British Edexcel Math GCSE Exam Study

GCSE, namely the General Certificate of Secondary Education of British, is equivalent to the Chinese secondary education examination system. Studying the GCSE in mathematics,is not only good for us to have a deep understanding on British secondary education mathematics examination system, but also is beneficial to provide reference and enlightenment for reform of Chinese mathematical examination.So far, the systemic research about British Edexcel GCSE mathematics from the domestic scholars is not much, the existing research only focuses on the limited part, which just analyze the situations of some examinations but lack system. The lack of systemic researches on Edexcel GCSE mathematics about examinational standard,test questions and the exploration in reform system, which are all necessary to the deep understanding the GCSE mathematics in a comprehensive perspective.This article uses the methods of literature analysis, comparative research,historical research. On the basis of existing research results, it makes the interpretation of GCSE examination system and conduct a systematic exploration in the United Kingdom Edexcel GCSE Mathematics exam.1.Comparison between UK Edexcel GCSE Mathematics exam syllabus and Chinese syllabus.Overview of paper from the UK Edexcel math test, to compare among the British National Mathematics Curriculum, GCSE Mathematic subject standards, Edexcel Mathematics syllabus(old and new) and the differences of the subject in Chinese junior high school math class, it is found that:(1) National Mathematics Curriculum and GCSE maths exam discipline standards are basically the same. The latter is refinement, but the content has been adjusted; Edexcel mathematics syllabus(new) and GCSE Mathematic subject standards are identical.(2) New Edexcel mathematics syllabus(2015) compared to the old syllabus(2012), there are significant changes. After reforming, the content knowledge of theprimary(F) syllabus and the advanced(H) syllabus has been replenished or deleted.Modular examination unifies to liner examination(summative test);on the scores of hierarchy, grade 1-9 take place of G- A *; a new "ratio, proportion and rate of change" as an independently appraisal content. The overall degree of difficulty increases.(3) By Comparing the new syllabus of UK Edexcel GCSE mathematics with the junior high school mathematics curriculum standards(2011 version) of China, range of content is roughly the same, but more difficult in China than in United Kingdom.2. The analysis of the UK Edexcel GCSE mathematics examination papers.With the Comprehensive Difficulty Model from Bao Jiansheng, the author conducted comprehensive comparison between the difficulty of Edexcel GCSE Mathematics exam papers(2014 past papers and 2015 sample papers) and Guangzhou Examination Papers in Mathematics(2015) in China.The conclusions are shown as follow:(1) Whether the primary(F) or the higher(H) papers, on the five factors of mathematics cognition, background, calculation, reasoning, and knowledge content,the difficulty of the new questions is much higher than the old, which is anastomotic with the original intention of GCSE Mathematics examination reforms aimed at improving the requirements.(2) Guangzhou Examination Questions in Mathematics(2015) is more difficult than Edexcel GCSE Mathematics Higher tier(H) questions; but relatively balanced among five difficulty factors(mathematics cognition, background, calculation,reasoning, and knowledge content), which closes in a regular pentagon. In other word,when they set items, Edexcel is more paying attention to the balance of the five difficulty factor.3. The reflection and discussion about the change of British GCSE mathematics "a subject with several tests" to "a subject with two tests".The traditional one "a subject with several tests" is changed to the conditional one "a subject two tests"( 16-year students before August 31 allowed to participate in make-up examination in November). It is the significant measure of British GCSEMathematics Reform in 2015, which is focusing on the future of country and aiming at cultivating talents, improving basic mathematical literacy of future citizens. British GCSE examinations proved that, "several tests in one year", "a subject with several tests" are more harmful than good. Currently, British implement policy of "a subject with a test as the principle and a make-up as an exception".That is to say, except English and mathematics, students are given only one examination opportunity to have a test in a subject.Give full consideration about balance the relationship between teaching and examination and do not blindly pursue multiple test system, which are also the historical alerts that British multi-test system gives.By the way, making a comprehensive study of the British Edexcel GCSE Mathematics, it is not enough to only study the examination syllabus and questions. If we can continue to follow up the test results of feedback from the students, and to understand the other GCSE mathematics exam institutions, it will be more comprehensive to put Edexcel in a accurate positioning, which is worthy of further exploration in future issues.