Bill Lindsay, principal teacher of technical education at Drumchapel High, in Glasgow, says he has already expressed concerns to the SQA that some of the questions in the General paper were harder than some in the Credit paper. He is thinking specifically of Q4, on energy and non-renewable fuel sources, which involved various formulae, and Q5, on logic, which he thought was more difficult than the equivalent Credit question. Likewise, Q7, on component electronics, which asked pupils to design a cold sensor, was “very difficult”, he said. The equivalent Credit question gave the circuit and then asked further questions.

In terms of the Credit paper, the mechanisms question (Q2) was “a bit too easy”, while Q3, on component electronics, was easier than the General paper.

He is concerned about areas of overlap and some inconsistencies in the design of the papers: “Papers are made up at least one year in advance and someone will co-ordinate this. If it was me, I would not want the pupils to be asked the same types of questions in General and Credit. The course is broad enough to accommodate other types of questions.”

He points out that two different people set the papers - he, however, would like them to co-ordinate better.