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Hardest Exam Boards??

Hi everyone,

In your opinion, what are the hardest A Level/AS exam boards? I'm doing a context lead Physics course (Salters Horner), the Nuffield course for Chemistry, Edexcel for Biology and for Maths, the one with C1, C2, S1 etc. all for AS.

A lot of people doing the Salters course are finding in difficult because the stuff we learn has to be applied to different situations "in context". Equations have to be learnt inside out to be able to answer questions.

Anyway, what do you think?

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Reply 1
I've heard OCR are generally the hardest exam board.
I't a good thing I've only had to do 2 public exams with them ever :smile:
Reply 2
Ocr is probs the hardes with AQA being one of the easier ones.
Reply 3
Is OCR hardest for all levels (GCSE, AS and A level)?

And has anyone heard of the Salters course and the Nuffield one?
dinkimoo
Is OCR hardest for all levels (GCSE, AS and A level)?

And has anyone heard of the Salters course and the Nuffield one?



OCR is by far the hardest exam board for history
OCR Music is just a joke.

Shame about the AEA French though. It's driving me insane already. :eek:
They are supposed to be equal, but in my experience WJEC is a piece of piss (AS Geography). Maybe that's because I find Geography quite easy though...:biggrin:
OCR i've always thought was more challenging.... but I have no beef with OCR :smile:
Reply 8
I dont think anybody here is in position to say which exam board is the hardest unless they have taken the same subject with different exam boards.

I can easily say that Edexcel is the hardest exam board for physics, but I havent used any other exam boards for the subject, so how can I undermine the other exam boards by saying Edexcel is the hardest?
Now if you asked me which is the worst exam board in terms of quality of papers, and marking, I would be able to say Edexcel, because I actually have evidence of it.
OCR make me cringe- I remember having to define first ionisation energy. YUK
Reply 10
at GCSE, OCR are quite easy...I did Science, History and Business Studies with them, and didn't find any of their exams (or past papers) particularly difficult..
I did all of my GCSEs with the WJEC and didn't find any of them really difficult.

Everyone seems to be saying that OCR is the hardest at A-Level, especially for science and history, yet at my school those departments are the only ones that use OCR!

I think that whichever board you use, everything balances out eventually. The pass rates for each board must all be much of a muchness, otherwise every school would pick the same one. I think the exam boards meet up every now and again to compare results, methods, marking etc. so you should hopefully get the grades that you deserve regardless.
smallthoms
I did all of my GCSEs with the WJEC and didn't find any of them really difficult.

Everyone seems to be saying that OCR is the hardest at A-Level, especially for science and history, yet at my school those departments are the only ones that use OCR!

I think that whichever board you use, everything balances out eventually. The pass rates for each board must all be much of a muchness, otherwise every school would pick the same one. I think the exam boards meet up every now and again to compare results, methods, marking etc. so you should hopefully get the grades that you deserve regardless.


You have basically proved that teachers slyly make our lives harder- due to them ALL choosing to use OCR, or maybe they just dont trust edexcel, and AQA, which, to me, seem like the fairy princesses of the examining board family. :smile:
AQA is the hardest exam board.
Reply 14
i was told that OCR is the hardets too.
didnt realise, but its too do with the way the exam questions are phrased, and the way they require you to apply your knowldge in a variety of ways and also the way they make u learn alot more depth than u need.
surprisingly, nearly all my GCSE's were OCR, and now for A -level, im doing maths with OCR!
but dont really notice it, ...i guess its beacuse its the examiners from oxbridge or sumthing to do with oxbridge!
Reply 15
rainjan_4now
OCR make me cringe- I remember having to define first ionisation energy. YUK


:confused:
What's so bad about that?
kieshaxxx
:confused:
What's so bad about that?

yea easy marks!

defintion questions = bankers
Reply 17
is OCR really the most difficult. All my exams are OCR. I dont understand why there isnt just one exam board. It would make life easier and give a fairer representation of ability.
No exam board is easier than other :tongue:
rainjan_4now
OCR make me cringe- I remember having to define first ionisation energy. YUK


rofl

Edexcel = :smile: