To wonder about CSEs v O Levels

Everyone did General Studies at my school. We did the O level (which I have a feeling was actually designated as an AO level or something like that) in lower 6th and the A level in upper 6th. We were in the North and did JMB exams so maybe it was regional. A lot of people used to make fun of General Studies but I think it was actually quite good. As I was doing 3 sciences I quite enjoyed my lesson a week of something different and it actually paid dividends for me. When I arrived at University there was a scholarship exam for anyone who had got 3 As or better at A level and it was basically a General Studies type paper where you had to answer something from every section regardless of what you were studying. So it was no good being a scientist who couldn't attempt a languages question or a linguist who was unable to make a start on the maths. Obviously they didn't expect people to excel in their non specialist areas but were looking for decent all rounders. Those "pointless" lessons people used to moan about at school actually contributed to me winning a significant amount of money for each year of my degree.

Some people in our year did General Studies if they were doing all science A levels. It was supposed to show you were a well-rounded person. 😀This was not in the north. We took Oxford Board exams.

Thank you @Seeline , that explains it beautifully. I do think that having 9 as the top grade and 1 as the bottom seems counterintuitive, but now I know I will be able to understand when my grandchildren take their GCSEs in a few years' time (unless they have changed the system again before then)

We had A- E grading for O level, with only A-C considered a pass. That was in early 80s.
@DilemmaDelilah GSCEs are graded 9-1 with the highest grade of 9 representing a sort of A** grade at O level (which I know didn't exist!). A grade 4 is considered a pass - probably equating to a low C at O level.
For science/maths subjects, most 6th forms would be looking for at least 6s at GCSE to continue to A level, although some ask for a 7.

@TizerorFizz now I'm really confused! You say the best get 9, and then you say 7-9 wasn't a pass.
I don't understand the grading because neither I, nor my children, took GCSEs so I don't know what the grading is. What grade would you be expected to achieve to go on to take an A level, for example?

@DilemmaDelilah What's difficult about 1-9 grading? The best get 9. We had 6-1 as a pass for O level. 7-9 wasn't a pass. The grade boundaries for the current GCSEs are different because nearly all dc take them.

I took my 'O' levels (GCEs) in 1976 at age 15. (I was young for my class). In my school all subjects were GCEs except Maths and French where there was the option to take CSEs for those who were less likely to get a C or above at GCE. I took CSEs in Maths and French (because I was lazy and didn't like doing anything that was too difficult). I got grade 1s in both... but quite frankly I don't think I would have got a GCE grade C in either. I think it's not so much that they were easier, so much as the curriculum was simpler. We didn't do calculus in CSE maths, for instance, but we were expected to have high standards in the things we were taught. Actually the CSE maths students weren't taught much at my school... I remember sitting doing practice papers - mostly problems - while the bright students were being taught calculus. We had separate classes for French. I don't understand the GCSE grading system.

I recall that up and down the country, everyone was told that their exam board was the most difficult. I would imagine that there must have been some standardisation somewhere.

Definitely no tutoring as our junior school which had two years (40 pupils) in each class with one teacher and no teaching assistants, no streaming. You moved up a class when you were ready rather than strictly by age. There were only four classes from Reception to year 7, four teachers, a head teacher, a school secretary and a couple of cooks. Dinner ladies who watched over us at lunch were usually parents. There were no after school clubs but we did go to brownies.

As I recall two of the 11+ papers were very much logic based (one vaguely maths based and one English) and no prior learning/revision was considered necessary. The third was an essay and I guess we had been told that it needed a introduction and a conclusion, but not much more than that and some practice writing essays.

O level maths included some calculus and basic linear programming. I didn't do A level maths but needed it for my degree and it didn't take much effort to catch up in a few months of extra classes at university.

We were told JMB was the hardest, but I was at school in the North.

If you were not as good at a subject they would use a different board, AEB I think.

Yes- I did calculus for O level.
All our exams were London board, which had the reputation of being the hardest. Cambridge was much easier.
My English language had multiple components. We definitely had a dictation and a precis to do. The essay we had a choice of a 'story' type piece of creative writing or a descriptive piece. I'm sure there was something else, but can't remember. I don't think there was a comprehension element, but maybe I've forgotten - it was over 40 years ago.

Just remembering. Exam Board was London maths (Calculus) and the 2 paper English. My Essay was on "Developments in Agriculture".
Opening sentence: The first major development was harnessing an animal to pull the plough rather than his wife..

Slide rules in my day. Just didn't understand much of it.

With maths it depended on the syllabus, I did calculus as part of my O Level maths, my brother did statistics which I didn't. He didn't do calculus.

I did linear programming he didn't come across it until he was at a poly and I don't think he understands set theory today.

Yes I still like maths.

No calculus in my O level Maths and we did have calculators.

My English Language O level was 100% coursework

@Kilopascal (love the name). Did we get an extra significant figure with Logs rather than a slide rule?
My little grey cells are saying that we once had to work out Logs to different bases like 8 or 12 rather than the standard 10. You know! like for fun!🙄!

And I remember my dad saying, 'Log tables? We had to work it all out ourselves with a slide rule', in true Four Yorkshiremen fashion.

I was at grammar school in the mid-1970s - we did Cambridge Board for O Level exams in all subjects. However, the school had a fair number of pupils from Hong Kong for whom English was a second language - if they failed the Cambridge O Level in English Language, for the re-take they were entered for the WJEC O Level instead, because the teaching staff regarded that as slightly easier for non-native English speakers to attain a C in.

I remember GCE O Level Maths. No calculators, logarithms. And a question on Calculus which is now well into A level Maths.
English two papers, one was a 2 hour essay.

I think we thought JMB was difficult. I also think it was regional in the 60s and 70s.

@MrsAvocet
Are you my hidden sibling! Almost the same as my mum! 1924 but one of 5. She went to the grammar a year early at 10. At least she went. She's just told me her mum got her a toy tennis racquet because they didn't have the money for a proper one.

Constant issues about not being at work too. However I feel her parents didn't see her as a golden goose. DM did have two parents but my grandfather could not see DM did have better life chances with a great education but because she was a girl, it didn't register. I think DMs experience has made me want my DDs to have opportunities. The past does shape you, even if it's escaping it.

Can I ask why it matters what he got?

Schools chose the course they liked best. Not necessarily easier. Pre National Curriculum there was huge variation in what was covered by different boards

i wonder whether it wasn’t so much that JMB was easier, but rather that a lot of the “top” schools did the Oxford and Cambridge board, so pupils from ordinary comps would be in direct competition and when the grade boundaries were top 10% gets an A etc, this was very relevant.

In the 70s though it was certainly true. Leaving age was your 15th birthday and there were apprenticeships as well as employment.