What were "good" O level results in 1987?

[Tanaqui]

Does anyone have any data on how O level grades back then correlate to GcSE grades now?

I am aware that it obviously isn't a clear comparison, but maybe just in terms on what % of children got an A, B or C?

Year 11 ds wants to know how well I did, compared to how well he might do!

Feel very old as 87 was the last year of O levels!

Have tried google, but get lots of newspaper dumbing down articles and would rather something a bit more accurate.

Thanks.

I managed 11 As at O'level in 1984, and four As at A-level in 1986. It was total overkill because I had a 2E offer from Oxford, but I was ill and unhappy, and academic work was my comfort zone.

It was definitely unusual to have quite that many As, particularly in non-science subjects - when I started at Oxford we had to have individual internvews in the first week with the college Dean and senior staff, and I remember them commenting (favourably, obv, but slightly surprised) on my unusual hat-trick of A-grades. I would say most of my university contemporaries had AAB, and ABB was not unknown. A few people had let the EE offer go their heads and had really quite crap A-level grades.

We had to do a compulsory 5 - Eng Lit and Lang, Maths, French and RE. Then we had 4 choices - not completely free, there were 'blocks' which were put together after the kids had all stated their preferences to try and give most people the option to get what they wanted. I opted for Music, History, Latin and Physics. By today's standards despite my clean sweeps and cambridge degree I would be an under achiever since I only did 1 science. But I'm fine with that.

DD1 did GCSEs 2 years ago (a year early as is the norm for her school). I would say that while today's maths and physics were much easer (apart from having to do an ISA which for me would have been very difficult - dyspraxia), today's history, music and English are much more difficult. Especially music. RE about the same. French so different that you can't really compare. My Dsis did geography O level in the 80s and reckons that today's geography GCSE is much harder also.

I had (unusually for 1979) a conditional offer from Cambridge, because I wrongly thought it would be less work and stress to take that rather than trying the entrance exam in the autumn of UVI. The offer was AAA + Grade 1 in my Latin S level. I got BBB, Grade 2 in my Latin S level and Grade 1 in my English S level (plus A in my German O level) - ie best results in the exams that didn't matter! Not a coincidence, I think.

I got a nice note from the college saying that in some other years they could have accepted me with those grades but that year they would have to say no. I wish I'd stuck with my UCL offer of 2 Es! I think I might have done better if I'd been a little less stressed in the run up to A levels.

Teacher - at my school it was possible to do no science at all if that was how you felt. My Dsis did not do any sciences (she got an A for O level maths though). She did Eng lit and lang, RE, Maths, Sociology, history and geography and French CSE. She got 5As 2Bs and a CSE grade 1. She was considered not academic (hence only doing 8 sujects not 9) until she was in the middle of her O level years, when it became clear she was looking at a good crop of As - the not academic label derived from being shit at science and French in the early years at secondary school. She ended up with ABC at A level and a 2:1 (in history) from UCL.

My girls' school had a very strong tradition of science - half my year did A-level Physics! A very, very few people only did Biology O-level, but that might be 1 or 2 per year.

Back in the early 70s when I took O levels it was very unusual for anyone to take more than eight subjects and the only subjects everyone had to take were maths and English. Pupils could drop all the sciences. MFL and humanities were not compulsory for anyone wanting to do just the sciences. Most people even in top classes only did seven O levels. Passes were numbered 1 to 6. Some would do a mixture of O levels and CSEs. A CSE grade 1 pass was the equal to an O level pass at grade 6. At A level people almost always chose the arts or sciences.

I got six O levels and one CSE grade 1. I wasn't one of the very brightest but would have been able to progress to an academic A level course. My mother thought A levels and university was a waste of time for girls so I never got the chance.

1986 - most at my non-selective private girls school did 9. I did a couple early so ended up with 11 - 7A, 4B. Then got 4 A's for A level and went to Oxford (and got a Desmond ).

I tend to imagine it as a fairly direct then A = now A* etc.

We had to do maths, 2 English, and French, and then pick 5 from 5 option blocks, which had to include a science (they also offered human biology as supposedly the easiest choice) and a humanity (geog/hist/RE).

