Exam board rebuked for 'serious' and 'avoidable' A-level maths failures

One of England’s largest exam boards has been rebuked by Ofqual for “serious” and “entirely avoidable” failures in its 2025 A-level maths exams.

Pearson Edexcel has received the sanction after a decision to repurpose contingency papers from 2022 resulted in “unreasonably similar” content appearing in the live assessment.

Ofqual said that just over 75,000 students in England sat the exam in 2025, but failures in the design and delivery of those assessments “caused significant public concern”.

The regulator said that Pearson had acknowledged that students who noticed similarities between their first 2025 maths paper and the first 2022 paper might then have been able to predict the questions on the planned second paper.

Some topics were ‘over-assessed’

Pearson replaced its second paper with a contingency paper.

Ofqual said that this substitution “did not ensure the same degree of content coverage as the original pairings” but “nonetheless provided coverage that was in line with the specification”.

A-level maths exams are designed in pairs to ensure equitable assessment of different subject areas, but the replacement of the paper led to some topics being “over-assessed” and others “under-assessed”.

Ofqual concluded that the results could be trusted for progression to university and other destinations.

It has accepted analysis by Pearson which indicated that any effect on students’ results was “so small as to be statistically insignificant” but added that “a sound outcome” did not “diminish the seriousness of the failures identified”.

Failures caused ‘stress’ for students

Sir Ian Bauckham, chief regulator of Ofqual, said: “Tens of thousands of students sat these exams trusting that they had been properly designed and delivered.

“The failures by Pearson caused anxiety, stress and uncertainty at a time when students needed it least. The problems that arose were foreseeable and preventable. We will always act to protect students and maintain confidence in qualifications.”

The sanction for Pearson represents the second use of the chief regulator’s rebuke after the regulator found systemic failures in WJEC Eduqas’ handling of four GCSE, A level and AS level qualifications in April.

The enforcement tool, which is non-statutory, is used for cases that Ofqual deems to require a public outcome, but where it feels a fine is unnecessary.

The announcement comes just weeks after Tes revealed that Pearson was forced to halt marking on one of its GCSE maths papers this year amid concerns over the accuracy of recording marks. Pearson told Tes the delay had “no impact” on the integrity of marking.

A Pearson spokesperson said it “took responsibility for not fully identifying and managing the risks linked to the use of contingency papers” from 2022 in the 2025 summer series.

They added: “We are sorry for the concern this has caused. We want to reassure learners and centres that all papers used in the 2025 summer series were valid and aligned to the specification. Students can be confident in the results they received.

“We addressed the matter at the time and carried out a detailed review of our processes. As a result, we have strengthened our risk management, commissioning arrangements, and contingency planning.”