Editing Edexcel (section)

=== 2015 ===

==== Difficulty ====
In June 2015, students across the United Kingdom who had taken an Edexcel GCSE Maths paper expressed anger and confusion over questions that "did not make sense" and were "ridiculous", mocking the exam on [[Twitter]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Students mock their GCSE #Edexcelmaths exam on Twitter |url= http://www.itv.com/news/2015-06-04/students-mock-their-gcse-edexcelmaths-exam-on-twitter/ |website=ITV News |date=4 June 2015 |access-date=4 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150605085547/http://www.itv.com/news/2015-06-04/students-mock-their-gcse-edexcelmaths-exam-on-twitter/ |archive-date=5 June 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Plymouth teenagers furious at GCSE maths exam that 'made no sense' |url= http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/Plymouth-teenagers-furious-GCSE-maths-exam-sense/story-26637354-detail/story.html |website=Plymouth Herald |date=4 June 2015 |access-date=4 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150605085904/http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/Plymouth-teenagers-furious-GCSE-maths-exam-sense/story-26637354-detail/story.html |archive-date=5 June 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Students vent their frustration at Edexcel GCSE maths exam |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/11652918/Students-vent-their-frustration-at-Edexcel-GCSE-maths-exam.html |website=The Telegraph |date=4 June 2015 |access-date=4 June 2015| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150605090057/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/11652918/Students-vent-their-frustration-at-Edexcel-GCSE-maths-exam.html |archive-date=5 June 2015}}</ref> On a [[Sky News]] segment, presenter [[Adam Boulton]] answered one of the paper's 'hardest' questions with a former maths teacher.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79I3XIY6Iek |title=Sky News - Edexcel Maths Paper 2015 EXPLAINED |date=5 June 2015 |via=YouTube}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://news.sky.com/story/1496710/can-you-solve-exam-q-causing-twitter-storm |title=Can You Solve Exam Q Causing Twitter Storm? |website=Sky News |date=5 June 2015 |access-date=16 January 2017}}</ref> As a result, GCSE students across the UK signed a [[petition]] made by a candidate requesting that the exam board lowers the grade boundaries as the examination was too hard.

==== Gender representation ====
An additional petition was started by a 17-year-old student requesting to "Ensure the representation of women on the A-Level Music syllabus." The petition asks that music composed by women be added to the Edexcel A-Level Music syllabus which "has a total of 63 different set works from a variety of musical genres and eras." After six days, the petition had over 1,800 signatures and was featured in ''[[The Guardian]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/aug/18/female-composers-a-level-music-syllabus-petition |title=Student demands female composers on A-level music syllabus |first=Nadia |last=Khomami |date=18 August 2015 |work=The Guardian}}</ref>