I've found this thread gripping and it's turned on it's head my belief that I'm not 'really' clever.

In 1987 I got 11 O levels, 7A's, 3B's and a C. In 89 I got BBB, at A level, and a CC offer and a scholarship to Imperial College to do physics, and an interview at Cambridge.

However, my school had expected better A level results, I panicked and froze in the interview (for which my school gave me zero preparation) and failed to answer despite knowing everything they were asking me, so I didn't get into Cambridge. I went to Imperial feeling a failure (that looks ridiculous written down I know), and switched off. I was a girl alone in Central London amongst 90% boys on the course, from a small girls private boarding school in nowheresville, and I just didn't cope. I got a third, and have always felt a failure ever since.

I think my thinking might be a bit screwed

1981 8 As a C and an E

Does any one else remember when the High Mistress of St Paul's decided more than five GCSEs were a waste of time and her girls could do far more constructive things with their time. It was all over the papers late 80s early 90s I think

I got 3As and 5Bs at O level in 1980 followed by an A,B, and C at A level with an S level in the A grade subject. I always considered myself fairly average in the 90+ O level set in my comp school until I started Uni. All our Alevel results were posted on the student notice board in our dept. and I had the top A level results. It was the first time I was able to acknowledge my own ability. When surrounded by very able children you often don't realise how able you are yourself.

Blimey. I took O levels in 1980/81 and got 11 As. I am neither world famous not very rich or frankly, anything very special.

BTW to answer OP's question, I did the best in my (girls' grammar) school but another girl got 9As and one B and I am sure plenty of people got a good mix of As and Bs.

I went on to get ABB at A level and the other girl got AAB :) We both went to the same redbrick uni.

Hmm just googled the 9As and a B girl and she is head of planning at the heritage lottery fund so that's pretty impressive :)

1986. I know not a single person who got straight As. Not a one. Big standard comp though. I got a mix of 9 A-C, and a D. 8 was standard, I had taken an additional subject. The D was Home Ec. but I did get a grade 1 CSE lol, as I had been dual entered. All of my university offers were EE for A level. I got a first at Uni, but really have done nothing at all.

I was a head of dept in the changeover years. I taught O level and CSE before the change and worked in a school where GCSE was piloted before it was rolled out nationally. I can't remember the stats but I do recall very well the upward surge in achievement after GCSE was introduced, particularly amongst girls.
I also recall the rigorous comparisons that were done to ensure parity of standard with O level grades. We were all well aware that the credibility of the new exam system depended on this.

CSE (Certificate of Secondary Education) was created after the school leaving age was raised to 16 as an alternative exam for 'less academic' pupils. It soon became clear that some of these pupils were capable of passing an O level but were 'trapped' into CSE courses. The parity of a Grade 1 CSE with a grade C O level was rigorously checked but then there came the question how to recognise the achievement of a CSE pupil who exceeded the standard of grade 1 and was worthy of a Grade B or A at O level.
Immediately before the reform I taught a mixed ability class and entered some pupils for both exams. Pupils who were awarded a grade 1 CSE (equivalent to a grade C O level) achieved grades A or B at O level.

Also, in order to achieve a grade 1 CSE a pupil had to work consistently hard over 5 terms.
To achieve a pass at O level an able pupil could save the effort for the last couple of months and teachers could easily predict the precise questions that would be covered - but then the pass rate was capped.

It was also glaringly obvious that boys did better at O level than girls. There were higher expectations for boys, they were directed towards more aspirational careers. It took a lot of work by a lot of teachers to cause the educational establishment to take the needs of girls more seriously back then.

And lo! Girls blossomed after the introduction of GCSE. They gained encouragement and confidence from coursework done in Y10, built on that, began to aim higher and genuinely did achieve higher grades than expected.

It's difficult to get across now how thrilling it was to take a class of average achievers, boys and girls, who would never have had a sniff at a GCE and see them develop over the next two years. Once the barrier of a two-tier exam system and percentage pass rates had been removed it was incredible how many smashed through all previous expectations.
It was not a lowering of standards. It was an increase of opportunity.

It was AT ALL unusual to get into one of the better universities with A level grades of Cs and Ds back then. Now most of them want three or four As at least.

