I don't know if they're easier
but you're better trained how to do it.

I don't think there is any way of measuring peoples common sense though, which is something that is far more important in a working environment.
(Bazongaloid, Thu 25 Aug 2011, 20:26, 2 replies, latest was 14 years ago)

On older maths and science papers, you'd get long questions which awarded 20-30 marks,
and the idea of these was to set a simple-looking but inherently complex problem, make the candidates figure out how to solve it themselves, and use the question to test the candidates' problem-solving skills. But because these questions often led to low marks, they are becoming increasingly rare.
( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Thu 25 Aug 2011, 20:31, Reply)

I'm not so sure
our teachers did that joke thing of giving us past papers from quite a few years before and they were substantially harder than the ones we had.
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Thu 25 Aug 2011, 20:37, Reply)

Because the questions were often written in a different way
or covering slightly different things, that you hadn't been taught how to address.
(Bazongaloid, Thu 25 Aug 2011, 20:43, Reply)

Perhaps
the papers certainly seemed harder, and I was relatively smart.
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Thu 25 Aug 2011, 20:46, Reply)

I got straight A's through my GCSEs and A levels and a first, so I'm quite happy to say I'm good at doing exams
but as I said, when you look at older papers set under a slightly different curiculum they appear "hard" to me, because I hadn't learnt how to answer those questions. Had I been taught how to answer those questions I doubt I would have found them hard.
(Bazongaloid, Thu 25 Aug 2011, 20:50, Reply)