carries a lot of marks etc. Nothing wrong with my exam 'technique' as such, I can assure you from previous experience.

It's clear the reason you cannot understand where me or the other thousands of people are coming from is because you're very capable at Maths and cannot see why yesterday was stressful for people. Your stress management was probably fine yesterday as you probably did not struggle. If you had struggled maybe you'd feel different about 'stress management' being a fundamental. However, you are a minority (from what I understand) in this instance. Exams aren't supposed to be tailored to the 1%, that's what STEP and Cambridge entrance Maths exams etc. are for. Papers should be consistent and be able to test the abilities of people but should be to a level where people don't feel like all their hard work and effort has been wasted, and this is the feeling of many students who have been previously successful with their work ethic. Those who are especially able will still be able to shine (achieving full marks showing full knowledge), so there is nothing 'easy' about past papers to your average student. Hence, I really cannot see how boundaries cover all the factors involved here.

Nevertheless, I'll shut up now and continue to revise for C4 and see where it gets me; all I can do at this point which actually matters. Good luck for the rest of your exams.

I'm not saying it should be easy, I'm saying why should it be any harder than the other years to such an extent? Other people can be doing the same course as me having got there with an easier ride? Is that fair? You stated it shouldn't be easy, so why did the other years get it easier? And who says the other exams were easy? Sure, they were easier and probably easy to people, especially the type of people on TSR, but believe me, I know a lot of people who try with Maths and do not achieve the kind of grades people like you do.

Maybe you find it hard to believe other people can find the easier exams a challenge, but if they were always that easy, the why were the boundaries relatively consistent through the years at 85-80% for an A, which seems to me around where you'd expect a paper to be?

Also, I thought exams were a test of your ability; how is stress management involved in my mathematical capabilities? Should psychiatry be involved as part of an A-Level syllabus to help? Not everyone can cope the same under the stress. Most people would panic if they found themselves running out of time, struggling with a question that carries a lot of marks etc. Nothing wrong with my exam 'technique' as such, I can assure you from previous experience.

It's clear the reason you cannot understand where me or the other thousands of people are coming from is because you're very capable at Maths and cannot see why yesterday was stressful for people. Your stress management was probably fine yesterday as you probably did not struggle. If you had struggled maybe you'd feel different about 'stress management' being a fundamental. However, you are a minority (from what I understand) in this instance. Exams aren't supposed to be tailored to the 1%, that's what STEP and Cambridge entrance Maths exams etc. are for. Papers should be consistent and be able to test the abilities of people but should be to a level where people don't feel like all their hard work and effort has been wasted, and this is the feeling of many students who have been previously successful with their work ethic. Those who are especially able will still be able to shine (achieving full marks showing full knowledge), so there is nothing 'easy' about past papers to your average student. Hence, I really cannot see how boundaries cover all the factors involved here.

Nevertheless, I'll shut up now and continue to revise for C4 and see where it gets me; all I can do at this point which actually matters. Good luck for the rest of your exams.

Therefore I really don't think that you know what we're talking about. I'd like to see you have done really well in timed conditions, when you know this exam will make or break you. I've been speaking to you as if you did it yesterday with the rest of us. It's really easy for you to sit here and be like "I don't know what all the fuss is about" when you've already got your A*.

Yeah of course, if the question was impossible, then the exam board is 110% at fault, but a hard paper, not really enough to complain about...

Thanks man Best of luck to you on results day, is it just the A you need in maths? Or waiting on other grades too?

Can someone do question 32? I get up to having the equation in terms of ln but I don't get how they found the value of the constant

I've already covered this before, people who sat the exam this time around can't objectively compare papers as they didn't do the past papers under the same exam pressure.

I did the exam paper for fun btw, and got 75/75, and well within the 1 hour 30 minutes as well. I can appreciate that it's not the same under exam pressure, but I didn't notice a huge different in difficulty, and so I doubt I would have panicked.

I'm not sure how you can say others have had an easier ride, as again, your grades show your performance relative to other candidates. It's about as hard to get whatever grade you need regardless of the difficulty of the paper.

Stress management is an essential part of taking exams. If you have a problem with that, then your issue should be with the idea of exams in itself, which is a whole other debate.

This exam certainly wasn't "tailored to the 1%", nowhere near the likes of STEP or even AEA.

Hard work and effort shouldn't guarantee you the grade you need. Working hard doesn't mean you're doing it the right way.

