It’s what scientists have always known: the sciences are harder than the arts and the humanities. Now researchers at Durham University have proved it.They analysed the GCSE and A-level results of almost a million students who sat exams in the summer of 2006, comparing marks in traditional sciences and maths with those in arts and humanities.

There were “substantial differences in the average grades achieved by the same or comparable candidates”, they found.

A-levels in physics, chemistry and biology were marked a grade lower than A-levels in drama, sociology and media studies and three-quarters of a grade harder than English, religious education and business studies, the researchers said.

Examiners were half a grade more generous when marking students of the same ability in psychology A-level, compared with biology A-level.

GCSEs in art and physical education were marked half a grade higher than GCSEs in chemistry, biology and physics.

The researchers found comparable candidates by looking for pupils who had the same grades at GCSE and had taken the same A-levels. They looked at the patterns in grades of individual students and calculated the chances of getting a particular grade in a particular subject.

Dr Robert Coe, main author of the study, said: “At A-level, science, maths and technology subjects are not just more difficult than the non-sciences, they are without exception among the hardest of all A-levels. At GCSE, the sciences are a little more difficult than the non-sciences.”

The study contradicts the findings of a report by the government’s exams watchdog in February. The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority found some exams were harder than others, but said that all were “broadly comparable” in difficulty.

But Coe said that if universities and employers were treating all subjects as equal, they were “selecting the wrong applicants”. He said: “A student with a grade C in A-level biology will generally be more able than one with a B in A-level sociology.”

The researchers recommend the government “look immediately” at introducing a scaling system used in Australia whereby a grade in one subject is worth more than the same grade in another. Coe said: “What we need is an A-level system that allows university admissions tutors to make a proper choice between candidates, without having to make a guess of which subject is harder than another.”

He said that under the current system, schools might be trying to persuade their pupils to take “easier” subjects to raise their profile in examination league tables. He said: “I know students and schools will try to make the right choices, but we should have a system where the incentives support doing the right thing, not acting against it.”

The Durham study was commissioned by the Institute of Physics and the Royal Society on behalf of the campaigning group for science educators Science Community Representing Education. They are worried by a drop in the number of pupils taking A-level sciences and maths.

According to the Royal Society, the number of pupils taking A-levels in physics fell by 35% between 1991 and 2005. Over the same period, the number of A-level maths students dropped by 22% and chemistry by 13%.

Ian McNeilly, director of the National Association for the Teaching of English, said: “It seems scientists, on the one hand, decry the quality of their intake at universities and, on the other, say that their exams are so very hard. Any view of English as a ’soft option’ is absolute nonsense. If the scientists tried to do it, they would find it wasn’t such a breeze.”

Sample questions

AS-level sample questions from summer 2007 exams

Chemistry
This question looks at the reaction of sodium with water and with oxygen.

(a) A chemist reacted 0.0500 mol of sodium with water to form 50.0 cm3 of aqueous sodium hydroxide.
2Na(s) + 2H2O(l) ? 2NaOH(aq) + H2(g)

(i) What mass of Na was reacted?

mass = _____ g [1]

(ii) Calculate the volume of H2, in dm3, that would be produced at room temperature and pressure, r.t.p.
1 mol of gas molecules occupies 24.0dm3 at r.t.p. Volume = _____ dm3 [2]

(iii) Calculate the concentration, in mol dm-3, of NaOH that was formed.
concentration = _____ mol dm-3 [1]

English Literature
Henry IV (Part 2)

How far do you agree with the view that in Henry IV (Part 2) the present is always overwhelmed by the past?

In the course of your answer:

Explain clearly how the play presents the influence of past events;
Comment on what the play suggests about attempts to escape the past.