Exams are the do or die, the make or break, the go hard or go retake, of a student’s career. Some students love them, but most would much prefer a scrawled letter from home be sufficient excuse to drop them. If only a *cough cough* migraine was a decent enough reason to skive.
But no, exams are not P.E. For those who loathe them, what a buzzkill when the worst case scenario is realised and it quickly becomes apparent that the paper is out to get you, the questions are much harder than anyone anticipated. Every year throws a curveball, and this year was no exception.
GCSE students sitting the most recent maths paper were stumped when the questions took a turn. This year it is Edexcel who’ve gone rogue, and Hannah and her freakin’ bag of sweets.
Here’s the question:

Confusing, huh?
Many students have taken to social media to vent their frustrations. For a time #EdexcelMaths was trending and Hannah has become the most side-eyed fictional character of the moment.
What #EdexcelMaths were thinking whilst making our exam paper pic.twitter.com/9Vg4g0qXKW
— 蜂王☟ (@MollyRoberts33) June 5, 2015
First half of the paper compared to the second half #EdexcelMathspic.twitter.com/ljqhwgaPWS
— Chad (@Jxgielka) June 4, 2015
Hannah ate a sweet so now tell me how n2 – n – 90 = 0 #EdexcelMathshttp://t.co/YwXC0kMZUp — Ash (@VavaZouma) June 4, 2015
“Hannah’s has 6 sweets in her bag prove that n2-n-90=0” #EdexcelMathspic.twitter.com/nyai7rukFV
— ️♡Gail♡ (@AbigayleWils0n) June 4, 2015
I hope Karl lost his money. I hope Raksha crashed. I hope Mary’s conservatory collapsed. I hope Hannah choked on her sweets. #EdexcelMaths
— Matty Dickens (@MattyDickens25) June 4, 2015
Exam questions typically increase in difficulty as the paper progresses, the intention being to distinguish between the more gifted students who can puzzle through the latter parts. Was Hannah’s sweet conundrum too hard for the time given to answer it?
Not everyone had quite so traumatic an experience however and some have taken to Twitter to debate what all the fuss is about, managing to have solved the question quite easily themselves.
#EdexcelMaths To all the idiots crying over the Hannah’s sweets question, maybe y’all should have stopped panicking. pic.twitter.com/DjD4oewReu
— Maya★☆♣♧ (@themaine4_ever) June 5, 2015
The ‘impossible’ GCSE maths question? Did it in 30secs 1st time. #EdexcelMaths #quitwhining #examsaregettingeasier pic.twitter.com/O60PYS7wQK
— Ieuan Watkins (@IeuanWatkins) June 5, 2015
