Were there GCSE exams in 1987?

[redskyAtNigh]

DH is adamant that his brother was in the first year to sit GCSE and sat exams in 1987. I "know" this to be untrue as I sat GCSEs in 1988, and we were much heralded as the first year to take them, however DH is equally sure that his brother was the first year.

Searching online has revealed a suggestion that there "might" have been earlier GCSE pilots, but that someone taking public exams in 1987 would have sat CSE or O Level.

Is there anyone else that took GCSE exams in 1987, or remembers them happening?

I did my o levels in 83 and there was talk of some pilot exams for a new type of exam coming in soon.

Yes 1987 was the first year

My uncle is from Barnsley and he says he was in a GCSE pilot in the early 80s. But they called them O’levels/CSEs on their certificates (depending on their grades) so they had the ‘right’ qualifications for their age.

I did O levels in 1987. A couple were called 16+ which was akin to GCSEs ie all abilities take the exam, not O level or CSE

For many years I could say I did O levels but I’ve found in more recent years if I’m talking to younger people casually I refer to them as GCSEs because they may well not have heard of O levels.

It was 1988

GCSEs came out in 1988. I sat my exams in 1987 - it was a transition called ‘16+’ and I got a mixture of O levels and CSEs depending on the subject.

I sat a couple of pilot GCSEs in 1986…

Definitely 1988. That was the first year for GCSEs and I was then among the first to take A levels following GCSEs (a huge gap!) in 1990.
DH is a year older than me. Failed O levels in 1987, retook as GCSEs in 1988.

I sat the first gcse exam in 1986 it was in history and we called it the spin off to the new gcse exams. If my memory serves me correct it was only available in history. All other subjects were still cse or O levels. Everyone said it was a lot easier than an O level. I got a B in it and I hardly revised!

Love this thread! All the mid 50 women in the same “room”!

I did my O levels in 1985 in Suffolk and always believed I was in the last year to do them - but reading other posts it looks like I was wrong!

It was a huge gap. In our first A-level French lesson, we had an old O-level paper to review (as most of us had done no French between early June and September,) and there were some things (like the subjunctive) simply not covered at GCSE.

1988 was the first year for GCSEs. I have a friend who is a few years younger than me and she said that when she did her exams in 1988,there was much fanfare about them being the first year to do them.

I sat O levels in 1987 and it was the last year in my school

I was the last year to do GCE O levels in the Summer of 1987, if you failed you then had to resit a GCSE.

AO was OLevel for 'more mature students' most people took them in year 1 of A levels if they didn't already have an OLevel in the subject.

I was teaching in the 80s. Started training for GCSEs in 1985, starting teaching them in 1986, so first exams in 1988.

I did mine in 89 and we were the second year to take them, though I did do maths a year earlier so yes 88 was the first year! Weirdly my daughter was the 2nd year to do the new grading of GCSEs and given she’s 30 years younger than me that means the letter grading lasted 30 years 🤓

Are you sure he wasn’t part of a pilot or soft launch?

I did French and German for A level. Had to go from GCSE basics to reading literature and doing translation both ways etc. We spent the first year getting up to O level standard before we could even get started!

My DSis took Olevels in Summer 1986. Those going into what was then yr4 (10)in September 1986 may have started on gcse courses then.

I did a mixture of both o levels and GCSEs in 87.

My poor brother was studying for O Levels in his fourth year in 1986/87. When he went into the fifth year it was announced he'd be sitting GCSEs instead for Summer 1988. It caused a huge outcry.

The exam certificates will say which exams he took, no arguments then about trials etc