This article appears as part of the Lessons to Learn newsletter.

So… another year, another exam scandal?

The 2026 examination period isn’t even over yet, and already there are accusations of pupils being treated unfairly, with an online petition on the matter attracting – at the time of writing – nearly 15,000 signatures. It certainly isn’t the start that the exam board would have been hoping for after their recent, and expensive, rebrand.

The accusation seems simple: that this year’s Higher Maths paper used language and question structures that were outwith expectations for students, thus putting them at a disadvantage.

The complainants are not, as some are suggesting, arguing that the paper was too difficult, but rather that the way it was put together was manifestly unfair because of “significant structural deviations from the established pattern”.

The petition provides some specific examples of this alleged problem, and it’s all a bit technical, but some of the points being made could, in principle, have merit.

For example, the petitioners say previous questions on polynomial factors were direct, asking them to “show” or “solve”, whereas the question this year was far more abstract, requiring them to “explain why (x 2) is the only linear factor” and then give a reason for their answer. That shift, they say, isn’t just a change in language, but a demand for a whole different type of approach.

Having looked at the papers in question, it does seem like they........

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