11 Plus Exams Forum

Yes two Certs. One O level, one CSE. Not gcse. Before their time.

GCSEs definitely 1988 - I was in the guinea pig year. Although I did sit the last ever Maths O-level in the November prior and then sat OA (AO?) in June. Definitely only 1 certificate for the GCSE's

I think when I did the joint exams it was the JMB board who did it as a pilot in the late 1970s it was then later called 16+ which then became the GCSEs in 1988.

I have a grade 1 CSE certificate via the same route (1976). One exam, two certificates. There was only one subject we did that, I think it was Biology.

Bigbirdcw wrote:GCSEs definitely 1988 - I was in the guinea pig year. Although I did sit the last ever Maths O-level in the November prior and then sat OA (AO?) in June. Definitely only 1 certificate for the GCSE's

I am a fellow '88 guinea pig, BB! However, we took O level maths and English the previous year and indeed received two certificates. We then did AO maths in '88, a qualification I always thought was made up!

Education is forever changing, and I'm sure always will while it's in the hands of politicians ...

JD

I was the last year of O levels. I have about 3 certificates as each board produced their own for all the subjects taken under that board. I seem to remember that CSEs ran alongside our O levels. Those girls in my school who were less academic were entered for CSEs in some exams with a CSE 1 only being equivalent to a 'C' grade at O level (ie the most you could get was a C grade if you took the CSE but it was an easier exam.) I think I was the first year to do a bit of coursework too - my History O level had coursework under exam conditions - it was a big thing at the time as it hadn't been done before - I went into the exam knwing I had already achieved a C grade, though!

AO/OA (which ever it is) still seems to exist. At my DDs school top maths set do Additional Maths (which awards UCAS points, so the same as the OA/AO) where as lower groups can do further maths which does not count towards UCAS.

It is not the same 'AO' as we took but it does attract UCAS points.

How confusing this English system is with multiple exam boards.

In Scotland, the exams were called O Grades and were basically the same as O Levels. There was never a CSE-type exam.

Equally important, there was only one exam board - in the olden days, the Scottish Certificate of Education (SCE). Therefore everyone sitting O Grade English or any other subject in a particular year would have sat the same exam. The same applied to Scottish Highers.

I find it really confusing there is not one overall exam in the rest of the UK which is used as a benchmark for each year.

With only an old-style O-level exam, it also meant that many kids left school with very little to show for it, which is not a good thing. I hope we are not about to return to that.

There is nothing new in this new report on the BBC.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-38610802" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It seems Ofqual will be giving greater publicity to the changes to change awareness.