GCSEs in the 1980s - how many exams

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As my DS is currently sitting his exams I was trying to remember how many exams per subject I had.

I took them in 1989 and I certainly don't remember having three geography papers.

I know we had some coursework in Geography and Music but can't remember if we had any in other subjects?

I’m fairly sure it was one per subject.

My GCSE year was the first year they changed from O Levels/CSEs. The whole premise, as I recall, was to include coursework as part of the assessment process and remove the reliance on an exam as the only work that counted towards the final mark. It was supposed to make things fairer for those students that got exam fright or just weren't very good at exams.
I only remember one exam for history (didn't do geography) and most subjects, I think? Maybe two English (literature and language)? A practical and theory for my two sciences? How on earth do you end up with three geography papers? Mind. Blown.

Think it depended oN streaming- I think I did one maths exam but with the knowledge I would only ever be able to get a C. In English I think I did three? along the lines of reading, writing, comprehension sort of thing but could get A

Oh, languages had three - oral, aural and written.

I think two for geography - human and physical, two for English - Language and Lit, def at least two for maths, three for science even though it was double award so 2 grades not 3, one for media studies, three for French (FFS still can't speak a word of it but somehow managed a B), I think two for RE, one on the Bible and one on other stuff. Think IT was all coursework.

I did O'levels and I think most subjects just had 1 or 2 papers.

There was no or very little coursework as pretty much everything was exam based.

I was at a selective grammar school and we took 8 subjects. No one took more than 8, not even the very intelligent top pupils as the workload for 8 was enough.

Only the cleverest got grade As. All As was extremely rare ie perhaps 2 or 3 pupils in 100 achieving that type of result.

Everyone at the grammar schools took O'levels.

CSEs were available at other schools so less academic children had suitable courses and good qualifications that were accessible to them.

I really don't know what's happened to exams since then. The number of subjects, exams and grades seems ridiculous.

I did GCSEs in 1992. English language and literature were 100% coursework. There was maths coursework. Composing and performing for Music. Orals for languages.

Can’t remember whether History had any coursework or not. Or Sciences. And I can’t remember about RE

I took GCSE's in 1990. English was 100% coursework. I think all the other subjects was one exam per subject. I did Biology, Chemistry, history, geography, Englishx2 maths, music, statistics

The question was for GCSE’s in the 80’s, not the 90’s.

I was the first year for gcses. Most of mine was coursework. I did 2 maths papers though and I remember doing a French oral exam. I don't think I had any other exams.

I did O levels in the ‘80s, and there was no coursework at all. Except art had a portfolio as well. And biology had a small practical element. Geography had two papers -one for physical geography and the other for the other stuff. Languages all had a translation element, both from and to the language. French had dictation. German had a story read out to us, on which we had to answer questions. All had a comprehension element and a story to write. No spoken element to either. Probably at least two papers each, maybe three.

I was the first year to sit GCSEs in 1988. I received nine grade A-C, (the normal amount at our school) which would have been viewed as 9 O-levels. Most subjects had more than one paper but remember there were different exam boards.

GCSEs were first sat in 1988 so people's experience in the early 90s isn't going to be any different. Most people who sat exams in the 1980s would still have been on the O level/CSE system.

As the first GCSE exam sitting was 1988 I'd say the early 90's is relevant to the OP's question.

I did O levels in 1982 and most subjects had only one or 2 papers but they were longer -2.5 or 3 hours I think. There was no coursework in any of my subjects, and like a PP I did 8 subjects which was the maximum allowed. Oh and I dId RE CSE as a lunchtime club thing and got a grade 1 which was supposed to be equivalent to a grade C O level, then I did 2 more O levels alongside my A levels in lower 6th so I suppose technically I have 11. Not that anyone cares nowadays! My exams didn't start until after May half term and were over in about 3 weeks I think. A levels much the same though I think every subject had 2 3 hour papers for A level.

My youngest DS is doing his GCSEs currently and I agree there are a ridiculous number of papers, some of which are very short. I may be misremembering but I don't recall my two older children's exams being as protracted, and it's only a few years ago. DS is only doing 9 subjects whereas his siblings did 10 or 11( the school has cut back to 9 since the syllabi changed) but he has at least one exam almost every day from May 17th to June 23rd, barring the half term of course. Quite a lot of subjects seem to have multiple but short papers. I'm sure they could be compacted. Then he has 6th form induction days the week after, so in effect he only finishes school 10 days before the end of the normal term. I am sure my elder children had longer holidays after their exams than this.

There was lots of coursework in the early years of GCSE's. I think English might have been 100% coursework. I can't remember if it was science subjects but there was definitely a multiple choice and a non multiple choice paper and possibly a calculator and non calculator paper for Maths. Geography wasn't nearly as broad a subject back then.

I definitely sat an English paper. None of mine were 100% coursework but I'm therefore guessing we had maybe 1 or 2 per subject as exams?

I know, three Geography and three RS exams - poor DS!

1989 was second year to sit the GCSEs. They were brought in 1988.

I did o levels in the 80s. There were 3 for each language and two for English lit. No coursework at all. I can't remember much else.

I did mine in 1995, we definitely more than one paper for most subjects.

I'm really sad and a bit worried that GCSEs are all assessed through exams now. Coursework definitely levels the playing field for those for whom exams will never truly reflect their ability. It just makes sense to have a mix. I did GCSEs and A Levels in the early 90s. Both were a mix of exams and coursework. As were both my degrees. And any post qualification courses I've taken. Why do we subject our poor kids to just one super-stressful way of accessing them which doesn't actually reflect the skills they'll need in most real life jobs?

I took the first GCSEs in 1988. I can't remember in detail, but i am sure you are right that there were not 3 exams per subject, except maybe languages. There were coursework elements for almost every subject. Both my English Lang and English Lit were purely coursework, so no final exams at all for those two! I think it is a great shame that coursework has almost entirely gone.

I guess I should have titled it "GCSEs from 1988 onwards" but I kinda assumed if you sat O'levels then you wouldn't have commented on it.

I know we did some coursework in 1989 but not 100%. I remember doing Geography coursework but then I sat an exam too but I can't remember if was one or two exams. It certainly wasn't three.

into the garage this weekend to dig out my box of rubbish to see if anything i've saved from schooldays is anything to do with GCSEs! Will update if I find anything.

My exam board was mostly MEG

English Lit and Lang were 100% coursework, as were geography and humanities

Maths, chemistry, physics and biology had 2 each

French and German had oral, comprehension (listening) and 1 written paper each so 10 traditional exams in total