FIRSTLY I would like to congratulate all the hardworking students who have just taken their GCSEs , since Education Secretary, Michael Gove, has failed to do so.

These exams are in no way less valuable than the ancient O Level exams, which I found to be exceedingly easy.

Indeed, since all of the original O Level papers were destroyed years ago, there is no yardstick with which to compare the two types of examination paper. In all the sciences, a hypothesis requires stringent proof and rigorous testing before an assertion can be made.

In this case there have been no proper empirical studies carried out to provide evidence for the hypothesis that O Levels were harder.

It is pure conjecture and possibly vanity on the part of Michael Gove to state that the exams that he took were harder and therefore, by inference, he is a lot more intelligent than the youth of today.

What about the matter of grade inflation? More A grades are being achieved than ever before.

According to Gove, the reason behind this inflation is probably due to middle class parents helping write the course-work essays at home. Well this subtle form of cheating certainly did not take place in Cheney Secondary School, Headington, Oxford.

My daughter wrote all of her English coursework in class under strict exam conditions.

Surely the solution to grade inflation should be to ensure that all students take their course-work under the invigilated exam conditions that are stipulated at Cheney School?

This is a better solution than scrapping the modular GCSEs, as an all-or-nothing exam is surely unfair if a pupil has a bad day.

I am very pleased with my daughter’s GCSE results as they reflect the hard and honest work by both pupil and teacher at Cheney School. Well done! SUSAN THOMAS

Magdalen Road

Oxford