The availability of transcripts from the June GCSE EdExcel maths papers provides an extraordinarily rich resource to try to make sense of students’ thinking in engaging with the questions. I spent a rewarding couple of hours with a head of maths looking at questions in the ‘crossover’ i.e. where they appear on both the foundation and higher papers. That would imply that these are all targeted at grade 4 or grade 5. One very clear and immediate conclusion to be drawn is that it is easier to get a 4 if you take the foundation level exam. Comparing higher and foundation responses to the harder crossover questions, a 4 could be achieved without success in these but a 5 was not achieved even with success on some of the crossover questions at higher. This will need a more detailed analysis, but anecdotally it seemed very clear. This HoM’s school achieved outstanding results at grade 4 with a strategy of erring on the side of entry at foundation.