Dismay at
multiple entries
for maths

Two students sat maths GCSE exams eight times, while 38 youngsters took it seven times, according to official figures.

Exam board chiefs raised concerns about multiple and early entries in maths, with one saying it was doing “real damage” to education.

Andrew Hall, chief executive of the AQA exam board, said that there is “really, really clear evidence of repeated, multiple entries throughout the year” and of students taking “an inordinate number of maths GCSEs”.

There were just over 1.3 million entries for maths GCSEs this year, according to statistics published by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), while there were only 678,000 16-year-olds in the year group.

Just under one in eight (11.7 per cent) of all students – 102,963 students – were entered for maths GCSE three or more times, the figures show.

Of these, 11,423 took exams in the subject four times, while 1,680 sat five maths GCSEs, 467 took it six times, 38 students had seven entries and two students took GCSE maths eight times in the space of a year.

It means that some pupils were sitting a maths GCSE at every available opportunity throughout the year, and in some cases were taking papers with more than one exam board at once.

Moves to cut the number of opportunities that students have to take the exam throughout the year will go some way to stopping multiple entry, it was suggested.

“No longer will you be able to take an examination in the winter, November, unless it’s a re-sit, so that will limit the opportunities,” Mr Hall said. “The fact that’s it’s moving to a linear assessment I think will limit some of the opportunities. But we just think there’s still more to do here.”

In linear GCSEs, exams are taken at the end of the two-year course, rather than in modules throughout a pupil’s studies.

There were “significant early and repeated entries” for maths throughout the year, JCQ said, with more than half a million extra entries for the GCSE outside the summer exams.

“Mathematics, for me, is the biggest concern out of all of this, that repeated and multiple entry – I think it’s doing real damage to education in this country,” Mr Hall said.

He added: “One of the things we’re all worried about, the impact of early entry is students being put in, not being necessarily as ready as they might be to perform to the best of their ability. I think there’s a challenge there for us.”

The national picture shows that while the results are “virtually unchanged” for 16-year-olds in maths, among 15-year-olds, who are sitting their maths GCSE earlier, performance is significantly lower. This is affecting the overall pass rate.

In total, 62.1 per cent of 16-year-olds scored a C or higher in the subject this year, compared with 51.7 per cent of those aged 15 and under. The overall pass rate in maths this year was 57.6 per cent, down from 58.4 per cent last summer. There were also changes in English, with 61,000 more entries for the subject this year compared with last.