The Student Room Group

Should GCSE's be abolished?

Poll

should GCSE's be abolished?

your opinions and thoughts please...:smile:

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1
Not abolished, but they do need a good kick up the back end.
-Science, Maths and English should not all be compulsory.
-The syllabus should teach students to learn, not to pass exams and forget everything once they write it down on the exam paper.
-Get rid of coursework (apart from subjects like Art, obviously). Have all work going to the final mark done in school, under exam conditions.
Reply 2
I'm not sure I can trust your poll, apparently 20% of the people who voted were douchebags...
Reply 3
Original post by Cmmah
Not abolished, but they do need a good kick up the back end.
-Science, Maths and English should not all be compulsory.
-The syllabus should teach students to learn, not to pass exams and forget everything once they write it down on the exam paper.
-Get rid of coursework (apart from subjects like Art, obviously). Have all work going to the final mark done in school, under exam conditions.

I agree with everything but that. I personally think that all subjects should be run like the EPQ, with 'mini-theses' being evaluated to determine one's grade.
Original post by Cmmah
Not abolished, but they do need a good kick up the back end.
-Science, Maths and English should not all be compulsory.
-The syllabus should teach students to learn, not to pass exams and forget everything once they write it down on the exam paper.
-Get rid of coursework (apart from subjects like Art, obviously). Have all work going to the final mark done in school, under exam conditions.


completely agree with you except I do think English, Maths and science should be compulsory. they are very important for everyday life.
cheers for your post :smile:
Original post by Cmmah
Not abolished, but they do need a good kick up the back end.
-Science, Maths and English should not all be compulsory.
-The syllabus should teach students to learn, not to pass exams and forget everything once they write it down on the exam paper.
-Get rid of coursework (apart from subjects like Art, obviously). Have all work going to the final mark done in school, under exam conditions.


Agree with everything but this. What's your basis for saying that?
No

What else would students on TSR brag about?
I think we're too keen to scap things nowadays. Mend it, don't end it. The format/content needs some tweaking but I think the general system is okay.
Maybe they should be changed so that people can use grammar and punctuation properly.

Spoiler



But completely scrapping them, no.
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 9
In my opinion, you cannot reform the GCSE syste, now. They determine so much and provides, in my opinion, the first spark of the wider outlook for students to take on in preparation for the world of work. Without them, under what criteria can employers/universities etc judge people in through a vast array of different subjects, as A Levels are narrowed down to a pupil's specialities?
Original post by Cmmah
Not abolished, but they do need a good kick up the back end.
-Science, Maths and English should not all be compulsory.
-The syllabus should teach students to learn, not to pass exams and forget everything once they write it down on the exam paper.
-Get rid of coursework (apart from subjects like Art, obviously). Have all work going to the final mark done in school, under exam conditions.


I think the country would benefit from some sort of science literacy course. That doesn't mean compulsory science or even an actual qualification, but schools should be responsible for teaching students to understand the difference between bullsh*t and reliable science. Perhaps that's a small reason they want science to be compulsory at the present.
Preparing for negs here:

I think they should abolish the A* grade given that if we don't have it at AS then clearly at even lower levels the few percent extra to get an A* over an A isn't really worth differentiating between the two.

And the number of GCSE's people do should be more constant, everyone does 3 or 4, possibly 5 AS and 3 or on the rare occasion 4 A2's, so we shouldn't have a variance of some people doing 6 GCSE's and others doing 12 or 13 as the playing field is nowhere near as comparable as with A levels.
Reply 12
No. As much as taking exams, and the stress of exams are certainley not 'fun', abolishing GCSEs would be wrong.

Why? Because at the end of the day, you need to have something to come out of school with to show what you can do in terms of academics. And in general, having something to show for, when coming out of school.

I know that a good proportion of people stay on and do A-Levels, but many don't too. There would just be no point in the education system, and people would have no motivation if there was not going to be any sort of official testing for it.

On the other hand, I think there should be wider options for GCSEs available in schools where it comes to the creative side of things! However, I do still think Maths, English, Science etc should be compulsory.
Reply 13
I think the General Studies/Critical Thinking thing should be replaced with a pass/fail common sense exam at the end - with a pass mark of about 40%. Questions like:

What is the Capital City of the UK?
Name as many members of the Cabinet as you can.
Name any line on the London Underground.
What does ISA stand for?
What does BBC stand for?
Whose portrait is on the latest £20 note (apart from the Queen)?
No trick questions.

