A teenager who confessed to dumbing down to achieve high exam grades has welcomed changes to the A-level format.

Brighton College student Katie Merchant, 16, from Maresfield, admitted last summer she had kept things simple in her GCSE answers after been docked marks for giving a too sophisticated answer in her Latin mocks.

This week she said the OCR exam board had taken a good step by changing the style of A-level questions.

The format, which comes into effect next year, has been designed to allow talented students to push themselves further.

Katie said: "It's a good idea and I think it should be extended into GCSEs as well. It is the mark scheme that restricts people at the moment.

If you have more open ended questions, there is more variety in how you can answer."

OCR said the new A-level qualifications were intended to reduce the volume of marking for teachers and the amount of assessment for learners.

In most subjects there will be four modules instead of the current six.

The exam board has reviewed its coursework requirement as well and has scrapped it in many subjects.

It will continue to be used only for practical courses such as sciences, music, design and technology and PE.