CSE (Certificate of Secondary Education) was created after the school leaving age was raised to 16 as an alternative exam for 'less academic' pupils. It soon became clear that some of these pupils were capable of passing an O level but were 'trapped' into CSE courses. The parity of a Grade 1 CSE with a grade C O level was rigorously checked but then there came the question how to recognise the achievement of a CSE pupil who exceeded the standard of grade 1 and was worthy of a Grade B or A at O level.
Immediately before the reform I taught a mixed ability class and entered some pupils for both exams. Pupils who were awarded a grade 1 CSE (equivalent to a grade C O level) achieved grades A or B at O level.

This was me, exactly. I went to a bog standard secondary modern and was always top stream for everything except maths and science. I took my exams in 1983. I took some subjects in both O' level and CSE, but there were a couple where no-one in our year group was given the option to sit O level so I got my grade 1 CSE but often wondered how I could have done at O' level, had I been allowed to sit it. The subjects where I took both O level and CSE, I got a grade 1 CSE and a B or higher at O level.

I don't recall anyone at my school begin trapped in CSE courses. Some pupils did a mixture and others were entered for both O level and CSE. I think there was a course work element to the CSE, but I may be wrong......it was a long time ago! None of us sat the 11 plus so we were in a proper comprehensive from the start.

In the early days some GCSE were all course work. My nephew took English GCSE in the early 90s and it was 100% course work so no final exam. Not sure about the percentage of course work in other subjects.

I'm sure it was the percentage of course work in the final mark which made some think GCSE were easier than the old O levels.

BeaufortBelle I'm pretty such that the High Mistress you are referring to was previously the head of my old school, and I think it was probably 8 GCSEs that she wanted to move to, as that was the rule at our school. I know she was dismissed because the parents really objected to her.

I was also in the last year of O levels (dh was the first year of GCSEs). I didn't work very hard and didn't get very good grades (I think 1 A, some Bs, a couple of Cs, one CSE 1 and slightly embarrassingly a U). However I still got a AAC offer from Cambridge (plus two STEPS), so As across the board were certainly not a requirement. My insurance offer was BBC from York, I see that would be A*AA now. I messed up my A levels and went to a completely different university, which I also wouldn't have got into now, but only by 40 points, so I think not a huge difference.

My children are at school in Canada and will be judged on their grade point averages, which are taken from every single piece of work they do over the year and has a different sort of stress. dd at 14 is on a 90% average and if she keeps that up will probably be able to go wherever she likes. ds at 16 is closer to an 80% average and will have much less choice (esp if he continues to want to do a science/IT course as they have much higher entry requirements).

Oh and I did my CSE in French a year early because I was in the bottom set, it was very different to the O level course, much more conversational. I took the ordinary end of term exam at the same tie and only got 30% so decided against taking the O level the year later as I thought I might well fail.

At my school you received a prize if you achieved 5As or better (everyone took 8 but you could take 11). About 30% did so, nowadays about 50% at that school get 10 A*s.

In 1972, I got 2 x 2s, 3x3s, 1x6 and failed Maths and German. Retook Maths as a pass was essential and managed a 6 but didn't bother retaking German. Then in 1974, A levels were AAD plus a Merit at S level (of which we were only allowed to take one. I wanted to do History S as well so miffed about that). I was regarded as in the top 10% of my school (but lazy with it). Bristol then wanted 3 Bs to do my course. I declined to apply to Oxbridge as the top colleges like Balliol, which were the place to do PPE, were men only and first admitted girls two years after.

I think the replies about the achievements of the posters on here, show the demographics of the site perfectly .

Up thread it was pointed out that that less than 20% of kids got 5 O Levels with C grades .However, on here it seems that everybody got A grades and ended up at Universities. totally unrepresentative of what the vast majority of children achieved. For the record I got 4 GCSE D grades in 1988 (the first year of GCSE's).

nagy I was with French. It just wasn't offered at O level, presumably because only a small minority of people would have been capable of getting above a C anyway, so a CSE was deemed sufficient to suite everyone. I got a grade 1 but that could have been an A or B at O level for all I know.