The first sitting of a new examination based upon a revised specification is always a nervous time, and not just for students. Teachers and examiners are also concerned that the examination should ‘work’. This means that all students should be able to attempt at least some of the questions, while overall, the examination should differentiate between student performance — i.e. better prepared students should do better than students who are less well prepared. No one wants an examination in which everyone scores less than 20% or more than 70%.
The new AS exams are different from the papers associated with the previous specification. The two AS papers are made up of a range of questions, with the actual number varying between different sittings of the examination. Many of these questions are divided into two or more sub-questions, so the whole paper might consist of up to 20 question parts. A potential issue, therefore, was whether candidates would find it difficult to allocate their time efficiently across the paper.
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