TEENAGER Eddy Grogan sitting an O Level after acing his GCSE maths will no doubt spark debate about whether exams have got easier.

The controversy rears its head every year as exam marks improve, with many – unsurprisingly those who sat their exams at least 15 years ago – claiming the tests and marking are far easier.

Eddy’s exam results are an interesting starting point without being conclusive proof.

This year for his GCSE he got 97 per cent. Doing the 1986 O Level he got 88 per cent.

At first blush there is a decent discrepancy between the two that many will say it is proof it was harder in the ‘good old days’.

But Eddy did have less than a day to prepare, so that counters some of that difference.

Where it would be interesting to look is perhaps the next level down from a bright spark like Eddy because he would always score well in whatever era. It is conceivable to argue that those children who 25 years ago would have scored in the late 60s to early 70s per cent are the ones benefiting from what now appear to be higher marks.

That is where the concern must rest, that employers are being fed information that paints a rosier tint on the current generation’s abilities.