Worst maths GCSE paper ever

[jiamenguk]

Lol, I turned away for a few hours and the replies are off the charts. Anyhow, the idea about me being Chinese is pretty much a running theme throughout my entire school years, I mean, well, I did study 4 years in primary school in China before coming to England, but most people just assumed that I'm clever 'cos I'm Chinese, while others assumed that I'm Jackie Chan's cousin (I know, it happens, society needs to change)

The idea is that throughout a paper, especially in maths, you're suppose to have a sense of gradual increase of difficulty, and having a "they are the same, tell me why" question is simply annoying, it takes up space and time, often you're not even sure whether or not if it is the right way to do it; you wonder if they wanted you to do something else. The point is that the questions are often as vague as the meaning of life.

And I swear, I wrote more words than numbers in that exam, and that is simply wrong; there were like 5 explain questions. I enjoy maths, I really do, it's by far the most interesting subject I can find.

Edit: Ooh, oooh, another reason why i hated it was probably because it was piss easy, (sorry) there were just no questions that requires me to think.

 

[sms_117b]

I remember my calculator dieing half way through my calculator paper at GCSE, still got a A!

As to OP's questions, maths does get more wordy as you progress, especially if you pick up discreet maths, it's discreet because it's hard to bleeding find any!

 

[Lukeje]

"Here are two equal halves of an equilateral triangles. They are the same. Why are they the same?"

Since the triangle is equilateral.

Surely it's because they are "equal halves"?

Edit: they're not the same; they would be converted by means of a mirror plane, which means they are enantiomeric (in two dimensions). In three dimensions they would be equivalent.

That would only be the case if the faces were different in some way. If the faces of the triangles are the same then you can do a rotation.

No; if you cut an equilateral triangle in half, you get two right-angled triangles which are mirror images of each other. The sides are all different lengths (a, a/2 and (3/4)[sup]1/2[/sup]a).

You're not wrong that they are mirror images, but they are not enantiomeric. They would only be enantiomeric if the faces were different i.e front and back are different (like hands).

Your left and right hand are enantiomeric (well, not exactly, since we're not perfectly symmetrical, but still) in that a reflection of your right hand looks like your left hand and vice versa, not that the top and bottom of each hand is different. To be enantiomeric, two things must be "non-superimposable mirror images" of each other. The two triangles are non-superimposable mirror images (in 2D).

 

[jiamenguk]

Forgive my ignorance, but what is this edexcel thing? Is the GCSE not a nationwide standardised exam?

Edexcel is an exam board, a quite awful one.

I'm starting to hate Physics because of it.

You have not seen how much they've destroyed biology and chemistry. Half of the so called Biology is just pure geography - "What happens when we hunt elephants?", and the other half is RE crap - "Why is abortion wrong?". And thats not counting how much dribble they have in their exercise book and the so called bloody "IAA"s - Exams that is marked totally subjectively by your science teachers. I got an A* (marked by one teacher) and an E (marked by another)

 

[EchetusXe]

The problem I'm talking about here is that Edexcel thinks that there is "more" to maths than maths, so they thought of the absolutely "brilliant" idea of adding in questions such as: "Why is the Internet unreliable?" into the maths exam.

Maths?! I had things like that in IT paper, I wasn't informed about questions like that being on the paper but I got a B anyway.

In Maths they were all Maths related questions, well they were all mathematical?

3 x b = ? (answer 3b)

^ Stuff like that

It was only a few years ago but there was never any suggestion of philosophical questions coming up on the Maths exam.

Just out of curiosity; on the English paper did they ask you if you had 12 copies of Jane Eyre and 3 friends and wanted to share the copies out equally how much would you have left?

 

[Conqueror Kenny]

I just sat this same exam and well the questions:

"Here are two equal halves of an equilateral triangles. They are the same. Why are they the same?"

Did actually involved maths.

Another question was basically asking you to write out a questionnaire... no numbers involved, simply write out a question and some response boxes.

While it's true that isn't strictly your typical mathematics it is still basic data handing.

 

[sneak_copter]

We had to do those fucking papers in Yr. 9.

The papers I took were the biggest, most pointless, insulting, patronising rubbish I have ever read.

 

[JenXXXJen]

I have Edexcel for Japanese and business. The Japanese one was absolutely impossible, it was full of stuff we'd never learnt, it was just... uurrrafasgs.

Haven't had business yet, but it's quite hard anyway, so I'm expecting the worst.

Anyone happen to know which is the easiest exam board for science? Please tell me it's OCR.

 

[jiamenguk]

I have Edexcel for Japanese and business. The Japanese one was absolutely impossible, it was full of stuff we'd never learnt, it was just... uurrrafasgs.

Haven't had business yet, but it's quite hard anyway, so I'm expecting the worst.

Anyone happen to know which is the easiest exam board for science? Please tell me it's OCR.

It's probably edexcel, they give you full marks even when you get questions wrong. happened to me more than a few times, put "to make perfumes" for the use of something else, and still got full marks. Another time me and someone else got different answers on a multiple choice, we both got full marks. Besides, half of the questions were based on common sense: "what gas causes global warming? A:Oxygen B:Carbon Dioxide C:Hydrogen D:Helium" - Take an Effing guess

 

[MCGT]

You weren't doing the IGCSE paper then. That had the evil question:
Make W the subject: A = 2(LW+WH+HL)
and i was doing it a year early. Reckon I scraped 80% though...

