Another GCSE V O'LEVEL one

[JaffaCake70]

Having read another thread on the subject tonight, I wanted to ask the following question:

How are GCSE's graded in comparison to the old O'level/CSE exams?

In the mid 80's I managed to pass a couple of O'Levels and also scraped a couple of grade 1 CSE's (which we were told was the equivalent of a grade C O'level). I also attained various other CSE's but with marks lower than a grade 1 (which really weren't worth having in retrospect).

A few years later my younger siblings took GCSE's and were awarded 8 & 9 passes apiece.

I'm not sure what grades were given in my younger siblings GCSE's, but our Mother would always speak of our achievements in a manner that suggested she felt my siblings had achieved far higher than myself.

Having read another post on MN tonight, I've read comments about the GCSE's being easier to obtain than an O'Level. Can anyone explain how the grade scale works in comparison to the old system?

The way I remember the old system is that an O' Level was graded A to D, anything lower than a D was deemed a 'U' or 'Unclassified', CSE's were graded 1 to 5, but really anything lower than a grade 1 wasn't worth the paper it was written on.

I'm just interested to know exactly how the GCSE compares grade wise, as in what grade would compare to a grade A to D O'Level and what grade would compare to a grade 2 and below CSE?

Purely as a matter of interest you understand, not because I was made to feel like the family thicko for the past 30 odd years! 😂

Sorry, for voting's sake: YANBU = GCSE's are easier to obtain than O'Levels YABU = GCSE's are NOT easier to obtain than O'Levels (although I don't think it's as cut and dried as this).

O levels were a to c werent they?

d was a fail

but ive no idea what the answer to your question is im afraid

O Level went from A-D, CSE went from 1-5. CSE 1 = O Level C.

As for them being easier today you will get people saying they are. I would disagree for two reasons. Firstly the courses have changed to fit in with new methods etc. what seemed hard in 1985 may not be on the paper now, but may be replaced by something equally challenging. In my Subject the exam is pretty similar to be fair. Secondly the pressure on kids today is so much more - when I sat my o levels those that didn't pass were not labelled a failure - they did YTS schemes or went to tech college. Nowadays pupils in school know about the all important C/5 grade that they must get to succeed. You would be surprised how many kids write themselves off

A to C we’re passes at O level, D was a fail. CSE grade 1 was an O level C equivalent.
Watching my daughter study and seeing the content of the syllabus, GCSE’s look bloody hard.

That wasn't the question. But actually O Levels went A-E and then 'U'. C or above was a pass.

You're not comparing like with like, to be honest. That's the bigger problem.

Back in the day it was almost seen as being ungentlemanly to have a syllabus, or show children exam questions, or make them reflect on their work or know....what they had to do to get a good grade. I'm sure people will be along to argue, but teaching is enormously more efficient now. Resources are shared, reviewed, and teachers don't teach in isolation any more. Students aren't quite spoon fed- but they are certainly taught things that might come up in the exam and how to do well. It's very focussed, in the way that it wasn't in the past.
So when students get those higher grades they do deserve them. They have reached those standards....but it was much more difficult to reach those standards in the past as students didn't always have the opportunity.

I observed a science lesson last week that was so good I was astounded. It's not my subject, but when I was learning, my teachers simply stood at the front and read out the lecture notes they'd taken when they were at university 30 years before. We passed- but not well. Technology and easy video clips in some subjects make a huge difference.

Neither is harder or easier in my opinion, they are just different.
I think GCSEs got a bad press some years ago when they were modular and largely coursework assessed. I'm sure plenty of young people deserved high grades even then of course, but it was a system that was open to abuse and I think some achools and parents did exploit that in various ways which devalued the qualifications.
But it's very different now. My children didn't have any coursework at all in the vast majority of their subjects and their exams seemed pretty rigorous to me. The content was different to my O levels, in some subjects more than others, but I certainly wouldn't have said it was easier.

Does anyone know how the GCSE is graded though? In comparison to the old O'Level and CSE?

As in: is a GCSE grade 1 to 3 the equivalent of the old O'Level, anything lower than that being the equivalent of the old CSE?

I'm curious to know how the grading system works in the newer exam. Is there a grade that is worth having and a grade that isn't worth having? Is it graded 1 - 5 or something like that? I'm really clueless about it and interested to know.

With the O'Level anything lower than a C wasn't worth anything and a CSE wasn't worth having unless it was a grade 1.

GCSEs are now graded 9 to 1, 9 being the highest. 4 is a pass and 5 a "good" pass. There's no direct equivalence to the older systems.

It certainly wasn’t a “few years later” that your siblings got grades 8 and 9 at GCSE.
O levels became GCSE in 1986, but remained as letters until 2017/2018. By no-ones standard ( other than your goadiness) is that a few years for siblings.
if you sat O levels and your siblings fully numerically graded GCSEs then you are at least 32 years older than them!

Thank you, this is the answer I'd been looking for.

@JaffavsCookie i think you’ve misread what the OP actually wrote.

I failed o level maths twice. Managed to get a GCSE pass a couple of years later without attending the lessons!

No, not grades 8 & 9, they were awarded 8 & 9 passes apiece is what I said.

Read my post properly before you have a go at me!!! 😂

This speaks volumes in my opinion!

Google is your friend...

I am currently enjoying helping my Y7 daughter with her maths homework and revisiting all the maths I’d forgotten!!

Anyway, that GCSE helped me to get on my PGCE course so am grateful for it even if my maths skills are appalling!!

I must have imagined my 'U' ☺️ (unfortunately I didn't)

I think there was an 'F' as well for old O-levels, although I can't remember the difference between 'F' for 'fail' and 'U' for 'unclassified'.

U was ungraded

i got it for physics basically because i didn’t answer any questions and just drew pictures

😂

I wrote a story for my Latin translation! 🤣

O levels ended in 1987 - the year I did them. I think today people are better at teaching to the exam. I went to an academic school and can’t remember anyone getting 80% in English. My son has just got 90% odd in his gcse mock - and he’s not Einstein and he never reads a book!

Sorry @JaffaCake70 total misread

I also took my O levels in 1987, the last year. As I said on the other thread, my school was a Guinea pig school, where we took prototype GCSE papers alongside the O level/CSE/both we were taking anyway. We did this for Chemistry and History. The purpose was to cross reference mark schemes and standardise the 16+ benchmark from O level and CSE to
GCSE. For chemistry I got an O level B, a CSE 1 and a GCSE (prototype) A. I didn't do History, but my best friend got O level A and a GCSE U!

I guess these two individual examples don't answer your question much. The feeling always was that GCSEs weren't so hard at the time, and then the A* grade was introduced a few years later. I guess I'll be able to find out out for myself in a few months time when DS starts his GCSE courses. I know there is stuff he is doing in science now (y9) that we didn't do until we'd started our exam courses.