Anyone remember 16+ exams in the 1980s?

[Innisfree]

I was talking to my DD last night about o levels and GCSEs. I did o levels, in 1987, which I think was the last year. But in maths I remember doing a different exam called 16+ which gave me an o level at Grade C. I’d missed a few months of school due to glandular fever and was never fully able to catch up in maths. I suspect I was a borderline candidate as a result. I think this must be why my school suggested this alternative exam. Can’t find out much about it online. Does anyone else remember 16+?

I did 16+ in chemistry in 1979 (Joint Matriculation Board). You got a CSE grade, and if it was grade 1 (treated as equivalent to GCE O-Level pass) you also got a GCE O-Level grade. I got CSE grade 1 and GCE grade A, so officially I have two O-Levels from the same exams.

Cse was the alternative to O levels.

I did 16+ English (all coursework I think) and O Level English as we were part of a trial

It was the prototype trial for GCSE exams, merging O levels and CSEs. I was teaching in a school that was part of the trials. So C and above was the equivalent of an O level pass.

Yep I did 2! They were the O level/CSE to GCSE trail. Successful.

I took the last year of O levels/CSE's and 16+ - I think I did a 16+ for one of my exams and O levels for the rest in 1987. My sister did hers in 1988 and did GCSEs- they were the first year (I think- I very old now so trying to remember!)

I did 16+ biology in 1977, so I've got the cse grade 1 and an o-level A as well. Annoyingly it was a different board from the other O levels so it was on a different certificate.

I don't think I was very impressed by it.

16+ only started in the 1980s in the run up to GCSEs which began in 1986 for exams in 1988. You got an O level certificate if you got a C and a CSE certificate if it was lower. So grade 1 CSE became an O level C. But everyone sat just one (ie the same) exam, which hadn't been the case before.
This morphed into the A to E grading for GCSE.

I remember O levels and CSEs but no recollection of anything else.

1988 was indeed the first year of the GCSE 😄

Yep. I took it for geography in 1982, everything else was either CSE or O level (although I seem to have taken both CSE and O level for French).

Exam year 1983 here and I have no recollection of the 16+.
Just did O levels..

Yes, we were told it was a trial for a new upcoming exam. I took English Lanuage and Art, think there was a third one but I can't remember. I have an O level and a CSE for each exam.

No, there were two lots of 16+, one in the late 70s. My much older sister coincidentally sat one too.

My school did mostly 16+. I think I took 7 with then a couple of add on O levels.

You got 2 certificates, one with your o level grade and one with cse grade, which was 1 if you got a c or above in o'level

Wasn't the 16+ CSEs?
I took O level physics in 1975 and achieved a D, and CSE physics and achieved a grade 1, which goes to show that a grade 1 isn't the same as a C at O level (well not for physics)

Wasn't the 16+ CSEs?

No, they were trials for a single system, the precursor for GCSEs as has already been explained on this thread. They resulted in being awarded a cse certificate, plus an o level if high enough rather than having their own separate set of grades which would have been meaningless to employers.

Many people won't have done any - you were probably a bit before they started and I think they weren't done in all areas and subjects. The odd one I did in 1977 was a different board to the rest of my o levels.

I did 16+ English language, all continuous assessment. I hadn't realised until the results came out that we got both the O-level and the CSE. When asked for certificates to prove I have English and maths, I've usually handed over the CSE grade 1 and my maths (taken a year early), and left the certificate with everything else on at home!

There were A/O levels taken at the end of the 1st year in Sith form?

Yes, some people did one of those - iirc they were the slightly less 'vanilla' subjects eg geology and 'classical civilization'.

I did a 16+ in Chemistry in 1983! Think I just about scraped an O Level C equivalent. Chemistry was the one class where I just pissed about with everyone else 😂 Omg that poor teacher, we must have been so annoying.

My DS is did 16+ maths in 1986 - a trial paper for GCSEs.
I'd done my O levels 2 years earlier and there was no mention of 16+.

I did AO maths between O and A level - pre-curser to AS levels I think.

I did AO maths in 5th year, having done the maths O level at the end of 4th year.

I did geology O level in Lower 6th and the A level in Upper Sixth. You could do the same for economics at my school.

Just to through into the mix, I did o levels in 1984. Was so bad at maths that I did a retake at 6th form college alongside my first year A levels. It was CEE maths (certificate of extended education). I was told my grade 2 (?) was equivalent to o level grade C iirc. It was a useful exam because we did coursework and modules in statistics and in money management as well as numeracy which all made a lot more sense to my brain.

n.b throw not through. I was supposed to be good at English 🥴

I did a 16+ in classical studies, got an A and also a CSE grade 1

I took 16plus maths in 1986 as my school was part of a trial.

I was in second set but ok at maths. I got an ungraded and so did every other child in my class.

My DM went nuts and insisted any resits be actual 0 levels. I resat and got a B which was what I'd been expected to get.

Looking back I can't believe there wasn't some sort of investigation into what went wrong!