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Original poster

GCSEs in the 1980s - how many exams

112 replies

NameInUseAlreadyAgain · 23/05/2022 14:49

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?

OP posts:
Isaidno22 · 27/05/2022 18:24

I sat 8 GCSEs in the 90’s. My Geography GCSE was made up of 25% coursework which was made up of a huge piece of human and physical geography fieldwork.

I teach Geography now. AQA GCSE Geography now has 3 papers. One is Physical, one is Human and the third is made up of Skills, Fieldwork and an Issue Evaluation (should an incinerator be built near Cambridge is this years joy). It moved to exams from coursework to make it fairer (kids were supposed to write up fieldwork as a ‘controlled assessment’ without help but not everyone stuck to the rules).

Snowiscold · 27/05/2022 18:24

Oh, no, sorry, you don’t mean that . You mean the AS papers, partway through the two-year sixth form course. They were got rid of in general.

Changechangychange · 27/05/2022 18:30

1994, and mostly had one paper per subject (separate sciences, so dual award might have been different).

Coursework in English Literature, Geography and Biology. We had a practical assessment in Chemistry but it was just a morning of lab work, not coursework we took away and did at home. Can’t remember about physics.

And we had three exams for languages - the oral, written and listening exam.

JenniferAllisonPhillipaSue · 27/05/2022 18:31

Reading the thread (and being somebody who sat multiple 2.5 hr or 3 hr papers for my O-levels in the mid 1980s) (comprehensive, sat 10 subjects) I am intrigued to know:

How long are GCSE exams these days?

Lonecatwithkitten · 27/05/2022 19:33

The dyslexia question I say GCSEs mainly Oxford and Cambridge in 1989 and my sister sat in 1990 same boards. We are both dyslexic she got extra time, but I wasn't quite 'bad enough' so there were distinct cut offs for extra time.

steppemum · 27/05/2022 19:42

Justlovedogs · 23/05/2022 14:56

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.

yes this exactly.,
Then at some point they decided that too much course work was being done by parents, or that the marking wasn't fair or that it disadvantaged kids without support at home or something liek that and they dropped most of the course work and reintroduced exams.

I did O levels and we did 2.5 or 3 hour papers I think and definitely more than one per subject.

steppemum · 27/05/2022 19:45

Snowiscold · 23/05/2022 15:07

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 did O levels mid 80s and we had a French oral exam. And and aural actually (dictation? listening comprehension? can't remember)

Antarcticant · 27/05/2022 19:47

Yes, we had oral, aural and written exams for both French and German in 1990. There were two levels of the exams and you sat both if you wanted 'access' to the top grades.

steppemum · 27/05/2022 20:06

Snowiscold · 27/05/2022 18:23

I did them - do you mean the S for Special papers taken alongside A level? Graded as pass, merit, distinction? Pretty tough, and not related to the A level content - much more general.

Show quote history

no.
S leveles were on old thing, they went out at smae time as O levels.
You did them alongside your A level, and it was harder than the A level, so you did it in your best subject.
merit, distinction.

AS levels are more modern. Taken at the end of first year sixth form, they are like a half A level, and some people took them in an extra subjetc to earn a few more UCAS points.
They were removed when the A levels were messed around with fairly recently, just before Covid? Maybe a bit longer.

SoupDragon · 27/05/2022 20:39

DS1 did AS levels in 2016, DS2 did not in 2018.

Shimy · 27/05/2022 21:04

1 paper per subject, except the sciences which had Chemistry & Physics practicals making it two but those took place in the lab.

LorenzoVonMatterhorn · 27/05/2022 21:09

JenniferAllisonPhillipaSue · 27/05/2022 18:31

Reading the thread (and being somebody who sat multiple 2.5 hr or 3 hr papers for my O-levels in the mid 1980s) (comprehensive, sat 10 subjects) I am intrigued to know:

How long are GCSE exams these days?

it depends on the subject and the paper. In my subject we have three papers. One is 1h50mins and two are 50 mins each.

Original poster
NameInUseAlreadyAgain · 27/05/2022 21:20

DS LONGEST exam was 2 hours being RS paper 1. Shortest are RS papers 2 and 3 being 1 hour each

i have my Geog paper from 1989 and was 2.5 hours

OP posts:
Original poster
NameInUseAlreadyAgain · 27/05/2022 21:20

most are 1.5 hours or 1.75 hours

OP posts:
Isaidno22 · 27/05/2022 21:49

MrsAvocet · 23/05/2022 15:17

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.

As they’ve cut some of the course content due to the lockdowns, some exams are shorter as they will be answering less questions. They’ve kept to the same exam timetable to give the kids a chance to revise in between exams,

Legoninjago1 · 28/05/2022 15:06

I took mine in 1991 and I did 9. Everyone did 8 or 9.

Legoninjago1 · 28/05/2022 15:08

Oh sorry - read the OP properly now Blush

francesfrankenfurter · 28/05/2022 15:09

No coursework at all. Three papers for languages, two for maths, two for English, one for history. Varied depending on the subject and probably the exam board.

francesfrankenfurter · 28/05/2022 15:10

NameInUseAlreadyAgain · 27/05/2022 21:20

most are 1.5 hours or 1.75 hours

They used to be much longer. So it makes sense there would be more papers now.

DahliaMacNamara · 28/05/2022 15:19

I was going to answer then remembered that oops, it was O levels back in my day. Most subjects had two papers, plus oral and dictation for languages, and they tended to be 2 or 2.5 hours long. There was a 3 hour paper in English language. I don't know about this year, but DD's GCSE exams 3 years ago probably had a similar amount of time sitting in exam halls, but spilt up differently, to the olde worlde exams I sat back in the day.
O levels had a lot more in the way of essay writing than GCSEs now.

PaddingtonBearStareAgain · 28/05/2022 15:22

MirandaWest · 23/05/2022 15:02

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

Must have depended on exam board. My Dsis did hers then and definitely had some exams for Eng lang and lit.

PaddingtonBearStareAgain · 28/05/2022 15:23

NameInUseAlreadyAgain · 27/05/2022 21:20

most are 1.5 hours or 1.75 hours

They are shorter than they were. I remember 2.5 exams.

riesenrad · 28/05/2022 19:25

Gosh it's quite difficult to remember and we had a lot of coursework.

Music definitely only one written exam, but a performance exam as well.
Geography - not sure - maybe one?
History - again not sure, maybe one. Both were 50% coursework
Maths was 3 - calculator, non-calculator and a mental arithmetic test in class
English lit was all coursework
English lang I can't remember, but 50% coursework
German we had four elements for speaking, listening, writing and reading but I cant remember if the non-speaking bits were together
Chemistry I am guessing two as it was all exam

OldTinHat · 28/05/2022 19:52

Last year of O levels here.

No coursework was taken into account. A lot of exams had two or three papers to sit. French, English, maths, science all had multiple exams that combined to one result. So did most subjects actually.

Original poster
NameInUseAlreadyAgain · 28/05/2022 22:34

I did 9 GCSEs and had c18 exams. DS is doing 10 GCSEs and has 22. Very similar tho

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