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How come people in the UK do far more GCSE's?

Over here, and every where else in the world outside the UK, people do IGCSEs - the international version of GCSEs, but I was wondering how come people in the UK do from 10 to 13 GCSEs when over here people do a minimum of 5 subjects up to a maximum of 8. Personally, I did 8 IGs, and that was the maximum possible number of subjects you could take in my school. Is there any difference in the level of difficulty between GCSEs and IGCSEs? If not, then how come there's this large difference in number of subjects taken by students in the UK and compared to outside?

Edit: apostrophes removed.

Reply 1

Collingwood

15

Because of our obvious brilliance.

Actually, I don't think doing so many is as common as it might appear on this site. 40% of British students don't even get passing grades in the 5 you say is the minimum you do.

Reply 2

trance addict

18

because IGCSEs are much much harder than our apparant gcses, i don't think UK unis would hold it against you though if you only did say 5, theyll acknowledge it was all down to your school

Reply 3

River85

17

8 is the national average, or was when I took mine (1999 - 2001).

Even now I would imagine it will only be ten, if not still eight. I did 10.

Reply 4

tom_tom_tom

18

iGCSE's are suppost to be harder havent sat one so i have no way of comparing

i did 11 GCSE's that was enough

Reply 5

Brighten

13

Most people do 10 or under, unless they are doing one or two a year early. It's mainly so that people have as many chances as possible to get 5 Cs, the benchmark for a lot of colleges and jobs, and the measure of how good the school is.

Reply 6

BillyMarsh

10

The school i'm at do 14-15 IGCSE's more than my English secondary school

I took 11 GCSE's and will have 1 IGCSE

Reply 7

jelly1000

21

I have heard the rumour that IGCSE's are supposed to be harder. Normally over here in England 8 is the minimum- it's the best 8 that count & these 8 (including english & maths) have to be listed on your UCAS form. People with less than that often get asked why. Also it does maximise your chances of getting 5 good GCSE's doing more. I've done 1 GCSE and by August I should hopefully have 10 GCSE's and 1 IGCSE.

Reply 8

louisedotcom

13

As above, I always thought IGCSEs were supposed to be slightly tougher which would account for doing fewer.
I did 11, but many people in my year dropped a few, such as technology or languages because all you needed to be able to drop them was a letter from your parents excusing you from the course. Others simply didnt turn up to the exams for the subjects they didnt like/want to do.

Reply 9

anna_spanner89

I only took 9, thats all that was offered at my school...I think 9 was enough really

Reply 10

RosiePosiePuddingAndPie

12

anna_spanner89

I only took 9, thats all that was offered at my school...I think 9 was enough really

I've only got 9 too - it's all we could do at my school (in fact, we were meant to do 8, but I demanded to do full course RE as well :p:

).... but most of my friends at college have 11+, some even have about 14 or so!

Reply 11

Miss_Scarlett

15

we did 12.5 or 12 depending on whether you did IT long or short course. Looking back, it was quite a lot really.

Reply 12

anna_spanner89

RosiePosiePuddingAndPie

I've only got 9 too - it's all we could do at my school (in fact, we were meant to do 8, but I demanded to do full course RE as well :p:

).... but most of my friends at college have 11+, some even have about 14 or so!

Lol i was exactly the same..everyone did 8, including short course RE..but I wanted to do full course and took 9!!!!!!! I know people with more gcse's, BUT no one in my school got any gcse's below a B, which could be because we did less, therefore more lesson time etc..dunno, may explain why..

Reply 13

RosiePosiePuddingAndPie

12

anna_spanner89

Lol i was exactly the same..everyone did 8, including short course RE..but I wanted to do full course and took 9!!!!!!! I know people with more gcse's, BUT no one in my school got any gcse's below a B, which could be because we did less, therefore more lesson time etc..dunno, may explain why..

Ah, in my school, most people struggled to get their 5 A-Cs :p:

If it was a better school though, I definitely think there would have been an advantage to doing slightly less subjects, since you get more time to focus on each one.

Reply 14

Dissey

9

I did IGCSEs too. I did 4 IGCSEs and one Greek O level. O levels are supposedly even harder than the IGCSEs so there's not such a noticeable gap between O level and A level.

Reply 15

Origami Bullets

19

I'm doing 10 GCSEs because everyone at my school does either 9 or 10. From what I have heard, iGCSEs are harder, but I'm not taking any, so I can't really comment.

Doing more than 5 gives you a bit of leeway, and it looks far better if you have more than just the minimum.