Can I ask a stupid question? What's an IGCSE?

Bit of a shame that someone who makes important decisions has fallen for the igcse hype though.

Agreed, but I think it is probably quite unusual.

TBH I am very surprised that with 2 candidates of equal academic ability, the panel does not use skills gained outside the class room as a more appropriate decider, such as, volunteering in a care home, or working as a hospital porter.

just - My friend is on the admissions panel of the university. Your experience has been different but it doesn't invalidate my point which is based on someone who actually makes the decisions.

I have taught both. IGCSE courses do have coursework - they are by no means exam only. In my subject (English) the IGCSE we are currently doing is more tedious than GCSE though...

Well friends experience suggests what you do not do is say oh candidate x has iGCSEs, whereas candidate Y has GCSEs, so let's make the offer to candidate x

just - When you have candidates that are all predicted top A level grades and all the candidates have equally impressive CVs then it has to come down to something as minor as who has the better GCSEs and once again, if every has the top grades then what are you going to do?

Re the medical school comment, I would take this with a pinch of salt, given that my friends DD has 2 offers from medical schools despite the horrific handicap of not only having GCSEs but also from a (whispers) Comp.

Another here who has taught both. Igcse and gcse science are equal difficulty. Tested differently but no less or more difficult. I think some school's pr machines have managed to convince parents that igcse is much harder in attempt to make themselves seem more academic somehow. Actually there are for more skills involved in gcse so when they go fully terminal it may well be the case that the gcse actually will be harder.

I was quoting from an exam board website - seems strange that this hasn't been updated www.edexcel.com/quals/igcse/igcse09/Pages/default.aspx.

Am from a non-grammar area and the only schools that I am aware that offer this locally are independent schools.

I have a friend who is on the admissions panel of a major London teaching uni and she was saying a lot of applicants for medicine are predicted As and have equally shining CVS full of impressive achievements.

So what does the panel do? They look at the GCSE results and if one candidate has a clean slate of A* iGCSEs and the other has same but for GCSEs ....

IGCSEs aren't any more difficult than GCSEs.

They don't have coursework or controlled assessments so whatever is assessed by those means in GCSEs are done on the actual papers in GCSE.

For example, questions to do with practical aspects of science are in the papers rather than in ISAs or IAAs.

Crazymum IGCSEs have been available to state school since 2010 and are included in league tables. There are lots of state schools doing them now. Interestingly, our local boys' school has changed to these for Science as they think they are easier for their pupils - more straightforward questions that require less interpretation and linguistic ability (apparently).

my dd goes to a state (grammar) school and she is doing a mixture of gcses and igcses crazymum

iGSCEs are still paper exams taken in the traditional way.
However they are not offered at state schools (this isn't allowed at the moment) so are only an option if your child is at an independent school or being home-educated and hence the exclusivity.
iGCSE results are not included in league tables so this may be why some independent schools appear to have low points scores at GCSE.
They do work well if the school has a high number of pupils from overseas as there are fewer questions relating to everyday life in the UK.

Coursework went some years ago - my year 11 daughter hasn't done any coursework - it has all been in school under controlled conditions and called controlled assessment. Modules, she has sat in Science - they are going too, I understand.

I think new GCSEs are linear but will still have controlled assessment, so will still be a bit different - or some will - than iGCSE. Or is it IGCSE?

I hope they don't go back to O level absolutel recall - completely unnecessary in life today, with the internet. Far better to learn to use obtain, information and analyse it and understand its usefulness and reliabiity too!

I can't wait for all the schools to do the same exams personally speaking. I think the divide between the so called superior IGCSEs and the regular type is pretty unfair on those taking them who largely have no choice what exam to do. DD1's school send a lot of girls to Oxbridge and Russell group and do GCSEs and get some of the best A' level results in the country, so I don't think doing GCSE is necessarily a great disadvantage.

Expatgal - yes the GCSEs will become linear once more, like the old O'levels which from my recollection were more of a memory test than applying what you know.

So if iGCSE are more linear are they what the new GCSEs will be like? Thought i read something on here about the new linear GCSE.

Currently GCSEs require hard work from the word go. Be it coursework, module exams or controlled assessment, there is always something coming up over the course. This as a general rule favours girls.

iGCSEs are linear with exams only at the end of the course. This favours boys who, generally, prefer to put in as little work as possible over the course but will - usually - revise like mad in the end, for a terminal exam.

There will be some exceptions, of course, but, certainly, my boy and girl fit exactly into that mould.

I Have heard that IGCSE's suit boys and GCSE's suit girls better - I don't really understand why though....

I have taught both GCSE and IGCSE - and Tortu is correct - it is about the traditional exam vs the modern more applied exam and course work. They were designed to be taught at international schools. They are very popular with private schools and home schoolers in the ex-colonies, especially if their children are going to go on the UK Universities.

My children's school have just started igcse in Mathis and science as they think it is better prep for a level. They have always had the vest results in the area do its not about improving rankings. I don't think they ate that bothered about gcse league tables to be honest, a level results seem to be what they care about.

My own opinion is that certain private schools cannot compete with the state grammars who do largely do GCSEs; they prefer IGCSEs to take themselves out of direct comparison

My DCs are at two highly ranked (Sunday Times) private schools they do IGCSEs because the schools considered GCSEs as being too easy.

Re the comment that if IGCSEs were really harder then why would any school want to take them on because it would pull down their grade points. Thats like saying that Oxbridge wouldn't want a reputation for being soooo academic because it would make students bypass them for less pressured redbricks.

"They are basically GCSE's which are designed for overseas - expat students or those at British schools"

Is there a third category that doesn't fall into 'overseas' and 'British schools'? If there isn't then all you mean is that they were designed for everybody which is a redundant point.

Whether they're harder than regular GCSEs or not depends on the subject - Maths is way harder - just put the papers side by side and you'd see.

My DCs shcools do IGCSEs in several subjects but not all. And interestingly my youngest did both IGCSE and GCSE physics yesterday - they are trialling it this year- and found the GCSE version harder!

Their schools choose the I version where they think it's better prep for A level.

They are basically GCSE's which are designed for overseas - expat students or those at British schools. They are more old fashioned in content i.e. test at the end of a two year course, rather than tests along the way like quite a few GCSEs at present (although this will change again in a couple of years).

I certainly disagree that they are more rigourous than GCSEs. Ironically my younger DD's state school is doing IGCSE maths because they think it is easier to get high grade than GCSE - there is no non-calculator paper for example in IGCSE. In the teacher's opinion it was also more boring to teach.

My own opinion is that certain private schools cannot compete with the state grammars who do largely do GCSEs; they prefer IGCSEs to take themselves out of direct comparison.