Ministers ignored warning on 'soft' science GCSEs

The qualifications regulator, Ofqual, ordered exam boards to make urgent changes to GCSEs after investigations found problems with new courses, which were brought in to make science "more relevant" to teenagers.

Many multiple choice questions were too easy for the brightest pupils, some marking was too lenient, and grades could not be properly compared between exam boards, the watchdog found.

But the Standard has learned that major concerns were raised over the courses three years ago. The House of Lords science and technology committee warned that "hard science" was at risk in the new exams. The Lords' report, published in autumn 2006, said it was "unfortunate that the Government opted to roll out the new courses before the results of the Twenty First Century Science pilot could be fully evaluated, and before the other, unpiloted courses had been sufficiently scrutinised".

Experts told the committee that while the OCR exam board's Twenty First Century Science course was undergoing trials, courses at the other two exam boards - AQA and Edexcel - had not been piloted and contained "errors and uncertainties" which there was no time to rectify. They expressed fears that the new courses - including revised A levels - were being rushed in.

Publishing today's report, Ofqual chair Kathleen Tattersall said the science GCSEs were "clearly a cause for concern".

She said the exam boards and the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority had been working on changes to correct the mistakes from this year.

But 538,000 teenagers who took the new GCSEs for the first time last year will fear that their qualifications have been discredited.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Children said: "Ofqual has raised a range of important issues, but what is most important is that it has set out clearly the action that needs to be taken."

Questions from new exam

1. Our moon seems to disappear during an eclipse. Some people say this is because an old lady covers the moon with her cloak. She does this so that thieves cannot steal the shiny coins on the surface. Which of these would help scientists to prove or disprove this idea?

A) Collect evidence from people who believe the lady sees the thieves; B) Shout to the lady that the thieves are coming; C) Send a probe to the moon to search for coins; D) look for fingerprints

2. The female nurse leaves the room while the X-ray photograph is being taken. Why must she leave the room?

A) to avoid being in the X ray image; B) to avoid the X ray damaging her cells; C) to avoid the X rays melting her mobile phone; D) to avoid the X rays giving her a tan