GCSEs

i hope they're getting easier i still need to do my maths and science gcse's again if i ever want to become a qualified teacher and teach thousands of ungrateful children. second thoughts... :lol: wish i had done them ealier or actually paid attention at the time. they told me at college i'd need em for uni. i ignored them and i didn't need them. not stickin two fingers up at them at college now tho coz they were right and ow ill have to do them while i work. the joy! in the future i will listen. :D
 
Mia my mum took her GCSE Maths, Science and English in order to pass her teaching qualifications at 50 years of age, so if she can do it, anyone can ;)
 
Beckiboo said:
Mia my mum took her GCSE Maths, Science and English in order to pass her teaching qualifications at 50 years of age, so if she can do it, anyone can ;)
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hope so. :D think i'll be more inclined to try my best this time seen as i know what im working towards. well, well done your mum and hopefully you will be saying the same to me next summer. :D
 
Just a quickie question for our friends across the pond:

Do you folks still have the GCE system? When I did my O Levels and A Levels in '92 and '93, respectively they were GCE and not GCSE? By the way is it still offered through London, Cambridge and Oxford these days? Just curious.
 
LagunaBeachCA said:
Just a quickie question for our friends across the pond:

Do you folks still have the GCE system? When I did my O Levels and A Levels in '92 and '93, respectively they were GCE and not GCSE? By the way is it still offered through London, Cambridge and Oxford these days? Just curious.
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The 2 systems were merged some years back- instead of taking one exam or the other you now take the same exam, but you are entered for the top or lower papers, which determine which grades you can get.

- The matriculation boards are still the same, although some have now merged and have different names.
 
All kids nowadays are thick

and the world's gone to the dogs. no respect, dumbed down, get em in the army innit
 
teahcing methods have changed. the material for gcse is still the same, the delivery of it is different. i believe the goal posts have also changed for sertain subjects, the overall mark for an A grade gcse in science is now 50%, whereas i believe it was 70% 10 years ago.
 
Scoobie said:
The 2 systems were merged some years back- instead of taking one exam or the other you now take the same exam, but you are entered for the top or lower papers, which determine which grades you can get.
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Scoobs, thanks for the response. BTW, what do you mean by top or lower papers? Can you (or anyone else) elaborate, please? Thanks.
 
there are 3 levels of paper, higher tier, intermediate and finally foundation.

being entered for higher means you will get, on satisfactory performance in both coursework (essays and practical work) and examination aspects of the course you are guarenteed a grade a*- c, below this you get a U.

intermediate = b-e
foundation = c=g

a grade C is equilvelent to O-level.
 
alex311279 said:
there are 3 levels of paper, higher tier, intermediate and finally foundation.

being entered for higher means you will get, on satisfactory performance in both coursework (essays and practical work) and examination aspects of the course you are guarenteed a grade a*- c, below this you get a U.

intermediate = b-e
foundation = c=g

a grade C is equilvelent to O-level.
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So who selects the category that the student participates in? Is it the local school teachers?
 
yes, in most subjects there is some streaming of ability this will to some extent dictate what level the pupil is entered at. within non-streamed subjects teachers are aware of the pupils abilities and enter them for the correct paper.
 
alex311279 said:
yes, in most subjects there is some streaming of ability this will to some extent dictate what level the pupil is entered at. within non-streamed subjects teachers are aware of the pupils abilities and enter them for the correct paper.
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What is a streamed subject, and a non-streamed subject? Do y'all think the system works fairly?
 
streaming is totally up to the school. science is a subject which is usully streamed in most schools to some extent. for example a year group of 300 kids is split into 10 tutor/form/registration classes of 30.

these classes will contain 30 kids across the ability range. for some subjects like art these 30 kids will stay together. for academic subjects they may be split up to go with kids from other tutor groups of equilvelent academic ability. this is streaming, the top stream has the best, etc, etc.

some schools will only take out the top and bottom sets and then have the middle group taugh as mixed ability.

I have taught in schools which do both and i am undecided on what is best really. with regards to examination i think tiering is a good idea. it allows a totally inclusive school - able to take all kids; unlike the old grammar school system, which saw the best kids go to grammar schools and the rest go to technical colleges or secondary moderns at 11. the tiered system of exams allows you to extensively examine that tier, so instead of one paper taken by all children that has to define every grade a-g, it allows us to examine smaller bands, so a kid will take a 30 question exam which decided whether he is worth grade a,b or c, as opposed to 30 questions which define grades a-g for example.
 
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