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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask if you only have one CSE grade 1

91 replies

Cumberb · 27/09/2023 13:49

.. and the rest all lower grades - you're not that academic?

For reference - I'm talking about someone born prior to September 1971

OP posts:
Original poster
Cumberb · 27/09/2023 14:46

Ah I'm 2 years younger than you then @Georgeandzippyzoo - that's excellent about your brother - goes to show that getting good academic results in school isn't everything !!

OP posts:
Original poster
Cumberb · 27/09/2023 14:48

Definitely agree @Anonymouseposter - particularly with your last sentence !

OP posts:
Original poster
Cumberb · 27/09/2023 14:49

I can 100% personally relate to what you're saying @JanesPantsOfWideLeg !

OP posts:
Changes17 · 27/09/2023 14:51

Sounds like CSEs were like doing foundation level gcse now, and GCEs like doing higher level. In that if you take the foundation paper you can’t get higher than a 5, whereas you might have been able to get a 9 on the higher paper.

BatteryPoweredMammy · 27/09/2023 14:52

No, that's not necessarily true.

The Education system back then didn't know about Dyslexia, Autismn or other educational disabilities and students were often put into remedial groups and not given the support they need to succeed. A friend with Dyslexia who left school with a handful of cse's went back to college after a few years working in industry in an Engineering role and qualified as a teacher.

Back then, a CSE grade 1 was supposedly equivalent to a pass at GCE O'Level but not necessarily limited to a grade C.

At my old Comp, students were streamed and put into CSE or O'level sets but they followed a different curriculum so you couldn't easily swap up to study the GCE O'level if you missed too much work.

I've never found out why, but I got put in the CSE set for English despite every other subject being in the O'level set. After the first term, my mum went to see the Head and complained. I got moved up and got an A in the O'level. I hated that school and left at 15.

I did go to college later to study A levels and then onto my degree etc.

Original poster
Cumberb · 27/09/2023 14:53

Shock you've used the 'f' word @ManateeFair** when I see circa 1970 born people as now around mid 20s Grin

On a serious note though - I agree - I like your friend did much better academically after I left school than when I was there - also - although I grew up in an affluent, upper middle class area on a personal level my home was chaotic and abusive and I also under achieved in school

OP posts:
BatteryPoweredMammy · 27/09/2023 14:56

Anonymouseposter · 27/09/2023 14:36

A long time ago O levels (GCEs) were number graded rather than ABC etc. 1 was the highest grade and 9 the lowest. 6 and above was a pass. CSEs were graded numerically with 1 being the equivalent of an O level pass. They were said to be a less academic qualification but education was different then and some people went to selective schools after age 11. Pupils with specific learning needs such as dyslexia could find themselves without much of a chance. On the surface it would seem that someone with only one grade 1 CSE was not particularly academic but there could be more to it.

O'levels were never graded by number. They were always A-E and U for unclassified.

They were only called GCE O'levels for a short period before the transition to GCSE's. Maybe they were graded by number when they were GCSE's but definitely not O'Levels.

Original poster
Cumberb · 27/09/2023 15:00

@Alstromeria - they own a business but didn't enter education again after school

OP posts:
DragonflyLady · 27/09/2023 15:00

I did 16+ exams in 1985 as well as standard O Levels. With the 16+ you got either an O Level grade or a CSE grade. So with maths I got a CSE grade 2, but in French (I think that was the other 16+ I did) I got a B.

Tortiemiaw · 27/09/2023 15:06

I did mainly O levels but CSE in maths as I was rubbish at it (got a 3!) and German as my German teacher loathed me. She told my mother I would never pass O level German, so mum paid for the O level as well.
I got 1 in the CSE and an A in the O level. German teacher was furious!

It was the second year of comprehensive education in our area, so the school was very divided into 'grammar' and 'secondary modern' streams

MorvernBlack · 27/09/2023 15:07

It doesn't mean they weren't academic. My Mum's reports were all As, but she failed her exams as her guardian often made her stay home to look after her younger siblings and she missed whole exam days. Her school also sat very few exams and lots of pupils left early.

Re. GCSE/CSE grades, we were a test school for 3 GCSE subjects, 1 or 2yrs before GCSEs became the norm. In those 3 subjects if we got the equivalent of a grade C O'level or above then we were also awarded a grade 1 CSE, so we got two certificates for one exam. If you got below C then you just got 1 certificate - a CSE grade 2 or lower. I ended with 9 O'levels and 3 CSEs despite only sitting 9 O' levels.

Needmorelego · 27/09/2023 15:11

@Cumberb When you say born before 1971 how far back are you thinking? The school leaving age was 15 until 1971 or 72 and those who left then wouldn't have taken any exams.
Which doesn't mean they weren't academic. Many left at 15 even if they were at a Grammar school for financial reasons (ie getting a job to help the family finances).

