Should all a-level students do the same board?

Can someone un private the poll results!!

The Government (well Mr Gove actually) tried to introduce one board for GCSE English and Maths - it wasn't allowed as the exam boards claimed 'restraint of trade' as whoever won the contract would make the other two bankrupt.

Since you tutor would you be able to rank exam boards, say for biology, from easiest to hardest ( in your opinion)?

From hardest (and in my opinion the best) to easiest (and in my opinion worst):

OCR
AQA
Edexcel

So why don't school change exam boards say to edexcel (i.e the easiest) if they know that it will be easier for the student and bring better results for the school.

Because, and this is the reason I would always want my students to OCR, it doesn't prepare you very well for...well anything. If you're look for a grade to help get into uni and thats it then sure...go edexcel but I have found once at university those who have done OCR are at a massive advantages because they have done stuff more in depth, harder stuff and have a much better knowledge of the subject they are studying with better skills in it.

My school did OCR Biology and that was the reason...they said many students who went to uni to do a related subject found the first year a lot easier than those who hadn't done OCR as the others were playing catch up.

Honestly, I believe the difference in difficulty at A level is worth the amount of difficulty saved at a university level. Again, this is a problem with the system. Someone doing biology A level with no intention on doing anything related to it at uni would want edexcel...anyone wanting to studying things related to biology who really enjoyed the subject would want OCR.

Each exam board has benefits and drawbacks so it suits different people. I mean for example, if you hate essay writing and chose biology and your exam board was AQA well you have to do an essay in your final exam and that's not great for you.

Oh fair enough, so do you think Uni's should then show some recognition to people doing say OCR.

I believe they do actually. They understand that some exam boards are harder than others and do slightly favour that.

I can't promise that though :P

From hardest (and in my opinion the best) to easiest (and in my opinion worst):
OCR
AQA
Edexcel

I think there should be.

And to combat the business side, each board gets given certain subjects.

Maths Edexcel
English AQA
Sciences OCR

Languages and History WJEC

Etc

That's a pretty good idea actually, but I recon the exam boards would all want maths and english

yh thats true loads of students do maths english and science so the exam board with these students receive big money whereas the likes of i dont know a level polish or bengali only a handful of students do it. Exam boards would all want maths i think.

OCR
AQA
Edexcel
WJEC (so glad I live in Wales )

WJEC can be done throughout the UK, at my school (which is in England) I think they did WJEC for biology and French a-level!

I think there should be.And to combat the business side, each board gets given certain subjects.Maths EdexcelEnglish AQASciences OCRLanguages and History WJECEtc

That's a pretty good idea actually, but I recon the exam boards would all want maths and english

I have just realised how unfair it is.

Forexample : OCR chemistry f324-the same unit for AQA and Edexcel was much much easier in comparison.

But if it's easier, then the UMS curve will be harsher, which in theory will essentially mean that if a candidate took both the papers and performed the same on the day, then they would get the same UMS mark on both. And since UMS marks are what some Unis look at, not raw marks, it does help to make it fair no matter which exam you take.

But if it's easier, then the UMS curve will be harsher, which in theory will essentially mean that if a candidate took both the papers and performed the same on the day, then they would get the same UMS mark on both. And since UMS marks are what some Unis look at, not raw marks, it does help to make it fair no matter which exam you take.