Every exam should be challenging

THE exam watchdog Ofqual has solemnly announced that it could make it harder to achieve an A in “easy” subjects such as English while giving more top grades to “hard” subjects such as German.

Am I alone in believing that no subject at GCSE should be easy? Why is it beyond the wit of man to devise a demanding English exam? Am I also alone in believing that exam results should not be manipulated to fit some target?

If answers were made less prescriptive, examiners were always well qualified in their subjects and students had to think rather than just regurgitate expected material, then there would be no need to play about with the marking.