Over 12,000 have signed a Change.org petition in under 24 hours demanding Pearson Edexcel review whether one of its Mathematics papers was fairly set.
The petition has called for a review of this year’s Edexcel A-level Mathematics Paper 1 as students across England reported leaving the examination hall feeling overwhelmed by what many described as the hardest paper they had ever seen.
The paper was sat on Wednesday 4 June. Within hours, the petition, addressed directly to Pearson Edexcel, was circulating across student forums, group chats and social media, with signatures accumulating at pace.
“Immediately there is widespread concern among students, teachers, tutors, and schools that the paper represented a significant increase in difficulty compared with previous years,” the petition reads, adding that it goes beyond what many candidates could reasonably have anticipated from the specification or past papers.
The scale of the reaction is reflected in the data. A poll on The Student Room, the UK’s largest student forum, drew 3,172 responses, with 68% of those who sat the paper rating their experience as “not so good” or “terrible”.
A separate poll by Mr Bicen, a maths YouTube educator widely used by A-level students for revision, found 54% rated the paper “worse than expected, bad or awful”.
Students pointed to a structural unfairness in how the paper was designed. “It feels like regular students are disadvantaged,” wrote Enry, from Royal Tunbridge Wells. “Questions are increasingly catered to those with graphical calculators and further maths students, giving such students an unfair advantage. As someone who is aiming for a B, this paper was not accessible.”
One female student, who asked to remain anonymous, described believing she had encountered a topic that did not appear on her syllabus or textbooks. “I know that maths A-level is not supposed to be easy, but this was something else,” she said.
“It was not fair, there were far too many easy-looking questions that relied on and were stuck behind an impossible part. I’m pretty sure that one of the topics I was asked about wasn’t even covered on any of my textbooks.”
She added that she was not chasing a top grade, only a pass. She said: “I’m not the best at maths. I’m not asking for a perfect grade. I’m expecting a C at best, but how can I possibly get that when I likely picked up under 20 marks on an impossible paper?
“I overheard several others outside the exam hall talking about how they only managed the four-mark proof question at the end.
“Something is seriously wrong when we’re only able to do a handful of questions, in my case after three years of study.”
Crucially, the petition is not calling for grade inflation. “This petition is not an attempt to avoid accountability for performance, nor is it an assertion that examinations should be made easier,” it states.
Instead, students are asking Edexcel to examine whether the paper’s level of challenge was proportionate and, if found to be harder than previous series, to lower grade boundaries accordingly.
That process, adjusting boundaries to reflect paper difficulty, already exists in theory.
Ofqual, the exams regulator, oversees exam boards to ensure that it is no more difficult to achieve a grade in a subject from one year to the next.
Grade boundaries often vary year to year to reflect fairly any changes in how difficult the paper is, Ofqual states in its 2026 guidance for schools and colleges.
In practice, this means exam boards compare sample scripts with those from prior years, and Ofqual reviews the proposals to ensure fairness before results are published.
The stakes are acutely high for those with conditional university offers. Even a small reduction in grade, one letter grade below a conditional offer, can mean losing a place entirely.
The petition also raises questions about consistency with Edexcel’s own stated approach.
Despite Pearson Edexcel having publicly stated after 2019 that it would make its papers more ‘accessible’, signatories argue the 2026 Paper 1 was significantly more challenging than any past paper previously set by the board.
The petition asks Edexcel to: review whether the balance of question styles and time demands were consistent with previous years; ensure grade boundaries fully reflect the difficulty; and provide greater transparency about how awarding decisions are made.
A Pearson spokesperson said: “We know this is an intense time for students and are committed to ensuring a fair exam experience for all candidates. Every paper is developed with input from experienced senior examiners and rigorously checked to ensure it reflects the course and meets required standards.
“If a paper is found to be more difficult than previous years, grade boundaries will be set to reflect that. When setting grade boundaries, we review a range of evidence, including statistical data and expert judgment. This process ensures students receive results that fairly reflect their performance and are comparable across exam series.”
Results day is 13 August, when grade boundaries will be published. Students will have to wait until then to know whether their concerns have been reflected in the awarding process.
The petition can be found at change.org.
Featured image credit: Flickr
