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Original poster

Help me find my GCSE exam board from 1998 please! Borough of Merton.

46 replies

EggyPegg · 09/02/2021 18:50

Evening MNers

I need to present my GCSEs to gain access to a postgraduate course. My GCSEs are lost in the sands of time. As per all the advice I've found online, I've contacted my old school, but they've said that their records don't go back that far and hav suggested that I contact the three main exam boards individually. Unfortunately all come at a cost of between £43 and £49 just to do the search, with no guarantee that they even have them.

I'm happy to pay it once, to get the results, but would rather not do three searches.

So I'm looking for your help please. If you sat your GCSEs in Merton in 1998 and you know, could you tell me which awarding body was used please?

Thank you!

OP posts:
freezedriedromance · 09/02/2021 18:53

You would be better off posting the school name. The two schools closest to me use different exam boards for the same subject so I wouldn't be confident the same doesn't happen in Merton.

maddy68 · 09/02/2021 18:56

Do you have any school friends on Facebook that you could ask?

Original poster
EggyPegg · 09/02/2021 19:19

@freezedriedromance

You would be better off posting the school name. The two schools closest to me use different exam boards for the same subject so I wouldn't be confident the same doesn't happen in Merton.
I knew it varied by area (DH is insistent it's AQA as that's what his is, but he grew up in a completely different part of the country), but didn't think it would within one council.

I went to Ricards Lodge.

I've contacted a couple of friends via WhatsApp and one thinks she knows where her Record of Achievement is, so she's going to have a look for me tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

OP posts:

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terrywynne · 09/02/2021 19:24

I knew it varied by area (DH is insistent it's AQA as that's what his is, but he grew up in a completely different part of the country), but didn't think it would within one council.

It can vary within schools! I did one subject a year earlier than the rest and it is a different exam board than the others... not sure if they changed boards between years or it that one subject was always a different board. Probably the latter as that subject at as level was also different from my other subjects.

NoddyHoldersCrazee · 09/02/2021 19:31

I had three different boards for mine, so it varies within schools and subject

RandomMess · 09/02/2021 19:32

Have you googled which exam boards awarded in 1998?

Back in 1988 there were several.

NEA - north east
MEG - midland examining group

There could be several but not lots and lots.

SmednotaSmoo · 09/02/2021 19:37

Does your school have an alumni/memories fb group? I think I could remember most of mine (WJEC for English and NEAB for most of the others).

NovemberR · 09/02/2021 19:40

It will vary within schools and within subjects. Each subject will choose the exam board they like the curriculum best for/have the books for/think their students will do best with.

In our school we do Edexcel in History. AQA in English. WJEC in RS. Maths, I think take OCR.

Your only real hope is that your FB friend can dig out their certificate and tell you. When I was at school (in the early 80s) all my 'O' levels were sat under Cambridge Exam Board, but times have changes.

RandomMess · 09/02/2021 19:41

It may be that you have to apply to the current exam boards anyway as the old ones don't exist?

There are only 3 now.

MargaretThursday · 09/02/2021 19:43

It varies by school and subject.
I did mostly Northern Board (NEA), but I know one was Oxford and Cambridge and I think English was London East Anglian.
My dm's school down the road did Southern Board (SEG) for almost everything.

Unless you can find a friend who did similar subjects and has their certificates then you may have to contact them all.

FrippEnos · 09/02/2021 20:14

could you contact your old school friends and see if they still have their certificates?

Crockof · 09/02/2021 20:18

Its probably cheaper to just print one off......

mnahmnah · 09/02/2021 20:21

The most prominent exam board then was NEAB. All my GCSEs bar one was with them. Maths was with one called AEC or something

Rockbird · 09/02/2021 20:22

I was down the road in the Ursuline but I'm buggered if I can remember what our boards were.

Original poster
EggyPegg · 09/02/2021 20:25

Print what off?

I had no idea it varied so much in schools. I only need the English ones as I resat my maths and science a few years ago, so I've got those, so hopefully she'll have the information for that.

@RandomMess, yes, lots and lots of googling. Every website recommended contacting the school, but that was a dead end.

OP posts:
NoddyHoldersCrazee · 09/02/2021 20:28

I had 5 with MEG, 3 with SEG and 1 with NEAB. I think it was just random as to what board the teacher thought was best (I can also remember the MEG centre number, even though it was 26 years ago...)

NoddyHoldersCrazee · 09/02/2021 20:28

What English set texts did you do?

mnahmnah · 09/02/2021 20:40

@EggyPegg

If it’s English, I would put a high chance on it being NEAB. They were the major one. Contact them first.

NoddyHoldersCrazee · 09/02/2021 20:42

My English was MEG...

Crockof · 09/02/2021 20:47

A certificate, there are no central records, the quality back then was awful and you can buy them online.

Original poster
EggyPegg · 09/02/2021 20:53

I can't remember our pre 20C one, but our 20C ones were Great Expectations and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (which no-one seems to have heard of). However half the year did Of Mice and Men.

Just been back in my loft. My mother dumped loads of school things on me a few years ago. My signed t-shrt, my jumper and some exercise books that my friends and I wrote complete crap in to each other, but nothing useful like my Record of Achievement. Chances are it's still in her loft. We're NC.

OP posts:
Original poster
EggyPegg · 09/02/2021 20:54

@Crockof

A certificate, there are no central records, the quality back then was awful and you can buy them online.
I'm pretty sure that's fraud.

They won't give me a new certificate, just a certification of results, which is all I need.

OP posts:
Original poster
EggyPegg · 09/02/2021 20:56

[quote mnahmnah]@EggyPegg

If it’s English, I would put a high chance on it being NEAB. They were the major one. Contact them first.[/quote]
Thank you. And I don't know why, but that acronym is ringing a very faint bell.

OP posts:
Bandino · 09/02/2021 20:56

Mine were Oxford and Cambridge from 1996. I think I had some AQA too. I lived in S London but did not attend not that school. I've never heard of MEG or NEAB. Maybe they were more common further North?

musicinspring1 · 09/02/2021 20:59

@EggyPegg
I sat mine in Sutton so neighbouring borough in 1997 so not sure if any help but ...
English board was NEAB
Geography was SEG
And the rest were EdExcel