Graham Cumming

Former examination board Maths Adviser. Occasional comments about UK exams. No longer posting here.

[Graham Cumming @MathsNot]

A table of all GCSE subject grade distributions for boards offering subjects in England (four images)

[Brett Williams-Yale @YaleBrett81]

After 6+ months of back & forth with OCR over last summer’s GCSE maths exams, this complaint has been upheld by Ofqual. It’s not enough. OCR must go further & re-mark. Many students have lost out! @Miss_Snuffy you’ll be very interested! https://t.co/Py41psYZ5T

[Graham Cumming @MathsNot]

@CottinghamAmber You can find more detailed data for Pearson (eg by tier, sex, age, centre type) on the emporium; I don’t think other boards (or indeed JCQ) provide it
https://t.co/67i9UIvN4o

[Graham Cumming @MathsNot]

GCSE Mathematics grade distributions 2017-2025 for Pearson/Edexcel, AQA, OCR and Eduqas

[Graham Cumming @MathsNot]

@CottinghamAmber The tables are collated from the exam board results statistics pages:

https://t.co/Qa6wh8gGmY

https://t.co/IPu3pHUWvQ

https://t.co/O8vlS9g2p0

https://t.co/8fHERAy7Pb

[Graham Cumming @MathsNot]

@TsuiAllen I think exam boards will try out a few online exams out (probably not before 2030) and then default back to what we have now; as the quote in article says, “people who want to do bad things are probably working at a quicker pace”.

[Graham Cumming @MathsNot]

Can A levels and GCSEs be far behind? https://t.co/uEcwixkmHH

[Graham Cumming @MathsNot]

@pearson Last summer, IGCSE Maths in the UK accounted for ~6% of the total GCSE/IGCSE Maths entry for Year 11, but of the Grade 9s awarded, ~30% went to students of IGCSE Maths. I guess this is what you pay your 20% VAT for!

[Graham Cumming @MathsNot]

Hello @pearson @pearsonedexcel - can you tell me why all the grade statistics information has disappeared from your website?

[Graham Cumming @MathsNot]

@pearson You’ll be pleased to know I finally have a reply - in June 2025 there were 38,761 awards made for IGCSE Maths to UK students (mostly at Higher tier, but 6012 at Foundation) - down a bit on last year’s 39,304, so perhaps some Year 11s were hauled out of private school after all

[Graham Cumming @MathsNot]

Something for those #coremaths lessons

[Aaron Rupar @atrupar]

ROBERTS: If you cut something by 100%, the cost goes down to 0. If you cut it by 600%, the drug companies are actually paying you to take their product. So it raises the question -- how much of last night's speech was hyperbole?

LUTNICK: No. What he's saying is if a drug was $100 and you bring the drug down to $13, if you're looking at it from $13, it's down 7 times

ROBERTS: It's not a 600% cut

LUTNICK: But it's 700% higher price before. It's down 700% now. So $13 would have to go up 700% to get back to the old one. So it all depends on when you look at it.

[Graham Cumming @MathsNot]

Monthly haircuts should be compulsory, says barber

[School News @schoolsontap]

Thrillers should be on UK school curriculum to boost reading, says Lee Child | The Guardian https://t.co/jGVjM6ZpPB

[Graham Cumming @MathsNot]

The best option for existing exam boards would be for there to be an a separate start-up boutique online exams only board - then if the exams go wrong, they take all the blame and disappear, but if exams go right, the other boards can fight to buy it out

5/5

[Graham Cumming @MathsNot]

None of the exam boards really want to introduce online exams at scale - they’ll be expensive, time-consuming and with a good chance of going wrong (95% right wouldn’t be good enough, probably not even 99%), and they carry a large risk of reputational damage

🧵1/5

[Graham Cumming @MathsNot]

Ofqual too have shown themselves to be reluctant about online exams. They (and by extension the DfE and Secretary of State) will get the rap if the online exams, most likely, go wrong and the exam board(s) will get the credit if they go right

4/5

[Graham Cumming @MathsNot]

“And teach me how / To name the bigger light, and how the less, /
That burn by day and night…” - oops, wrong RSC

[EdCentral @EdCentral]

Chemistry curriculum fails to reflect digital reality, RSC warns | TES https://t.co/NNVHde6tvp

[Graham Cumming @MathsNot]

@MathsladyScott Pure Maths in particular… https://t.co/HUeLLLSPxj

[Graham Cumming @MathsNot]

@MathsladyScott Agreed! Maths really needs to be last on the list

[Graham Cumming @MathsNot]

Looks like there was a successful petition in South Korea https://t.co/IaACEGKJxx

[Graham Cumming @MathsNot]

Consultation here: https://t.co/VM2Pf087H5

[Graham Cumming @MathsNot]

Won’t happen by 2030 https://t.co/YIh5xFf7iR

[Graham Cumming @MathsNot]

Well that was a quick turnaround https://t.co/bGJJbIcmou