How high does solving equations go in edexcel higher?

The last question on the November 2012 Unit 3 paper I took last year was about solving an equation. Here it is:



Given that it's the last question on the hardest GCSE exam paper, that should give you a pretty good indicator of how hard they get. Notice that it can be solved by guessing the obvious integer solutions, which is what I did because I was an idiot back then.

Would you just sub in the y equation into x^2+y^2=25 and then take it from there. I definitely remember doing this exam.

The last question on the November 2012 Unit 3 paper I took last year was about solving an equation. Here it is:



Given that it's the last question on the hardest GCSE exam paper, that should give you a pretty good indicator of how hard they get. Notice that it can be solved by guessing the obvious integer solutions, which is what I did because I was an idiot back then.

That's pretty easy I feel. Do you know what grade this would be?

That's pretty easy I feel. Do you know what grade this would be?
How do you feel this equation compared to the other equation questions?

It's actually quite an easy question for A* level because of you can answer it by inspection. Like Mr M said, the harder algebraic fraction questions look like this:



If you really want to challenge yourself algebraically, have a go at these (fyi- f(x) or f:x-> just means y=):

The first algebraic fraction you've given is much easier than the simultaneous from earlier, and no you cant answer that by inspection, why would you ever guess the answers? Also the last 2 look like A Level if I'm not mistaken, so don't post them in a GCSE thread, because it's not really useful.

For the GCSE simultaneous equation, it's obvious that the answers are going to be 5, 0, + or - 3 and 4. Well, I thought it was during the exam.

And yeah, I posted some algebraic simplifying from a C3 paper, so what? Notice the 'if' before it? What's wrong with giving people the option to challenge themselves if they so choose?

Psst, don't confuse people. For now, it does.

It's possibly not obvious to people attempting the paper, as its meant to be a 'hard' question at that level, and guessing the answers instead of working them out is meaningless. Putting more complicated questions in the mix, will most likely cause more problems, they are in C3 for a reason, not GCSE, purely because they are harder. When working at the GCSE level, attempting A Level questions is only going to make things worse, because chances are they will get stuck on them, its un needed. Also, depending on whether this is GCSE or IGCSE? I'm not to sure on the exact syllabus, functions are also on the paper, so telling him that a function is the same as y=, is really not helping, let alone the fact its wrong.