All the exam boards (OCR, Edexcel , AQA, Cambridge (CIE), etc) must
test the same National Curriculum (2007/8 - National and International
GCSE). So, broadly speaking, a trigonometry question on an OCR Higher
paper must match the same level of difficulty as a trigonometry question
on an Edexcel Higher paper. This is because trigonometry, to a certain
clearly defined level, is a part of the National & International
GCSE Curriculum. Consequently, there is a huge overlap between the exam
syllabus of one exam board with the exam syllabus of another. I have
chosen to use the Edexcel syllabus because it is the one most widely
used, the one most popular with students and teachers, and because after
20 + years of teaching each syllabus, I feel it is the best. The law
on copyright does not allow me to use their papers word-for-word. So
I have slightly re-written each question in each paper in order to make
a 'replica' question as close as possible to the original. For example,
suppose Question 4 in the real Paper 5 begins....
'John rolls a fair six-sided dice twice......';
my replica Question 4 will begin...
'Jane spins a fair six-sided spinner twice.....'
When re-writing the Questions I have made absolutely sure that the
topic being tested and the level of difficulty match exactly those of
the original Questions. This means that if you can understand my Model
Answers to the replica Questions you should have no trouble with the
real Questions because they are virtually identical.