This crocodile math problem had Scottish students in tears
LONDON — How quick can a crocodile swim upstream to catch a zebra?
Very few of us will ever know the answer, it seems, as the maths problem was one of many that brought Scottish sixth-form students (ages 16-18) to tears and resulted in the pass mark being lowered for their Higher Maths exam in May.
The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) said the problem was with the overall difficulty of the exam, not individual questions.
But the crocodile question has taken on a life of its own online as a symbol of just how hard that exam was. (Here's the entire exam.)
If your head is spinning, here's how to solve it:
In May this year, the frazzled students who had to take the exam took to social media to say it was unjust. More than 14,000 people online signed two online petitions about the exam.
The pass mark for the exam — the level at which students could get a C — was lowered to 34%, compared with 45% the year before.
A former exam assessor told the BBC the SQA should have seen this coming, because the This crocodile problem had Scottish maths students in tears:
