As you may know there are several different exam boards in this country which each set their own exams and coursework at A-level and GCSE.

My question is- why do we have different exam boards?

The boards compete with each other for candidates, which means that the exams get easier when the "hard" parts are taken out of the syllabus. This means schools are more likely to choose the easy course.

It is inefficient - it raises costs to the schools because the boards do not benefit from economies of scale to the largest extent. (However, competition could lower the cost to schools.)

You've got inequality in that different schools pick different exam boards.

It is also hard to find resources which are tailored to fit the particular course students are studying (for free especially).

Why do we have different exam boards?

Easiest answer is to google 'different exam boards'

Good question, and some sympathy with the red tape/costs argument. I can only speak from past (way back) experience in that the old Universities went on exam boards as well as results. No idea what goes on these days, except that the reputation of Edexcel is in the bins.

You are exactly right to raise the point, ddeeff. I have just just finished my A-levels, and could never understand why there wasn't a unitary board e.g. the British Exam Board.

If there was was a single board, there could be so much more choice in terms of syllabus, allowing the syllabus to be changed more often so that some of the exams today are not just a variation of the exams set a few years past. Plus it would end the misery that an exam 'clash' produces. In other words, end the ridiculous 6 hour a day ordeal that some have to suffer because the exam boards, by coincidence, decide to hold a number of a student's papers on a particular day.

As a person currently at GCSE level I can assure you that it only makes life harder. Searching the Internet for revision resources is absolutely ridiculous because even the exam boards (in this case, OCR) have a series of different courses.

Comparing my own OCR course to that of my friend highlights that we are learning completely different things which baffles me somewhat: how can we take the same courses at A level and beyond if we've learnt different things?

Don't worry this is not a problem. Sixth form colleges are designed to cope with students from different backgrounds and entry qualifications.

Use PM if you wish to discusss this further.