Examiners criticise 'misguided schools' over GCSE ploy But he warned that running two versions of the exam side-by-side risked damaging pupils. "We understand the importance which is often placed on achieving grade C," he said. However, we believe that entering for more than one examination in the same subject is misguided. It is not a sustainable way of improving performance or helping students learn. Indeed, our grades in English are down. We believe it is better that students enter one examination for which they prepare over the full length of the course. The Government announced over two years ago that state schools in England would be able to offer IGCSEs, with the qualifications counting towards league tables. CIE - part of Cambridge University - revealed that 9,000 pupils had been entered for its IGCSE science exam this year, up from 4,000 in 2012. In England language, entries are up more than three-fold from 18,000 in 2012 to 63,000 this year. Examiners said the total included around 20,000 "late entries," suggesting that large numbers of schools estimated how pupils would do in conventional GCSEs before choosing to put them in for the IGCSE as well. But this means that pupils will not be able to start preparing for the IGCSE until late in the academic year, leaving them little opportunity to get good scores. This year, 61.1 per cent of students taking IGCSE English scored at least a C grade, compared with 83 per cent in 2012. Glenys Stacey, the head of Ofqual, suggested earlier this month that multiple entries were being used as a "tactic" to help students gain a C grade and climb league tables. But she warned that there was a "fine balance" between doing the best for a pupil and demotivating them. Brian Lightman, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leadersm, said the rise was "undoubtedly a reaction to the problem with last year's English exams" when a sudden shift in grade boundaries left large numbers of pupils with D grades. "Many schools lost confidence in the GCSE exam system to grade students fairly and they have turned to IGCSEs," he said. Under normal circumstances we wouldn't condone schools double entering students for exams but it is understandable after what happened to last year's English results. Many students who worked very hard didn't get the grade they deserved. Teachers don't want students to have to go through that again, and double entry gives them an extra chance to get a fair mark for the work they put in.