A bright student who was penalised in her mock Latin GCSE paper because one answer was "too sophisticated" today achieved a string of top grade passes.

Katie Merchant had one point deducted from a three-mark question about Ovid's poem, Echo And Narcissus, as the answer displayed too much knowledge in the paper for the Oxford, Cambridge and RSA exam board.

It led to claims that the brightest students were being constrained by exam marking schemes which failed to award marks for originality, but awarded the highest marks for prescriptive answers containing key words.

Today, 16-year-old Katie smiled broadly as she found out she had gained seven A stars and two As at independent Brighton College in Brighton, including an A star in Latin.

She said the "narrow-minded" exam structure needed overhauling as it was geared towards standardising pupils rather than encouraging individual talent.

Katie, who lives near Uckfield, East Sussex, said: "The exam system as it currently stands doesn't award marks for what pupils really think.

"It is too constrained. I think marks should be awarded for giving broader answers, rather than be penalised."

Katie plans to stay on at Brighton College to study A-levels in English, history, religious studies and Latin.