My son is in his last term of school and has an offer from Cambridge University to study natural sciences and another from Princeton University in America. Going to Cambridge will involve minimal adjustments as he will have many of his friends with him. However, Princeton will allow him a broadened perspective with more subjects on offer besides his core subjects. How should he decide?

Simone Wu, Berkshire

American universities have a broader programme of degree study and can offer considerable financial assistance. What matters most, however, is the intellectual challenge. Which university is going to stretch your son more? Which has the more interesting curriculum? Which has the better staff?

I take the old-fashioned view that a degree is an opportunity to study a subject that excites you. Your son should reflect on his academic interests and find out all he can about the courses offered in each university.

My grandson, who is dyslexic, takes his 11-plus this year. Is there any provision available to assist him such as extra time or help with reading the questions?

Name withheld

Education lawyer Jack Rabinowicz tells me that the law requires exam boards to make provision for children with dyslexia and other learning difficulties. Arrangements vary, but up to 25% extra time can be allowed depending upon the severity of the problem.

Your grandson’s parents should contact the head teacher of the grammar school they wish him to attend in order to find out what evidence is needed of his disability and when it needs to be submitted. You will find comment from parents with dyslexic children at tinyurl.com/3o4kxt. Readers will recall that Hannah Longman, a student at Durham University, wrote recently to ask if I could investigate why one module of her history A-level was graded U (a complete and utter failure) when every other module had been awarded high A or B grades. I have now had the script remarked.

My two markers, who between them have 70 years’ teaching experience at one of the most academically successful schools in the country, tell me that they “cannot begin to understand how such a grade could ever be deemed appropriate” and awarded a sound B.

Edexcel, the board responsible for this new fiasco, dismisses this reassessment as “wrong”. It claims, incorrectly, that our markers did not refer to the mark scheme and asserts that the student failed “to address the demands of the paper”.

So who is one to believe? What confidence can one have in an exam system when differences of professional opinion are so stark? These are rhetorical questions.

Chris Woodhead is a former chief inspector of schools and now chairman of the private schools group Cognita. If you have a question for him, please write to him c/o The Sunday Times, 1 Pennington Street, London E98 1ST or e-mail him, with your name and address, at education-questions@sunday-times.co.uk

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