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Graham Cumming @mathsnot.bsky.social · 21h

They then mangled their communications with contradictory statements about what was an intended paper and what was a replacement paper. Silence is the best option for Pearson at this point since any explanation (especially now) for what happened won’t be a very convincing one

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Graham Cumming @mathsnot.bsky.social · 21h

Owing to a continuity/QA failure, Pearson didn’t realise Papers 1 and 2 for 2025 had been closely modelled on the 2022 papers until Paper 1 was sat. They then withdrew Paper 2 and replaced it (though not the modified versions) with, probably, the Paper 2 intended for 2026, so not a perfect fit

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Graham Cumming @mathsnot.bsky.social · 1d

COCR is owned by a big publisher these days

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Graham Cumming @mathsnot.bsky.social · 1d

It did, but Pearson dodged a bullet on that one

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Graham Cumming @mathsnot.bsky.social · 2d

Only proper artisans can do that

Graham Cumming @mathsnot.bsky.social · 2d

Not long now until the least needed exam in England - the GCSE Maths resit at Higher tier, required by only ~1000 students. Good thing we’ve got four exam boards on the case, producing 11 different exam papers for it!

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Graham Cumming @mathsnot.bsky.social · 3d

Good to see a current version of this ever-popular table (thanks Matt Man). You can assume, though, that many of the 9/A* students also took Further Maths

Matt Man @mr-man-maths.bsky.social · 4d

After going to the "Exam Insights Summer 2025" CPD session by Pearson Edexcel, it made me think of the below questions. We'll discuss this at the start of my workshop on "Moving 'em up to the next grade!" for #ALevelMaths #MathsConf39 @lasalleed.bsky.social

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Graham Cumming @mathsnot.bsky.social · 4d

Unlikely to happen but if it’s about parity of esteem for vocational quals, the process could be kickstarted by rebadging some A levels as V levels - for instance: Engineering, Business Studies, Law, Psychology, D&T, maybe some of the art subjects like Graphic Communication, etc

Graham Cumming @mathsnot.bsky.social · 18d

Resits aren’t endless - whether you get grade 4 or not, they come to an end www.thetimes.com/uk/education...

Endless resits of maths and English to be scrapped in GCSE reform

Review of assessments is expected to suggest that the government create alternative routes for pupils who repeatedly fail core subjects

www.thetimes.com

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Graham Cumming @mathsnot.bsky.social · 28d

And yet a few (well, 2%) confound the doubters. Isn’t Functional Maths supposed to be the alternative, though? If not that, what else?

Graham Cumming @mathsnot.bsky.social · 28d

Some interesting data on English and Maths resits - shows that very few students who achieved grades 1 or 2 for GCSE Maths go on to resit and achieve grade 4 or above ffteducationdatalab.org.uk/2025/09/how-...

How many pupils resit English and maths? - FFT Education Datalab

Although it is a requirement that pupils who do not achieve grade 4 in English (or maths) at GCSE continue to study English (or maths) post-16 by no means all of them enter a qualification.

ffteducationdatalab.org.uk

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Graham Cumming @mathsnot.bsky.social · Sep 6

Try here: qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/...

qualifications.pearson.com

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Graham Cumming @mathsnot.bsky.social · Sep 5

The anomalies here are Computing and Physics where the top grades are dominated by those students who also do Further Maths; maybe single maths isn’t always enough

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Graham Cumming @mathsnot.bsky.social · Sep 5

Want to get serious about your A level results? Get serious about maths. Students who do maths at A level do better overall in all other subjects

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Graham Cumming @mathsnot.bsky.social · Sep 5

You need to stay off the bbc eclair Ning

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Graham Cumming @mathsnot.bsky.social · Sep 5

Table 7 at the link has that data (though for all entries rather than just Year 11, so including many re-sits at Foundation tier. Pearson had 55% Higher tier for Year 11, but AQA and OCR don’t make that data available)

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Graham Cumming @mathsnot.bsky.social · Sep 3

Venn diagrams showing some STEM combinations of three A levels (including Maths & Further Maths) chosen by 18-year old students, and outcomes compared to those nationally

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Graham Cumming @mathsnot.bsky.social · Sep 3

Venn diagrams showing some STEM combinations of three A levels chosen by 18-year old students, and outcomes compared to those nationally

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Graham Cumming @mathsnot.bsky.social · Sep 1

Don’t get them started on trigonometry

Reposted by Graham Cumming

The Maths Bazaar @themathsbazaar.bsky.social · Sep 1

With new students arriving in Year 12, remember you can find out their GCSE Maths grade and raw score, and even breakdown of their marks (very useful for resit students!)

Search Pearson for "Retrieve Incoming Learners" and read my blog at robotmaths.blogspot.com/2022/08/gett...