I'm still unsure why you think the grade boundaries will fail to cover it, you'll still get the top 10-15% best candidates getting A*s, etc. Except it may actually be the top 10-15% best candidates this time, rather than the top 10-15% most careful...

I can objectively compare papers as I've sat both the C3 in January and in June. So I've sat them both under exam pressures. I noticed a huge difference. (I had to retake it for personal issues).

And as I've mentioned before, you must gifted at maths. Unfortunately the rest of us are not like you. And your comment saying "hard work and effort should not get you the grades if you're not doing it right" actually disgusts me. I think if people put in so much hard work and effort they will make sure they are understanding the concepts not route learning. So they should get the grades. You keep completely missing the point that had they done the other paper they would have done well, and the hard work would have paid off.
It's not like we're moaning because it was a more difficult paper than last year, we are moaning because it seems like a paper they've just thrown together, at the last minute. They did not intend to make it harder than usual as the paper we were intended to sit was of normal standard!

But we're just going round in circles, I appreciate what you've been saying but I completely 100% could not disagree more. Good luck with the rest of your exams!

I couldn't agree with you more.

I think the worst thing that's come out of it though is I'm now really struggling to revise for everything else and just feel so deflated.

I've already covered this before, people who sat the exam this time around can't objectively compare papers as they didn't do the past papers under the same exam pressure.

I did the exam paper for fun btw, and got 75/75, and well within the 1 hour 30 minutes as well. I can appreciate that it's not the same under exam pressure, but I didn't notice a huge different in difficulty, and so I doubt I would have panicked.

What would your answer be to stress management? By the response, I'm clearly not the only one who found yesterdays paper more stressful that usually. As I've said, I'm generally fine and I'm sure most other's are too.

You've contradicted yourself. You originally said that earlier students did have it easier, then stated now that the test "may actually be the top 10-15% best candidates this time, rather than the top 10-15% most careful..." Whatever you say the later is much easier to do. Maybe you're right, maybe Maths should be more like yesterdays with lower boundaries, maybe that's what Edexcel wants? Who knows. Until the whole country is doing the same exam board and until this is consistent through all the papers (C1-C4) and actually made clear by Edexcel, I will feel hard-done by compared to other years because, whether right or wrong, I have been and that is an issue for me.

Also, did I read you didn't even do yesterdays exam? Why are you getting even involved then? This really shouldn't upset you seeing as you appear to be doing fine. Most people on here have come on here to vent and you've clearly just commented to contradict everyone and try to make out our concerns are wrong, having not attempted the exams. Even if we are, making us feel worse isn't necessary. If you were one of those cocky people on TSR and smashed yesterday's exam then well done to you but you didn't even do it so is they're a point? Well done on your A* in January, no need to worry about us lol.

Same here haha. Just gotta try and keep going, it's not over yet. At least we know what to expect now!

I believe I answered that in my previous post...

I don't recall saying that they had it easier?

Exam boards like OCR MEI are generally more difficult than Edexcel anyway. I agree with you that a unified exam board for all of the UK is a good idea, but that's a whole other debate.

It doesn't upset me, I'm just speaking what I feel is the truth. I'm not sure why you'd assume I'd comment on it without attempting the paper first, anyway.

I'm upset because I know that I will have lost silly marks. My grade will probably be a B or a C even after the UMS conversions because of that (((((((((((((((((((((

Goodbye med school :/

That's true, and M1 went okay so hopefully I'll make up for it in C4. Or I get A*s in Biology and chem and call them up and beg and they'll be like okay fine. :P

Sorry, I meant you said they did not have it easier. "I'm not sure how you can say others have had an easier ride, as again, your grades show your performance relative to other candidates." Or implied it, at least.

I fully anticipated you did the paper and fully anticipated you'd have no problems, hence why I was saying you perhaps were not in the best position to comment? You probably cannot understand the reaction of others since it's probably the equivalent of GCSE students going crazy at the difficulty of a paper, me seeing it and saying "Seriously?! This is hard?!" lol.

Well then, if being in the top 10-15% most careful candidates is easier than being in the top 10-15% best overall candidates to you and some others, there would be an equal number of people to whom it would be easier to do the latter (as there would be an equal amount of people achieving the grade either way). Those people could similarly complain that the people this June had an easier ride, so that's the trade-off you get.

It was definitely one of, if not the most difficult C3 papers to date, I'm not denying that. However, some people are saying it was ridiculously difficult, or even unfairly so, which I disagree with.