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Tuesday, 6 March 2012




Should exams be harder?

According to Government education boss, Michael Gove, GCSE and A-level exams should be made more difficult.

Pass rates and the number of students getting A and A* grades go up every year, but Mr Gove says this is giving a false impression of standards in schools.

In 2009, England had fallen from 17th to 25th in an international league table for reading and had also fallen in maths and science too.

Mr Gove thinks that exams should be harder, even if it means that fewer students pass and grades go down. He argues that this would be worth it if the grades had real value.

He said: “What I hope we will see is our exams are once again trusted across the globe and our children are among the best in the world.”

However, he thinks it may be ten years before the rise in standards shows in the international league table.

The Education Secretary also announced plans to improve discipline in schools. As part of this, head teachers no longer have to give 24 hours notice to give a pupil detention. Instead, pupils can be kept behind after school on the same day.

What do you think? Should exams be harder if the results had more value? Does discipline need to be improved at your school? Tell us at in a comment below!

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38 Comments


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  • Laurakat1 (Age 15) wrote on Thursday, 19 January 2012 @ 17:03

    I just had a maths exam today and it was quite hard!!! I found the mock exam easier!!! I'm hoping to get a B!! So I hope they don't make it harder!!!

  • CHERUB15 (Age 13) wrote on Thursday, 19 January 2012 @ 17:40

    They are hard already, seriously are they trying to make sure that we can only pass with C's?

  • redhorse10 (Age 14) wrote on Thursday, 19 January 2012 @ 17:52

    I think they should make the exams harder because too many people who are unintelligent are getting higher grades that they do not deserve. Cherub, no they aren't, they are too easy. I have already done my first Mock Exam and it was extremely easy. I'm 13 and most people don't do GCSE until Year 11.

  • Renesemee (Age 11) wrote on Thursday, 19 January 2012 @ 18:30

    To be honest, I am really not sure because I would love English exams to be harder because they are easy but on the other hand, I am good at Maths but get terribly worried over them so if I thought they were harder I would have a break down. Also, children who maybe were not very clever would get quite bad scores and children who were clever would get worse than normal but fairly good over all.

  • musiclover (Age 12) wrote on Thursday, 19 January 2012 @ 19:52

    hey,hey,hey..make exams harder than they are?Are they kidding!? :O

  • cariadfab (Age 11) wrote on Friday, 20 January 2012 @ 09:37

    Hold your horses redhorse! I bet you weren't doing the same exam. I think they should make a foundation (an easier type) exam for A levels instead of just gcse. Because I know someone with someone learning disabilities and he got a Spanish foundation gcse. Without the foundation gcse he wouldn't be able to say he got a gcse. If someone wanted to do an a level but wasn't quite good enough then they could do a foundation and have an a level to make it easier to get a job. I think they should also make a 'further' exam like further maths for people who wanted to.

  • annacatshe (Age 12) wrote on Friday, 20 January 2012 @ 13:50

    dont make them harder beacuse it puts persher on people and they wont fell well and wont want to go into school.

  • Chloe5000 (Age 10) wrote on Friday, 20 January 2012 @ 17:44

    no no please dont make them harder you dont need to

  • Laurakat1 (Age 15) wrote on Friday, 20 January 2012 @ 18:59

    Redhorse I think that is very harsh about what you said!!! You can't just say that UNINTELLIGENT people are get getting good grades they DON'T deserve. They obviously do deserve it because with the correct revision and hard work you can achieve a good grade!! I had a maths exam that was worth 25% of my FINAL GCSE grade (I'm in year 10)!! Also, there are different types of intelligence. You start your GCSE's in year 10 by the way so you are on the right track! At my school,when I was in year 9 my whole year moved into year 10 in the start of June!!

  • maisie2345 (Age 9) wrote on Friday, 20 January 2012 @ 21:46

    i think exams should not be harder because for people who sruggle are going to find it harder.

  • charan (Age 13) wrote on Saturday, 21 January 2012 @ 12:53

    DON'T make them harder!!!!

  • honeybun00 (Age 11) wrote on Saturday, 21 January 2012 @ 14:53

    Hmm..I see his point about the country slipping in education standards but I wouldn't like them harder :(

  • Jbarry99 (Age 11) wrote on Saturday, 21 January 2012 @ 15:06

    it'll just stress the kids more what's the point

  • Tabs4242 (Age 11) wrote on Saturday, 21 January 2012 @ 16:20

    I think that if they made them harder, it would single out clever children as exam passers and leave lots of them friendless just because they past exams and others didn't

  • nosyrosy (Age 11) wrote on Saturday, 21 January 2012 @ 16:59

    no i have just done 11+ & it was hard (i did do alright) GCSE is supposed to be hard work & so are A levels exams are fine as they are...

  • footycrazy (Age 12) wrote on Saturday, 21 January 2012 @ 17:03

    Of course not! I think when they were kids it was quite easy, because they are not easy now! I would know... I had a test recently!

