A senior education figure claims the exams may no longer be relevant for the very brightest pupils

But Tony Higgins, chief executive of the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, still maintains GCSEs should not be scrapped.

His comments came as about 600,000 teenagers await their GCSE results which are due out on Thursday.

I've talked to bright candidates who have done GCSEs and found them as easy as falling off a log, and then they've been brought up sharp by the difficulty they found with AS-levels.

Tony Higgins, education chief

The issue of GCSEs and able pupils is covered in a government Green Paper which critics say will allow them to "bypass" the examination.

However, its supporters say the new fast-track approach will give pupils greater freedom from the compulsory curriculum, except in the core subjects of maths, English, science and information technology.

While one in 20 students got no GCSEs at all last year, half scored at least five A* to Cs and a further improvement in the pass rate is expected in 2002, although at the slower rate of growth seen in 2001.

'Toughened up'

Mr Higgins said the issue on whether the exam needed to be made more difficult was a "good question".

"It depends on what candidates you are talking to. I've talked to bright candidates who have done GCSEs and found them as easy as falling off a log, and then they've been brought up sharp by the difficulty they found with AS-levels.

"These are the really bright ones that are intending to go on to university, so perhaps GCSEs should be toughened up.

"On the other hand, there are other kids who find them really tough. Do you have two classes of GCSEs and make it a bit easier for some people and a bit harder for others?"

A two-tier system would add layers to an exam structure that was "complicated enough as it is", he went on.

"The brightest are almost certainly going on to do AS-levels and then they will be stretched."

Pass rates

Asked whether they were less relevant to bright pupils, Mr Higgins replied: "That may be right."

O-levels, scrapped in the late 1980s, were a widely recognised pointer to what students might achieve in future, he went on.

Last week, senior English examiner Anne Barnes warned that rising pass rates did not necessarily mean children were better educated.

"It doesn't mean to say standards of writing and education have got better.

"People are more exam-orientated - exams are important rather than education."

The government has rejected calls to abolish GCSEs, but ministers believe they "will over time evolve into a progress check" at the mid-point of the 14 to 19 phase of education.

At the moment, 14 to 16-year-olds in England have to study English, maths, science, design and technology, modern foreign languages, information and communications technology and PE.

Some students already take GCSEs early, usually maths and maybe a language such as French.

On Thursday, the A-level pass rate hit another record.