TIM ROSS reveals a clash over exam difficulty

GCSEs and A-levels in English, psychology and music have been "dumbed down" in recent years, the Government's exams watchdog has found. The decision by one exam board to move to a modular GCSE in English made it "easier" by allowing teenagers to retake units, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority said.

Exam questions based on anthologies of writing, which pupils prepare in advance, had become increasingly predictable, the watchdog said.

A series of QCA reports reviewing the standard of exams also found: Both A-levels and GCSEs in music had become significantly less demanding in the last 20 years; In psychology - one of the most popular courses at A-level - coursework for Sixth-formers is now too easy and poorer-quality students are passing the exams.

But the QCA's most striking findings were in English at GCSE, which is taken by more than half a million pupils in England every year.

The watchdog criticised the over-use of reading material, which teenagers study and prepare before they get to the exam hall to face question papers.

Exam questions on the anthologies had become increasingly predictable between 2002 and 2005, according to the review of standards.

The QCA's report said: "The reviewers judged that the use of pre-release or anthology material in assessment was leading to a more predictable pattern of questioning.

"This was of particular concern given that GCSE English is a core subject and an often essential gateway to progression in education/training or entry to a career."

The watchdog said one of England's three main exam boards - OCR - had made its GCSE English exams easier by moving to a modular structure.

"This allowed candidates to take units several times, with the best mark counting.

"In addition, candidates could take the same unit in the same series both as coursework and as a written examination.

"Reviewers judged that this marked a reduction in demand, making the scheme easier than the other awarding bodies in this respect."

Ministers want schools to focus on improving teenagers' standards of basic literacy amid evidence that half of 16-year-olds are not up to scratch in English and maths.

School league tables have been reformed to judge secondary schools on how many pupils get five C-grades in subjects which now must include maths and English.

Prof Alan Smithers, from the University of Buckingham, said: "The exam marks are important to schools but also to the examining bodies.

"The search for good grades can act as a downward pressure on the demands of the exam offered by boards.

"This could in part be what's fuelling the move to modular courses, with the opportunity of repeating modules where the student hasn't done particularly well first time round."

The QCA also found that in psychology A-level "too many questions were predictable and formulaic".

Coursework was "insufficiently demanding" in courses from two of England's three exam boards. And students were getting a grade E for poorer quality work in 2005 than in 1997.

The QCA said that while music courses at GCSE and A-level had become more accessible, with jazz and popular music now routinely studied, some important skills were no longer being tested.

A QCA spokesman added: "Last year new criteria were published for A-levels, which will address some of the issues, including less formulaic questions and greater opportunity for writing extended answers. Later this year new criteria will be published for GCSEs."

A spokesman for OCR rejected the QCA report's findings.

He said: "Modular exams are good teaching practice. Students take the exams when they are ready over two years.

"All the awarding bodies are going down the modularisation route. It just happens that we are ahead of everybody else in English."