Just wondering, does exam difficulty vary between series?

I mean, I find the November Math Exams easier than the June ones, is this just me or do other people think this? (Does it apply to OTHER exams?)

Reply 1

Mattywooda

In some exams it does vary a bit, but I'd say randomly. also it doesnt matter how hard/easy the paper is. It all gets scaled at the end with UMS, so in the end you should get the same UMS on every paper.

Reply 2

Beat

Original post by Mattywooda

Actually, the UMS chances from the November exams in the June exams a lot of the time.

As for the difficulty changing, I personally find the January exams the easiest out of January, June and November.

Reply 3

tjjohnson3

Usually as the units in most subjects progress, they get slightly harder. I take Science and additional Science and by nature, additional is a bit harder. They are basically meant to get harder as you go on but it depends on your strengths and weaknesses.

Reply 4

tohaaaa

Hmm... interesting.
It seems grade boundaries also change.
For example in June 2011 for AQA Unit 2 Maths Foundation you needed 37 for a C
But in November 2011 for the SAME exam you needed 48 for a C

That is weird.

Reply 5

boner in jeans

Original post by tohaaaa

Probably raw marks bro - still 60 UMS

Reply 6

Lizzie232

Difficulty varies between papers, I find January papers easier most of the time :smile:

Reply 7

Doglamlico

Original post by tohaaaa

I mean, I find the November Math Exams easier than the June ones, is this just me or do other people think this? (Does it apply to OTHER exams?)

The exams don't vary with series (I mean, they do, but randomly and unintentionally).

The UMS boundaries do - with some papers it's easier/harder to do well in January if people would only normally take that exam in January as a resit/early paper.

Reply 8

Kutta

I think it is without doubt that some exam papers are harder or easier than other exam papers. but u have to notice that if u get a harder paper it will be somewhat easier to get an A, in terms of getting the raw mark requirement, and if u get a easy paper it will be harder as the requirement will be much higher. For example when i did economics for F584 in June 2011 it was 41 for an A, when I did it i (Jan 2012) think it was 46/47 for an A.

Reply 9

Data

Original post by The Polymath

The UMS boundaries are the same for all subjects and all exam seasons, it's the raw boundaries that vary.

Reply 10

Doglamlico

Original post by Data

The UMS boundaries are the same for all subjects and all exam seasons, it's the raw boundaries that vary.

That's what I meant :colondollar:

Reply 11

tohaaaa

So why DOES the difficulty of the paper vary between series?

Reply 12

Juno

Original post by tohaaaa

So why DOES the difficulty of the paper vary between series?

Because it's difficult to set papers that will be exactly the same difficulty without just repeating the questions. The examiners will know maths really well, so everything will seem easy to them, but everything gets checked over a million times.

Reply 13

tohaaaa

So theoretically, won't the exam boards just....
run out of questions one day? :tongue:

Reply 14

TheLightBulb

Yes it does and once they're all marked and moderated examiners then decide on UMS alterations.

If it was an easy paper and lots of people got high marks then they raise te boundaries so that all exams are supposedly 'fair' in that no matter when you took the exam you still got a high enough grade compared to everyone else that took the exam.

Sometimes horribly unfair like Edexcel 360 science this summer -.- and of course English

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