When it comes to GCSEs, a mixed bag of results is often expected by teachers and students alike.
It’s generally accepted that students have stronger and weaker areas; some are more Stem-oriented, while others perform better in English and the arts.
This year, no exams were sat. And I think that makes a big difference. I propose that the difference in performance across subjects is partially down to disparities in the difficulty of the courses and exams.
These are the subjects that I - and others - found the most difficult.
History
History is a tricky crossover between long-response creativity and remembering heaps of information.
Analysis and evaluation of historical sources on the spot is difficult for even the most proficient essay-writers, and remembering to include detailed facts about each of the four studied themes is daunting.
The scope of question styles also seems a little ridiculous: why must students learn how to answer 18 different types of question, and does this help us understand history?
This breadth also singles history out as harder than other essay subjects. Students cannot cling on to rigid essay structures in the absence of their own knowledge as the essay structures themselves are just as hard.
Modern foreign languages
Modern foreign languages are not accessible to all students - even with the provision of a tiered paper. The challenge is that dedicated vocabulary and grammar practice is the only way to improve, and this long-haul learning style is hard to keep up.
It is one of the few subjects where every lesson from Year 7 could be relevant - students cannot afford to forget any prior learning as any topic could be tested.
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The content of MFL is also extremely difficult, including abbreviations and idioms that even many native speakers may not know. The new oral assessment puts students on the spot to produce complex ideas about contemporary society, like saving the environment and drug addiction.
Only 13 per cent of the GCSE students achieved a grade 7-9 in English language last year - one of the lowest percentages for any GCSE subject. The unpredictability of the English language exam presents the biggest challenge, as all analysis and argument must be synthesised in the exam hall when students are faced with an unseen passage.
The scope of language and literature is also difficult. Students must be ready to analyse any genre and style of text in language, and to carefully select poignant quotes to support obscure essay prompts in literature.
The poetry anthologies also deal with difficult themes for the younger generation like relationships.
Should these disparities exist?
Of course, this list is up for debate and is by no means rigid - a more accessible passage in one series of English language GCSE could result in much stronger responses, and all exam papers will have slight deviations in breadth and difficulty.
Year on year, though, the percentage of students gaining the top marks in maths, English language and the modern foreign languages lags some way behind the sciences.
As teachers are assured that grade boundaries are mobile and accommodate differences in question difficulty, awarding fewer students a 7-9 in certain subjects does not make sense.
It is only sensible that students will migrate to the subjects they’re likely to achieve good grades in.
So, to ensure that some subjects do not disappear, leaving an entire generation without them, I believe we need to at least attempt more standardisation in difficulty.
Robbie Hicks is a student in England
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