That way, regardless of academics, an employer can tell who the genuine speedboats are - basically anyone failing the common sense test.
Reply 14
No. I think they need improving in so that the gap between them and A-Levels isn't as great. The specifications are very specific and so institutions focus on exam technique instead of focusing on grasping the subject as a whole. This means that students know very little about the subject itself (little emphasis is placed on reading around the subject). To combat this, I believe a 'less structured' portion of the specification should be introduced (especially in non-maths based subjects) which encourage students to independently think about the subject and delve into it further, maybe like EPQ does, but it is mandatory and makes up a proportion of the final grade. This could be implemented more in A-Level also and has the potential to separate those with the right exam technique with those who genuine subject knowledge in preparation for University in my opinion.
I think the GCSEs need to be radically re-written so as to favour actual education and intellect rather than cramming facts.

I firmly believe that exams and syllabi should measure education, not visa versa as the modern day exams appear to.
Reply 16
Original post by TurboCretin
Agree with everything but this. What's your basis for saying that?


If someone really dislikes say, Maths for example, there's no point in making them sit through classes and do an exam in a subject they don't want to do. By the start of GCSE, most students will already have a good understanding of 'everyday' Maths - things like mental maths, basic algebra, etc - everything that people use in everyday life. To put them in a class where they mess about and distract those who want to learn, and care about the subject.
Same could be said for basic Science, and grammar, spelling, sentence structure etc in English.
But I don't think that all 3 should be optional. Maybe something like a student has to do at least two of them?


Original post by Clip
I think the General Studies/Critical Thinking thing should be replaced with a pass/fail common sense exam at the end - with a pass mark of about 40%. Questions like:

What is the Capital City of the UK?
Name as many members of the Cabinet as you can.
Name any line on the London Underground.
What does ISA stand for?
What does BBC stand for?
Whose portrait is on the latest £20 note (apart from the Queen)?
No trick questions.

That way, regardless of academics, an employer can tell who the genuine speedboats are - basically anyone failing the common sense test.


This. You'd be surprised how many people in my year who couldn't point out major cities on a map.
Once in History, while studying the Renaissance, we were given an essay on 'Queen Elizabeth'. Someone then asked 'Which one?', oblivious to the fact that the second Queen Elizabeth is currently reigning. :facepalm2:
Original post by Clip
I think the General Studies/Critical Thinking thing should be replaced with a pass/fail common sense exam at the end - with a pass mark of about 40%. Questions like:

What is the Capital City of the UK?
Name as many members of the Cabinet as you can.
Name any line on the London Underground.
What does ISA stand for?
What does BBC stand for?
Whose portrait is on the latest £20 note (apart from the Queen)?
No trick questions.

That way, regardless of academics, an employer can tell who the genuine speedboats are - basically anyone failing the common sense test.


Are you testing common sense, or general knowledge?
Original post by Helloworld_95
Preparing for negs here:

I think they should abolish the A* grade given that if we don't have it at AS then clearly at even lower levels the few percent extra to get an A* over an A isn't really worth differentiating between the two.

And the number of GCSE's people do should be more constant, everyone does 3 or 4, possibly 5 AS and 3 or on the rare occasion 4 A2's, so we shouldn't have a variance of some people doing 6 GCSE's and others doing 12 or 13 as the playing field is nowhere near as comparable as with A levels.


Difference is that GCSEs are mandatory and some people out there, believe it or not, cannot handle 11+ GCSEs. Most people who do A-Levels are there because they have the aptitude to do at least three, and relatively few have the ability to do more than four.
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 19
At the end of anything involving an exam there will always be the regurgitation of facts, although I believe that we should be able to do more with GCSE's, there should be a teaching others side to the courses, if you can teach it you can usually understand it.

We cannot get rid of GCSE's as how would we differentiate from the way people work i.e. the remembering of facts as I think GCSE's work at the moment, and the people who can understand, the A level students.

What I find more worrying is that more and more people are going to university for stupid courses i.e. Curry making and David Beckham courses... or the dreaded "Media Studies" course! This kind of education was just made for people to have a university lifestyle without really being educated by the end, devalueing the degrees.

Quick Reply

Latest