Royal Society of Chemistry Slams UK Exam Standards

cheesethegreat writes: The Royal Society of Chemistry has sharply criticised the "catastrophically" falling standards for UK school exams in the sciences. The RSC had 1300 highly achieving students take an exam from 30 years ago, with the students averaging an appalling 15% on "hard" numerical questions set in the 1960s, but managing much higher marks on the more recent "soft" non-numerical questions. This latest report has garnered mainstream media attention, and they have also created a petition on the UK Prime Minister's official website, which already has over 3000 signatures. The issue of declining exam standards has been an ongoing concern in the UK, with allegations that exam results have been manipulated by the government to increase pass rates and meet its own targets.