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 believe it was school dependent. The school got to choose which year it could change.

I was in the last year to take o-level in my school in 1986.
The 1987 year took GCSEs.
However, I did not get the grade I wanted in French, so when I was doing my a-levels in 1987, even though the school had transferred to GCSEs, I was allowed to retake the o-level exam in French. (I did get the grade I wanted. Huzzah.)

Until I took my PhD I had the exact same grades as Robert Powell was falsely claiming he had in the opening credits of the comedy series The Detectives with Jasper Carrott.

7 x A-grade O-levels, 1x B-grade O-level, 2x C-grade O-level
3x A-grade A-level
1st Hons Degree in Mathematics
PhD Mathematics

As you can imagine, it was a great disappointment to me when I successfully gained my PhD and messed it all up.

No 1987 was the last year before them. That was my exam year.

How did that work?
GCSEs cover 2 years.
My sister was 4th year 86-87 which was the first year to start working towards the GCSEs.
A lot of it was coursework so any coursework done in the academic year 86-87 counted towards the final GCSE grade.
5th year was 87-88 with the final exams in summer 88.
If he was 4th year in 86-87 he definitely wouldn't have been doing the o-level syllabus. It no longer existed.

Regrettably I suspect a screw-up on the part of the school...

Massive screw up !

I sat o levels and gcse exams in 1986.

Yes sorry, you're right. I've just asked him and he did those in the first year of sixth form.

This happened to the kids in lockdown who were awarded fantastic GCSE grades having only learnt half the syllabus (if that) but then had to catch up on what they should have learnt before they could engage with the A level syllabus.

1988 was the first year. I was the second in 89

I did GCSEs in 1987. Ours was a pilot school and I imagine there would have been other pilot schools.

The first gcse's were sat in 1988, teaching for them began in 1986. The difference being that, gcse's also incorporated coursework towards the final mark. No schools were sitting gcse's before that time as the students would not have been taught the new curriculum to do so. As much as your dh thinks he is right, he isn't...

As much as your dh thinks he is right, he isn't...

...unless he was in a pilot area.

No, I was last year O Level in 87. However, I did 16Plus in French...and possibly something else...so got both a CSE Grade and an O Level grade on certificates. This was probably the precursor to GCSE.

Wow, thank you so much for all the input and all the memories!

To summarise the information ... In England it sounds as though pilots of GCSE started from as early as 1985 (exam date) and may have been called 16+ rather than GCSE.

It seems likely that DH's school was involved in a GCSE pilot to sit exams in 1987, and, because everyone in the relevant year group in their school was in the pilot, they obviously understood what they were told which was they were the first year in their school (this addition mine) to take GCSE. However at this point, most of the country was still taking O Level/CSE.

I took GCSEs in 1988, and this was the first year that they were nationally available and O Level and CSE were not.

This may be a rare Mumsnet occurrence of both DH and I being right :)

Yes as soon as I read 16 plus it came back to me! I sat the 16 plus in 1986 for history. As history was the only exam on offer and they often called it the spin off!

I took an early 16+ exam in Chemistry in 1979, other exams available were GCEs (O levels) or CSEs. If you did well enough to get an O level grade you were also given a CSE grade 1 certificate . I took 2 AO levels in year 1 of sixth form so ended up with 11 O Levels and that 1 x CSE certificate duplicating my O level Chemistry grade 🤣

@redskyAtNigh it was 1983 that we took the trial GCSE. I left the following year after A levels. They were definitely called ‘trial GCSE’.

I was the 2nd year to take them in 1989. So yes, 1988 was the first year

I sat my Olevels in 1987 but for combined science it was done in the style of a GCSE , ie lots coursework, as a trial but we got the Olevel grade.
We were the last year (1987) to sit Olevels as far as im aware. It mived to GCSEs the following year.
Is he confusing GCSEs with CSEs ??
Up to 1987 you could do O levels which were harder or CSEs which were easier. ( I did CSE maths but took Olevels in other subjects)

I was born in 1972 and we were the 2nd year to take GCSE'S