Needmorelego · 27/09/2023 15:14

@Cumberb and even when the leaving age was raised you could still leave at Easter if you had turned 16 so many did and didn't take the exams.

cardibach · 27/09/2023 15:19

BatteryPoweredMammy · 27/09/2023 14:56

O'levels were never graded by number. They were always A-E and U for unclassified.

They were only called GCE O'levels for a short period before the transition to GCSE's. Maybe they were graded by number when they were GCSE's but definitely not O'Levels.

Show quote history

I’m afraid that’s inaccurate. The GCE stood for General Certificate of Education and was always attached to both O and A levels. O levels were number graded before 1974. GCSEs (the S standing for Secondary) we’re letter graded until a roll out of number grades began in 2017 (but not in Wales where letter grades remain).

To ask if you only have one CSE grade 1
Original poster
Cumberb · 27/09/2023 15:24

@Needmorelego - to be precise - born in the early months of 1968

OP posts:
BatteryPoweredMammy · 27/09/2023 15:29

@cardibach

Your quote says 'most exam boards' without specifying which ones.

My exam board was always A-E for O'levels. My older brothers and sister also took O'levels with this board.

I don't have the original pass slip as that got left at my parents house and lost in the mists of time but I definitely didn't get number grades.

x2boys · 27/09/2023 15:30

Cumberb · 27/09/2023 13:49

.. and the rest all lower grades - you're not that academic?

For reference - I'm talking about someone born prior to September 1971

Maybe they are or maybe they are not ,maybe they went to.a scrap school.and lost interest many people, do.degrees later in life who.didn't achieve much at school.

cardibach · 27/09/2023 15:30

@BatteryPoweredMammy i was answering your comment that O levels were never graded by number. You didn’t say your board only. Not sure why you want to make an argument of it.

ghostyslovesheets · 27/09/2023 15:33

I got a grade 1 for Geography, an O level b for History and C for English Language

failed the rest

BUT I then got 3 more O levels and an A/O level at college, 2 A levels (while unemployed) a 2:1 from a RG Uni and a masters - so no not academic at school but grew into it!

Heatwave2023 · 27/09/2023 15:37

I know several people of that age group with no qualifications who got firsts when studying through the OU.

The education system just wasn't set up to support learning differences then.

Needmorelego · 27/09/2023 15:39

@Cumberb so born in the early months of 1968 they could have left school the Easter of 1984 and only returned to take the actual exams - which I believe you could do but obviously will have missed some of the work.

TheLightProgramme · 27/09/2023 15:40

No i wouldn't totally agree with this.

My parents don't have great school grades. They were from working class backgrounds and attended crap schools. It wasnt considered important for girls in particular to have academic skills. Schools weren't held accountable for how their pupils did in the way they are today, anyone who didn't pass the 11+ was written off.

Both were in fact academically bright. They got their qualifications later on. One ended up with a 2.1 degree in engineering from a red brick university, the other trained as a teacher. With todays accountability in schools, both would have passed a full suite of gcses and a-levels with good grades.

Parky04 · 27/09/2023 15:43

Needmorelego · 27/09/2023 15:11

@Cumberb When you say born before 1971 how far back are you thinking? The school leaving age was 15 until 1971 or 72 and those who left then wouldn't have taken any exams.
Which doesn't mean they weren't academic. Many left at 15 even if they were at a Grammar school for financial reasons (ie getting a job to help the family finances).

Edited

I left school at 15 in 1987.

MereDintofPandiculation · 27/09/2023 15:45

BIWI · 27/09/2023 14:02

I sat my GCEs in 1975, and the grades were A,B,C etc - not numbers based.

My GCEs were numbers based … but the other way round from today’s GCSEs. 1 was the top, 9 was the lowest apart from “unclassified” which they didn’t even bother marking.

BatteryPoweredMammy · 27/09/2023 15:47

@cardibach

I’m afraid that’s inaccurate. The GCE stood for General Certificate of Education and was always attached to both O and A levels. O levels were number graded before 1974. GCSEs (the S standing for Secondary) we’re letter graded until a roll out of number grades began in 2017 (but not in Wales where letter grades remain).

I’m from England and I’m pointing out that your statement about O’levels being number graded before 1974 is factually incorrect. The JMB board awarded grades A-E and U.

No-one ever says GCE O’level they just called them O’levels and A’levels. The distinction was only noted when schools started teaching both CSE and GCE streams which was mainly the preserve of the ‘new’ Comps. The Grammar schools around us only offered O’levels at that point.