  • vivk1 (Age 12) wrote on Saturday, 21 January 2012 @ 20:45

    I haven't had a proper GCSE exam yet, but my 11+ exams were quite easy. Also, my teachers say my maths is the level of taking a GSCE (year 9's), so probably they should be making them harder if that is true.

  • Izzwizz555 (Age 10) wrote on Sunday, 22 January 2012 @ 09:22

    Don't make them harder because I know they are really hard and I don't think you should keep it where it is for the detentions.

  • 161995 (Age 16) wrote on Sunday, 22 January 2012 @ 12:39

    I am just about to do my GCSE's and we are put under a lot of pressure because not only do you have to get B's in the ones you do at College but also try and pass the 12 GCSE's that I am doing and to be good and revise for all of them is a lot harder than you think. Also if you made A-levels harder to get into the good Universities you need A* and A's and that is extremely hard already.

  • sailorjuju (Age 12) wrote on Sunday, 22 January 2012 @ 12:49

    Just cos we are getting smarter doesnt mean they should punish us and make things harder

  • Livzii (Age 15) wrote on Sunday, 22 January 2012 @ 16:44

    yes they should - if they made exams a bit harder or changed the grade boundaries, it would give people incentive to actually work! and also, nowadays the way GCSEs have ended up, it seems like if you do well it is said that "the exams were just easy" but if you do badly then you're not very clever. if they made the exams worth something then the people with A* have something to be proud about! :)

  • laurcool (Age 12) wrote on Sunday, 22 January 2012 @ 16:54

    I'm not sure about GCSE but my sister is doing A Level and it's really hard! You have to work A LOT and there is no need to make that harder. I think GCSE is fine though. And shouldn't people be happy that there are more A grades?

  • DizzyGirl (Age 11) wrote on Sunday, 22 January 2012 @ 17:52

    they are hardd enough already

  • sweetpea (Age 11) wrote on Tuesday, 24 January 2012 @ 10:45

    Two words to say about this... QUADRATIC EQUATIONS!!! =D

  • 09AhmedA (Age 13) wrote on Tuesday, 24 January 2012 @ 18:34

    Some people work at different paces so you redhorse10 must be very intelligent because i am vertually 14 and the tests that i do i find quite impssible to do and i am in top set so i kno that i lack at my maths skills.Also i do not think that they should make exams harder as they are hard enough as it is.Less and less people are getting low GCSE marks and if they go higher nobody will be getting good grades. Anyway that is my personal opinion

  • samz (Age 13) wrote on Tuesday, 24 January 2012 @ 19:19

    i agree with redhorse we did a mock exam in maths last term and most of us got an c (highest you could get it this exam) so it as quite easy but others might of found it harder in other classes ??? just leave it the way it is

  • EPICAN (Age 9) wrote on Wednesday, 25 January 2012 @ 18:33

    WHAT THE! THEY CAN'T MAKE EXZAMS HARDER! I HAVE MY SATS NEXT YEAR!

  • cariadfab (Age 11) wrote on Thursday, 26 January 2012 @ 18:41

    Yeah but samz that was a foundation

  • sucess (Age 12) wrote on Sunday, 29 January 2012 @ 16:18

    WAT ????????????????/

  • Pengi-mb (Age 13) wrote on Sunday, 29 January 2012 @ 21:51

    Exams need to be made harder, my 8 year old brother could do the maths higher paper easily, so am i expected to be challenged?

  • superspy10 (Age 11) wrote on Thursday, 9 February 2012 @ 17:31

    dont make them harder

  • Yogabug (Age 13) wrote on Thursday, 9 February 2012 @ 18:09

    exams are fine the way they are! don't change them!

  • bizzy4100 (Age 12) wrote on Thursday, 9 February 2012 @ 20:35

    I think that we should keep the exams the same difficulty as they've always been, because the majority of children find them hard enough already. I just did my 11+ and I had to study like crazy! I don't want to have to work even HARDER when I do my A level! It isn't fair as it'll put loads of stress on children, especially the ones who find it hard.

  • Boeing787 (Age 11) wrote on Wednesday, 7 March 2012 @ 16:36

    Not sure what exam it was, but the pupils at the private senior school where I live ALL got A*s in maths

  • icecream12 (Age 12) wrote on Thursday, 8 March 2012 @ 16:20

    This is so unfare i'm taking my exams soon and am now choosing my options how can they expect us to do harder ones when everyone else before has done easier ones!!!!

  • cuter54321 (Age 10) wrote on Tuesday, 13 March 2012 @ 17:45

    I do think they should get harder du to the fact some people aren't very clever, (as long as teachers, teach better)

  • kawan (Age 9) wrote on Saturday, 14 April 2012 @ 15:42

    I think they should make exams harder because that tests our abilities more.

  • angel1234 (Age 14) wrote on Thursday, 17 May 2012 @ 17:45

    I think they should make exams harder