[Chuck Norris]

(Original post by Aldridge)
Are you referring to me?

Sure, why not?

[Tom26070]

[Sapien]

(Original post by Chuck Norris)
You're an utter joke

Chuck Norris has spoken. End of thread!

[jaime1986]

So, how many of you that are saying you can walk into GCSE maths and gain an A* got all level 3s at the end of KS2?

[Tainninho]

(Original post by JOR2010)
I did a Spanish GCSE Higher Reading as a laugh (never studied Spanish), and got a comfortable A*! :')

well at least that isn't complete BS -.-

I think it depends on the subject really - some subjects require more specific knowledge (e.g. geography) whereas some is more common sense, like english language. Now not being cocky but I can walk into an english language exam and get an A or an A*, not because it's hilariously easy but because I have decent exam technique. I assume that the difference between GCSE and A level is that in a levels, a lot more subject knowledge understanding is required than what we're doing now.


Just bear in mind that not everyone in the world are boffins like on here the exam boards need a spread of grades, they can't just make it harder and have 75% of the country get Ds and Es

[Joeyboy 12]

They do put tonnes of unnecessary pressure on students. It seems like the whole of secondary school is just about passing these one off exams. But you're wrong in saying they're easy, they're just easier than A-levels.

[JOR2010]

(Original post by TurboCretin)
No, that is a pisstake. You cannot walk into a language exam for a language you don't know and get an A*. It doesn't matter how intelligent you are, if you don't know it you don't know it.

I think some GCSEs could stand to be made a little harder, such as maths perhaps, but the above just loses you all credibility.

I did a Spanish GCSE past Higher Reading Paper and got an A*. I've never studied Spanish, nor am I Spanish, or have Spanish relatives.

[JOR2010]

(Original post by Tainninho)
well at least that isn't complete BS -.-

I think it depends on the subject really - some subjects require more specific knowledge (e.g. geography) whereas some is more common sense, like english language. Now not being cocky but I can walk into an english language exam and get an A or an A*, not because it's hilariously easy but because I have decent exam technique. I assume that the difference between GCSE and A level is that in a levels, a lot more subject knowledge understanding is required than what we're doing now.


Just bear in mind that not everyone in the world are boffins like on here the exam boards need a spread of grades, they can't just make it harder and have 75% of the country get Ds and Es

I assure you it's true! (Saying that, I am Italian, I just took informed guesses.)

[Dominic101]

(Original post by JOR2010)
I assure you it's true! (Saying that, I am Italian, I just took informed guesses.)

You should've said that. That's like me saying I got an A* in English Language when I had only studied English Lit.

[laura130490]

I took my GCSEs about 6 years ago, certain GCSEs were pretty easy back then, like R.E, but you never could have gone into an exam with 0 revision and got an A*. Not unless you were a genuis who had memorised all their lessons. If people really are going to exams with no preparation and revision and coming out with A*s in things like science, maths and english then the system does need to be looked at.

[FL00DY]

(Original post by JOR2010)
I assure you it's true! (Saying that, I am Italian, I just took informed guesses.)

Well then for us mere mortals who are not Italian.......we might not be able to walk into the exam and 'take informed guesses'...

[InadequateJusticex]

(Original post by JOR2010)
I assure you it's true! (Saying that, I am Italian, I just took informed guesses.)

Well duh, no wonder you got an A*. As far as I know some words are similar (but not totally the same) so obviously your informed guesses will be a lot more accurate than someone who's not Italian.

[TurboCretin]

(Original post by JOR2010)
I did a Spanish GCSE past Higher Reading Paper and got an A*. I've never studied Spanish, nor am I Spanish, or have Spanish relatives.

Spanish comprehension is easy for Italian speakers. Good luck in the oral.

[JOR2010]

(Original post by Dominic101)
You should've said that. That's like me saying I got an A* in English Language when I had only studied English Lit.

Not really. Although there are similarities, there are some things that are quite different!

[JOR2010]

(Original post by InadequateJusticex)
Well duh, no wonder you got an A*. As far as I know some words are similar (but not totally the same) so obviously your informed guesses will be a lot more accurate than someone who's not Italian.

Saying that, people who've studied French should be able to do the same!

(Original post by TurboCretin)
Spanish comprehension is easy for Italian speakers. Good luck in the oral.

Haha, I'm not doing the actual GCSE... I can only say a few basic phrases, but I plan to try and learn Spanish!

[TurboCretin]

(Original post by JOR2010)

Haha, I'm not doing the actual GCSE... I can only say a few basic phrases, but I plan to try and learn Spanish!

You should! I've spoken to my Italian friend about this before and he said it's pretty similar. Given the number of countries it's spoken in, worth the effort for someone like you I think.

[plimsolls]

Well i actually had to do a lot of work to get my GCSEs, so apparently that makes me an idiot. never mind aye.

[kpwxx]

(Original post by Pn94)
Just goes to show how detached TSR is from real life. Maybe the OP is true for a select elite of students, but for the vast majority, it really isn't.

Totally agreed. Ok, some people I know didn't put as much effort in as they should have for GCSEs and still came out with OK grades, but what the OP and some other posters are saying is a vast exaggeration.

"French/Spanish/Latin at 11"... many children don't even know one additional language at this age even at the most basic level.

"Got an A* in Italian without knowing any Italian"... well that's obviously not true is it...

xxx

[Ganky]

Lol try IGCSE's mate...

[Bulbasaur]

(Original post by AtomicMan)
Agree, in my year atleast, additional maths seperated the bright from the very clever. I just did a past paper and did some hard calculus questions the day before, got an A

Anyways, GCSE is somewhat hard, I'd say that the hardest is probably the sciences and perhaps history.

To add, whoever said languages were easy is a retard, languages are hard subjects if your not already fluent, only very smart people/the talented get A*s.

I'm not with the other guys on this thread; what they're saying imo is ridiculous. But what exam board did you do additional maths with? I did it in June with AQA and I probably scraped an A* (didn't give us UMS but that was my grade), and it was a very tough exam. But I don't remember learning any calculus for it? I've only just started basic calculus now.