Almost 500,000 pupils were told today that the science GCSE they took last summer was too easy. The

Almost 500,000 pupils were told today that the science GCSE they took last summer was too easy. The exams regulator, Ofqual, said its investigation had revealed standards demanded by the exam were too low. In some cases, pupils had to achieve fewer than half the available marks to be awarded an A grade, and only six out of 30 marks to gain a C. Students were not given the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge of scientific concepts. It is the second time that the regulator has warned that the exam is not hard enough. The papers pupils sat in 2007 and 2008 gave " serious cause for concern", the regulator li said in March last year. It demanded exam boards take immediate action and make questions harder. But Ofqual found not enough had been done to make exams in 2009 and 2010 sufficiently challenging for students. "The findings of this investigation did not differ significantly from those found in previous investigations, thus adding further evidence that standards are currently too low ," a spokesman said. The report directed most of its criticism towards two of the main exam boards in England: Edexcel and OCR. "Across all awarding organisations , some grade boundaries were too low to ensure that candidates showed a satisfactory range of knowledge and understanding," the report said. The science exam was introduced four years ago to make the subject more relevant by including topical issues , such as global warming and GM foods. It was also created to address the falling numbers of science students continuing beyond GCSE. A spokeswoman from Edexcel said students could be "absolutely sure that they had a valuable, valid" qualification . An OCR spokeswoman said the board had made changes li to science examination papers li , but that these had not affected the papers for last summer. She said : "OCR is heavily engaged in discussing its new science courses with key representatives of the science community in an effort li to develop good, appropriate, science qualifications ." A spokeswoman from the board AQA said it would be working closely with the regulator. Ofqual li had asked AQA to lower its standards in 2008, it added. li Schools Minister Nick Gibb said: "It is worrying that Ofqual has found that such weaknesses remained in GCSE sciences last year. We want all qualifications to be as rigorous as possible and as good as any in the world, so pupils and parents can have the utmost confidence in them. The independent regulator is right to challenge the awarding li bodies to improve these exams ." Original news in http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/jul/22/science-exam-too-easy
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