Do you think you would pass all your GCSE exams if you re-sat them now?

[dogsandbudgey]

thread inspired by bumping into a school friend I haven’t seen in 20 + years who I was shock to learn went to uni and has done very well for herself, she wasn’t a stand out student by any means so I was admittedly shocked but her success. I didn’t do very well at school, had good common sense but just not particularly academic and very lazy and of course just wanted to party with my friends at the time. I’m now in a fairly wellish paid job but some times I wonder if I went all out and studied hard would I get good grades if I resat them or am I just academically inept lol

I'm 54. I wouldn't pass my degree again never mind GCSE French. Even maths would be a struggle. Maybe with a bit of recap I could scrape biology; which was my favourite subject

I should add my degree was accountancy and I'm a qualified accountant, who has overseen apprentices

I definitely couldn't pass my degree (even with teaching), or my A levels (without being retaught).

I was completely the other way around.
I worked really hard at my coursework.
In exams I very easily zoned out.
I think it's better that the coursework went towards my final grade - assignments that I put a lot of effort and pride into.
I think the system should be 50/50.

Not a chance. I had a poor shot at education when I was young anyway. I managed to get into uni but was remidial in maths. Later, lectureres on my doctorate sent me for testing and I turned out to be dyslexic and discalculaic, so even if I had gone to school as a child I would have floundered. I consider my early education to be mostly from my interest in classic literature though, and I still remember those books, so maybe, actually!

Do mean without revising? I would ace my French and German GCSEs as I did an MFL degree and have been teaching them for 30 years . Also English. Latin I haven't done since A Level but I'd be able to have a decent crack at it. History - hell no. I hated it then and there's no way I'd remember any of the facts and dates. Maths and biology also very much no!

I’d have to revise , they were GCEs and 55 years ago!!

I think I'd manage English, History and French because I did them to A level but of the rest of my O levels (taken in 1972) I'd probably only scrape through Latin because I'm learning Spanish. Maths, biology and German I'd need to be taught all over again.

Do you mean pass new GCSEs as they are harder. I’ve just been through it with DD and the English lang and maths was much more difficult than when I did it.

Maths I would, and likely the sciences, English absolutely not, our book was roll of thunder hear my cry and our play was tis pity she’s a whore. I would be okay at English language and might scrape a pass.

History no, geography no as the human geography would be very different. I would still pass Urdu, it would be bad if I didn’t!

I wouldn’t get the grades I got in them although was over 30 years ago now.

Both English were 100% coursework which obviously wouldn’t happen now.
Would be Ok at Music and French I think
Maths has too many circles in it now judging by what DS and DD did but I should pass.
Not sure about German
Chemistry and Physics should be ok
History would want a bit of revision
RE would probably be OK

Best chance:
French, art, geography, English lit & lang

Serious study required:
Biology, physics, chemisty, maths

Chemistry is my most forgotten subject. Maths was my hardest. Living with geeks, some parts of physics come up as "light dinner conversation" so some topics are better than others. It took serious revision to learn the 30 equations for my paper in the mid-90s though. Biology was my strongest science.

My era was mid-90s. About 75-80% final exam, no modules.
English was open book at GCSE & A-level, but to have time to write, you had to know what exactly you were looking for and where in the text.

I'm not sure if facts stick as easily as they did 30 years ago, and my geography case studies would be outdated, but my understanding of terminology and processes is still strong.

Duolingo has helped me retain my French and build in other languages.

With a bit of revision, yes. I took O levels in the 1980s, and got all As and Bs. I'd have to swot a bit for chemistry.

I think I'd struggle more with A levels - especially maths, even though I use it at work. I'd love an opportunity to do another degree - I was far too distracted the first time around!

Nope!
Just been through it with my dd- I took mine in 1998, maths was bad enough then, even worse now!

Yes, I did ok at local state comprehensive school with 9 O levels but my parents didn't allow me to go to Uni so lost motivation for a couple of years and left home. If I resat after studying the modern syllabus I reckon I'd actually do even better with a bit more application.

Later . I did study part time with 3 young children and got a decent degree by distance leaning as well as professional qualifications, via kind employees who saw my potential just from my o levels, dispute not having a degree when I applied for jobs and provided sponsorship..

I didn't pass them then.

I would be quite interested to find out his terrible my maths result would be this time.

Most jobs don’t need hugely academic learning (eg the S level Maths A level that I sweated over and have never used since) and the skills that they do need aren’t tested by exams at school. (They are tested by observing who is political, who is popular etc.) Hence why people can surprise you in later life.

With revision?
Definitely 💯
Without revision I'd pass a few

Yes. I would pass them all. I'd have to revise Maths.
I went on to do A levels, Degrees and Masters and other post grad stuff. All of which were more difficult

I'm confident I would, with time to revise. I'm 46 but I've always kept studying in some form or another after leaving school. I'm doing my third undergraduate degree now and I have a couple of postgrads, across STEM and arts subjects.

No way on this earth. I passed all of mine. 3 As, 1 B, 5 Cs. But I am fairly sureI would pass none. Maybe English language and maybe Biology if I could do it stand alone but not the double award that I did. I have a degree and work as a midwife so am fairly intelligent, but I haven't used much of my GCSE knowledge. Just basic maths for drug calculations, English for documentation and Biology for the obvious in that job role! Struggle to help the kids with their homework (year 7 and 10).

I’m in Scotland so it was standard grades. No I don’t think I’d pass them or my highers that I sat the following year, at least not without several months of revision. Many of the subjects I don’t use now at all. I might have a chance at passing the ones that I use a bit now such as English and Modern Studies but I’d still need to revise a fair bit. It’s also very specific to the courses as someone else said.
However, I have a diploma and a degree and am knowledgeable and skilled in my subject area (social work).
School exams are more of a general grounding in a range of subjects and teach you to learn generally in an academic setting. What you learn in school, college or uni generally want to teach you again anyway. Doing well in school exams means you can learn, think critically, and have self discipline and those things are more important than the actual subject matter I think.
That’s not to say people can’t do well in those things without achieving in school exams. My husband is very bright and earns almost as well as me but only did average in school exams and didn’t go to uni (he did gain some qualifications through work/apprenticeship)

I was one of the annoying kids in the local paper jumping in the air with a big cardboard A on results day. This was 2000 and IIRC most subjects were max 25% coursework.

I think I could probably pass most of them with no revision now, might need to re-read my English set texts. I would probably still do very well in Maths, the sciences and French and German, but would need more study time for English, History, and Latin. Music, especially the performance section, would need the most work as I've not touched my instrument for over 20 years.

I did O levels which were all exams too - got all As except English Lit. But I couldn't do that again without at least a year's full time prep. Maybe I could do Maths, English language and French as I use maths at work, obviously have kept practicing my writing skills, and have kept up my French.
I did a science degree but I can't answer some science GCSE questions when I read them online!