Teachers say Highers ‘too hard’

Petitions highlight difficulty of questions in biology and maths

TEACHERS have written to Scotland’s exam body to complain about the difficulty of two of this year’s Higher exams.

Principal teachers of maths and biology have contacted the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) after widespread concerns about this year’s papers.

Thousands of pupils have already signed two petitions warn- ing the SQA that the Higher Maths exam on Wednesday was too difficult. Now it has emerged there was a similar outcry after the Higher Biology exam.

In both cases, pupils were said to have been left in tears and schools protested that the content was significantly different from earlier specimen papers.

Alan Ward, head of education for East Ayrshire Council, said several headteachers had raised concerns with him.

He said he was aware of other councils around the country which had raised similar concerns about differences between the final paper and the practice materials.

Kilmarnock Academy has also lodged its own complaint with headteacher Bryan Paterson saying: “The disparity between advice and specimen papers previously issued and the content of the final exam has caused much distress in my school, with many of my students in tears.”

Meanwhile, former SQA principal assessor of maths James Reid said the Higher was well short of the standard expected in previous years.

He said several questions needed to be read two or three times because it was not clear what was being asked. In addition, the final papers were very different from what teachers and pupils were expecting from sample papers.

However, an SQA spokesman said no candidate would be disadvantaged if it was deemed the Higher biology question paper was more demanding than intended.

He added: “We recognise that the exams period is a stressful time for young people and their parents.

“As is the case every year, we do not set the pass mark or the number of marks required for each grade until the marking process is complete, later in the summer.

“This procedure ensures that we have the necessary statistical information on how the exam performed and whether it was harder than intended. Only then will we set the marks required for each grade.

“We would therefore expect someone who got an A, B or C grade last year to receive the same result this year.”

Two online petitions emerged demanding answers from the SQA on why the maths papers were so difficult. The two petitions have already reached more than 10,000 signatures.

One petition read: “Students, teachers and parents alike are in disbelief at the exam set by the SQA for Higher Maths. It bore no resemblance to the course studied and specimen papers provided.

“The general consensus is that the majority of questions were so hard the students weren’t able to solve them.

‘‘ Students, teachers and parents alike are in disbelief at the exam set by the SQA for Higher Maths