All 9s at GCSE….

[CurlewKate]

Less than 1.5% of candidates get all 9s at GCSE. I wonder why so many of them seem to be Mumsnetter’s children! 🤣

I can confidently say my child won’t be one of those statistics…be lucky if she passes two. Her school pass rate for last year was 13% that achieved 5 or more GCSEs.

I have tutored both IGCSE and GCSE maths. My IGCSE students were all higher level so I can't speak for foundation. In my experience I don't think they are 2 grades apart - no way!

The old (pre Gove) GCSEs were easier than IGCSE but this changed with the new 1-9 grade GCSE
They are different but I wouldn't say particularly easier or harder at the top grades.

To be honest, whatever iGCSEs were when you taught them 10 or 15 years ago, surely you can see even GCSEs have changed in that time?

Funny how none of the Universities seem to care if all of the privately educated kids getting into Oxbridge are all dunderheads who should only have got 7s...You'd think there would be uproar.

46% of the results at my DC’s school in 2024 were grade 9. 34 pupils got 10 grade 9’s or more. Basically, a grade 9 at his school isn’t very special…but at the secondary my brother is a teacher at, there are hardly any grade 9’s achieved. One student getting all 9’s is unheard of. Mumsnet is clearly attracting a certain demographic of parent.

Eh? I examine them now. State schools have dropped the IGCSEs but plenty of places still offer them. They're international. Countries all over the world offer them.

Will be doing the training ready for the summer exams in 3 weeks.

Sorry, I was going on this post.

I had heard the opposite and that there is a broader curriculum for iGCSEs which is why other countries are adopting them more frequently - they don't like how simple ours were as GCSEs and wanted deeper understanding.

Is there any research into whether kids doing iGCSE's do worse at A Level as a result of this lack?

Grade 7 = a dunderhead? Nice.

Exam boundaries don't allow for more - it's not about kids being brighter etc. If everyone got the highest marks, exam centres (not schools) would just change the grade boundaries. Don't push kids necessarily to get these grades. It's not worth it, indicative or meaningful. Just try their best, and make sure they have good activities going on outside of school too.

I am a teacher secondary for 21 years. This making my blood boil. I worked in a inner city London school all these years. There were options for kids that were not academically orientated and Gove as "Education Secretary" took them away. Had he ever taught? Been a teacher in a deprived area of the London. They took away coursework where students could show there skills not taking an end of year exam, we had foundation NVQ's and life skills classes that students could take on the college that did not fit in the "genre" of sitting GSCE's. Absolute disgrace to let down students that could not do a "Linear Exam" on Maths , English or Science, Grade 9's. Please! We need another educational pathway that reaches all young people . This model is F**cked. How many young student have I met that have been graded by a number. Not even a 5 give up. You wonder why there is so much getting out of education. How judged are you ? You are a grade 4 or a grade 9 but you can fix an electrical socket in a minute. Wonderful young people but they have told me I am nothing you don't know what it is like where I live. You need to carry knives to protect yourselves. Get real.

I have teach both GCSE & IGCSE in my subject and continue to examine both.

The syllabus has changed but IGCSE continues to be quite a lot easier than GCSE. A GCSE 7 = an IGCSE 9.

I couldn't agree with you more. Michael Gove has damaged the lives of so many young people. All to make himself a political name. Didn't give a shit about the damage he was doing.

The British GCSE in my subject asks questions that are harder than those on the international A Level (yes, there is such a thing, although it isn't anywhere near as popular as the IGCSE). It's a ludicrous system.

Our school did this too but so many left and dropped out after, We need subjects like building, hairdressing,etc, Before the changes I used to take the students in Year 10 and 11 to the local college that did these. They got certificates and in work experience I used to go down to companies and support the students and many got part time jobs there. In the last three years this has drastically changed. You are judged on an exam at the end of 11 years of education. Fail you are not good. It is absolutely absurd. Archaic and out of touch You wonder why so many young people feel like failures. I have seen it. Don't teach them something practical that they can be really good at but can't sit down for two and half hours to write and essay on socioeconomics according to Mr Birling in an Inspector Calls? Don't think so?

In fact iGCSE science and History have a lot more content and are far more difficult.
History AQA GCSE is SO easy compared to iGCSE !

It's an easier transition from iGCSE to A Level than from GCSE because GCSEs don't cover as much material nor go into as much depth as iGCSEs

The old (pre Gove) GCSEs were easier than IGCSE but this changed with the new 1-9 grade GCSE

The top maths sets at DD's school used to sit maths iGCSE in the January of year 11. We were told that it was more rigorous than the GCSE at the time, but I wasn't sure, so thank you for confirming this.

What about the kids that are not academic? How do you support them.?

@CurlewKate Wales and Scotland are excluded in that stat.

Goodness that is impressive. Do you know what degree subject he chose (just curious what path such good grades he chose). My son got a few nines, a couple of eights and one seven, I was very proud 😊

I'm an examiner too... and this is the first time I've heard this claim. 😵‍💫 Can you back this up please? Thanks.

According to...?

@MiserableMrsMopp
I think you’ve got it the wrong way round.

Just have a look at History….

No it isn't. That's utterly ridiculous. It would be acceptable for the poster to state that in her opinion and experience IGCSEs appear to be easier than GCSEs. But to state, as though it is fact, that a 9 at IGCSE = a 7 at GCSE is utter nonsense.

Oh here we go. Is this another thinly disguised “private school kids are actually more stupid than state school kids” thread?

FWIW, DS’s school did a mixture of IGCSEs and GCSEs.

DS got 10 9s, as did about 15 other boys.

He then went on to get 4A* at A level. As did maybe 9-12 others in his year. And yes, they were “proper” A levels, just the same as all the state schools sit.

But yes, sure, private schools pick IGCSEs because they are easier, because they wouldn’t get such good results otherwise. If that were really the case, then the private schools wouldn’t be getting the good A level results that they do, would they.

Everything I have read points to IGCSEs being either more challenging or the same as GCSEs, and certainly most UK universities see them as being equivalent to GCSEs.

This poster is right. My DC are at a school where 83% of GCSE entries last year achieved a 9 grade. Which is what you’d expect for an academically selective school, with plenty of resources and motivated parents and pupils. In that environment, all 9s isn’t unusual. It’s just that it’s quite an unusual environment to start off with!