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How much harder is the new Maths gcse to the older one? (idk if i should retake)

I got a C in maths (old spec), however i don't know whether it's worth retaking/how i'd manage with the new maths gcse?
What's new that's been added into the math specification? and is it really a big jump from the older version or is it only a slight difference?
Reply 1
Original post by ssoliman00
I got a C in maths (old spec), however i don't know whether it's worth retaking/how i'd manage with the new maths gcse?
What's new that's been added into the math specification? and is it really a big jump from the older version or is it only a slight difference?

Hi, would you do higher or foundation? For higher the content hasn't changed much and isn't much harder. It is the exam that is much harder but the grade boundaries mean that it should be just as easy/hard to get an equivalent grade in the new spec compared to the old spec.
Reply 2
Original post by Notnek
Hi, would you do higher or foundation? For higher the content hasn't changed much and isn't much harder. It is the exam that is much harder but the grade boundaries mean that it should be just as easy/hard to get an equivalent grade in the new spec compared to the old spec.


Sorry, but can you just give me details as to how it's harder? Do you mean that there's more challenging questions or the fact that the way they word questions now makes it harder to understand? Also, do you know what specification would be the easiest/closest to the old spec?
Reply 3
Original post by ssoliman00
Sorry, but can you just give me details as to how it's harder? Do you mean that there's more challenging questions or the fact that the way they word questions now makes it harder to understand? Also, do you know what specification would be the easiest/closest to the old spec?

There are not many "easy" questions any more. The old exam would start slow and build to A* questions at the end. Now you can get really tough questions at the beginning of the exam and the whole exam is much harder in general.

The new exam has 50% of questions aimed at grades 7-9 so students below grade 7 often find the exam very challenging. But as I said above, grade boundaries mean it's just as hard/easy to get e.g. a C grade.
(edited 6 years ago)
Original post by Notnek
There are not many "easy" questions any more. The old exam would start slow and build to A* questions at the end. Now you can get really tough questions at the beginning of the exam and the whole exam is much harder in general.

The new exam has 50% of questions aimed at grades 7-9 so students below grade 7 often find the exam very challenging. But as I said above, grade boundaries mean it's just as hard/easy to get e.g. a C grade.

Hi, I understand it's a year late but I was wondering, do you know whether this is true of the Foundation Tier too? Are both exams now harder?

Also if you could take the time out to answer this post of mine I'd really appreciate it:

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?&t=5643328

Thanks in advance.

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