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Showing posts from April, 2013

Dara O'Briain and the "boring" "easy" exam paper

In this post, I'm going to highlight the factual errors in the news reporting, give some explanation as to the context, and raise an important question about the coverage. The articles I am criticising include: The original Radio Times feature - not available on the web The Independent article - lifted from the Radio Times:  http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/dara-obriain-calls-for-more-taxing-exams-after-scoring-a-in-10minute-gcse-maths-paper-8583201.html The Telegraph article - lifted from the Radio Times:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/10011172/Dara-OBriain-GCSE-maths-paper-not-interesting-enough-for-bright-students.html Factual Takedown The articles have most points in common. He took a one hour GCSE paper by OCR from June 2011. It took him 10 minutes. He got 47 out of 60. This is given a grade A*. 1) " Ó’Briain sat a GCSE higher-level paper from June 2011, set by OCR (Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations), an examining boa