EDIT: I just saw the bit about multiple-choice response boxes. Having done past papers, they seem to have crept in over the past two years and yes, they are a bit pathetic.

I'm going to try and work out that question, risking general ignorance.

A = 2LW + 2WH + 2HL
A/2 = LW + WH + HL
LW + WH = A/2 - HL
W (L + H) = A/2 - HL

Is that anywhere near correct?

 

[A Raging Emo]

I've been getting Bs and Cs each time I take a maths test, your paper seems much easier than the ones I have, too.

I did, however, manage to get a question so wrong, that my Teacher marked it as Minus 1.

 

[damselgaming]

Just a thought, why does it REALLY matter if you get an A* at GCSE?
GCSE's are worth shit-all in the real world.
So all you 16 year old that are taking them don't fret because in 2 years you'll have A levels and no one will look at your GCSE's ever again. And then the same will happen if you do anything further than that. Such is the way of life.

 

[.[B@lL15T1C].]

You weren't doing the IGCSE paper then. That had the evil question:
Make W the subject: A = 2(LW+WH+HL)
and i was doing it a year early. Reckon I scraped 80% though...

EDIT: I just saw the bit about multiple-choice response boxes. Having done past papers, they seem to have crept in over the past two years and yes, they are a bit pathetic.

I'm going to try and work out that question, risking general ignorance.

A = 2LW + 2WH + 2HL
A/2 = LW + WH + HL
LW + WH = A/2 - HL
W (L + H) = A/2 - HL

Is that anywhere near correct?

W= (a/2-HL)/(L+H)

 

[MusicalFreedom]

There's another exam board called AQA, and that board has fucked quite a few people over. Specifically, the A-level IT exams that they set out, you have to answer the questions with exact fucking phrases - a word or two out and you won't get the mark even if your answer is right.

Found that strange, considering how there didn't seem to be too much fuss over the other AQA exams.

maybe im just bitter cos i got an e on some of the coursework

 

[Lukeje]

You weren't doing the IGCSE paper then. That had the evil question:
Make W the subject: A = 2(LW+WH+HL)
and i was doing it a year early. Reckon I scraped 80% though...

EDIT: I just saw the bit about multiple-choice response boxes. Having done past papers, they seem to have crept in over the past two years and yes, they are a bit pathetic.

I'm going to try and work out that question, risking general ignorance.

A = 2LW + 2WH + 2HL
A/2 = LW + WH + HL
LW + WH = A/2 - HL
W (L + H) = A/2 - HL

Is that anywhere near correct?

A = 2W(H + L) + 2HL
2W(H + L) = A - 2HL
W = (A - 2HL)/(2(L + H))

 

[veryboringfact]

I just hate all Maths papers anyway. Example.

"John decided to count and measure all the earthworms in his back Garden, calculate the..."

I'm sorry, "John" needs to get a fucking girlfriend.

The best i've seen was "Peter was playing in his yard when he fell into a vat of radioactive waste. How long will it take Peter to die, knowing the rate of deterioration of the molecule and the fatal dose of radioactivity in humans."

I think "Peter" could also have benefitted from a girlfriend

 

[JenXXXJen]

It's probably edexcel, they give you full marks even when you get questions wrong. happened to me more than a few times, put "to make perfumes" for the use of something else, and still got full marks. Another time me and someone else got different answers on a multiple choice, we both got full marks

Dammit. Well, I guess that means I have a chance in Japanese and business at least...

 

[jiamenguk]

Just a thought, why does it REALLY matter if you get an A* at GCSE?
GCSE's are worth shit-all in the real world.
So all you 16 year old that are taking them don't fret because in 2 years you'll have A levels and no one will look at your GCSE's ever again. And then the same will happen if you do anything further than that. Such is the way of life.

You have no idea how fierce the competition is for the top guy and 200/200, well, its actually just between me and another guy, as well as another few, but yeah, its bloody competitive, lol.

 

[Lukeje]

I have Edexcel for Japanese and business. The Japanese one was absolutely impossible, it was full of stuff we'd never learnt, it was just... uurrrafasgs.

Haven't had business yet, but it's quite hard anyway, so I'm expecting the worst.

Anyone happen to know which is the easiest exam board for science? Please tell me it's OCR.

It's probably edexcel, they give you full marks even when you get questions wrong. happened to me more than a few times, put "to make perfumes" for the use of something else, and still got full marks. Another time me and someone else got different answers on a multiple choice, we both got full marks.

They scale the marks so that they fit a Gaussian bell curve.

Besides, half of the questions were based on common sense: "what gas causes global warming? A:Oxygen B:Carbon Dioxide C:Hydrogen D:Helium" - Take an Effing guess

That's not common sense...

 

[Doc Theta Sigma]

I'm in Year 12 and did the resit this afternoon. Tbh this years paper was easier than last years believe me. Most of the questions sounded complicated but were really simple maths. But yeah, GCSEs don't really matter it's A Levels that do. And there's a massive jump in difficulty between GCSEs and A Levels.