This petition was submitted during the 2017–2019 Conservative government
Rejected petition Award Grade 6 on 9-1 Foundation GCSE Maths papers
The June 2017 9-1 GCSE Maths Foundation papers from Edexcel, AQA and OCR have grade 5 boundaries of 66%, 66%, and 58%. The November 2017 papers were 60%, 65%, and 50%. Given the difference from grade 5 to full marks, it is a lack of recognition of pupils who gain higher marks, ie. a grade 6.
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An example of how this can disadvantage a pupil is that the foundation-higher crossover questions on the Edexcel papers equated to 70 marks in June 2017. This means a student on the higher paper could've answered these ONLY and dropped two marks in the process to receive a grade 5, whereas a foundation pupil could have gained full marks on these and all their other questions and only obtained a 5.
I must highlight that papers do not need to be more difficult as a result, only that students more capable than others should be recognised accordingly and not left at the peril of the school's choice of foundation or higher.
This petition was rejected
Why was this petition rejected?
It’s about something that the UK Government or Parliament is not directly responsible for.
This isn't the responsibility of the Government or Parliament. Exam boards are responsible for setting grade boundaries.
We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.