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Boys come top of the class in maths for first time in decade
Tim Ross, Education Correspondent27 Aug 2009
BOYS narrowed the gap in overall GCSE results with girls this year and beat them in maths for the first time in more than a decade.
Experts said boys benefited from the abolition of coursework in maths because they tended to perform better than girls in external exams.
Girls, who are seen as more conscientious, usually achieve better marks in coursework.
From next month coursework will be abolished across all GCSEs amid fears that pupils were plagiarising work from the internet or receiving too much help from parents.
Instead, teenagers will complete essays and projects in school under the strict supervision of teachers.
This year, boys caught up some ground on girls and the gap in A*-C grades was narrower than at any point since 1991.
Last year, 62.1 per cent of exams taken by boys and 69.3 per cent of girls' GCSEs were awarded A*-C grades, a gap of 7.2 points. This year the gap narrowed to 6.9 points.
Coursework has already been scrapped from maths, where boys were ahead of girls for the first time for 12 years. The results showed that 57.6 per cent of boys were awarded A*-C grades for maths, compared with 56.8 per cent of girls.
Dr Mike Cresswell, director general of the AQA exam board, said: "The obvious speculation is it reflects the removal of coursework from GCSE maths. It's well established that girls outperform boys at coursework."
More than 750,000 pupils received their grades today. Results showed:
70.5 per cent of exams taken by girls were awarded A*-C grades, compared with 63.6 per cent of boys' GCSE entries.
One in 14 exams - 7.1 per cent - was awarded the A* grade, the highest proportion ever.
A record two-thirds - 67.1 per cent - achieved at least a grade C.
Results in English fell, with 62.7 per cent of pupils achieving the benchmark C grade, down from 62.9 last year.
This year's record haul of A* grades fuelled fears that GCSEs have become too easy. Leading private schools warned they were ditching the exams in favour of harder courses, such as the International GCSE.
The Conservatives said it was unfair that ministers refused to allow state school pupils to take International GCSEs and forced them to take less rigorous courses. But Schools Secretary Ed Balls launched a furious attack on his Tory counterpart Michael Gove, accusing him of trying to "do down" state education.
Reader views (4)
two and two makes 4 but hey 5 is close enough and anyway it's the working out that counts as well as the correct answer.
- Steve, Brentford, 27/08/2009 16:57
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when will a newspaper publish the exams so we can know if they are comparable with 55 years ago
- Peter Hart, camberwell london, 27/08/2009 16:56
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Hooray! We have finally got down to the lowest common denominator!
- Paul, London, 27/08/2009 15:17
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I'd love to see that exam paper.
- Steve, London, 27/08/2009 14:57
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