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Who here does 14 or more GCSEs?

Anick14

is there any mandatory curriculum at this point in addition to the courses you choose? like if someone actually does take 14 GCSEs are they ALSO required to take universally obligatory courses that year? .... that'd be a bummer...

You have to do English Maths and Science but they'd be included.

14 is a stupidly high number anyway. Most people I know took between 9 and 12.

Reply 21

Akkuz

17

Boring experience. I didn't understand the relevance of GCSE's until year 13 tbh. My school just made me do extra GCSE's and ****, just because I was in Gifted & Talented. Now, when I look back on it I wish I didn't bother at all. My revision consisted mainly of video games and sports and at exam time I must have sat around 40+ hours of exams.

Reply 22

AmeliaSid

Well...
doesn't reading this just make me feel stupid

Reply 23

Pains

I'm doing 14, and it really doesn't seem like a lot of work, as I did 4 of them before the main exam period in June.

I'm not expecting all A*'s/A's, but hopefully something close.

They are all compulsory.

Reply 24

michaelyus

10

Anick14

feel free to ignore my ignorance... but i'm trying to figure out some stuff about the english education system.

i know they're not parallels at all, but the closest i've been able to compare to A-Levels in England are AP courses in the U.S.. So what are GCSE courses? are they just the name for normal courses? or honors? or what?? if anyone knows anything about american education and can make a comparison that'd be awesome! then AS? sooo confused.

if someone could put them in order of difficulty/how advanced they are that'd probably help the most!

I don't think there's a proper equivalent to GCSE in the US. If you know what the IB Middle Years Programme is, it's equivalent to that (while the IB Diploma is kind of equivalent to A-levels). If you know of the international O-level, then GCSE is considered the British version of that.

The GCSE is basically the standardised graduating qualification per subject (British qualifications are usually linked to subjects; Britain has some proper programmes that result in a diploma, but only a few, and none at GCSE level) for the end of compulsory secondary school education. This occurs at age 16, which for the US would fall in the middle of high school (I think 10th grade - correct me if I'm wrong).

In schools, students take courses in a variety of subjects from age 14, with only a common core (Maths, IT, English, a form of science, Citizenship was recently added, Religious Studies can be excused with special dispensation only) being compulsory. The rest of the courses are generally optional, but often depends on the particular stylistics of the school (a modern foreign language e.g. French or German is often compulsory in many schools).

Almost all these courses, including the compulsory ones, lead up to a qualification, usually GCSE or IGCSE but many other British / European equivalent are possible: DiDA, ECDL etc.

As you can see from this thread, it is possible to take very many GCSE qualifications; they can even be taken early (as I did with some of mine), and they can even be taken without a course (self-study, though this is more common with A-level). They can even be taken late, e.g. during A-level years, which often occurs with self-teaching. The minimum is generally 7-9 GCSEs within most schools, although many home-tutored people take fewer GCSEs.

So, British education at a glance:

Yr2 (age 7): SATs for KS1 (pronounced "sats" to distinguish them from American "S-A-Teez")

Yr6 (age 11), end of primary school: SATs for KS2 (under debate as to whether these should be removed)

Yr9 (age 14): SATs for KS3 [no longer current]

All the above are Government-led, and are not really considered qualifications.

Yr11 (age 16): GCSEs, as well as others: ECDL, DiDA, OCR Nationals, there are the new "Diplomas", the former GNVQ, AICE.

Yr12 (age 17): AS, the first year of A-level [not required for other types of late-secondary qualification]

Yr13 (age 18): A-level, often including others such as the former VCEs or the new EPQ (Extended Project) or more of the new "Diplomas". Some extend A-levels into a further diploma-type qualification, such as the Welsh Baccalureate or the AQA Baccalaureate. Plus there are competitors, such as the International Baccalaureate (IB) and the Cambridge Pre-U.

All of the above are awarded externally i.e. there are exam boards much like the College Board for the AP for this. The school does not award these qualifications.

This applies to England and Wales. Remember that Scotland has a very different system (Standard Grade, Highers, Advanced Highers), that Northern Ireland names its years differently, and the Republic of Ireland also has a very different system (Irish Leaving Certificate).

Reply 25

fubsadoo

Anick14

feel free to ignore my ignorance... but i'm trying to figure out some stuff about the english education system.

i know they're not parallels at all, but the closest i've been able to compare to A-Levels in England are AP courses in the U.S.. So what are GCSE courses? are they just the name for normal courses? or honors? or what?? if anyone knows anything about american education and can make a comparison that'd be awesome! then AS? sooo confused.

if someone could put them in order of difficulty/how advanced they are that'd probably help the most!

If you're familiar with Harry Potter then there's a very good reference there:

OWLs = GCSEs
NEWTs = A Levels

Of course, ignore that if it doesn't make sense, it's just in my experience HP is an easy way of explaining our system to people in other countries... :yep:

To answer your second post, I think the way it works is that every kid in every school has to spend a certain amount of time each week studying certain subjects (e.g. Maths and English), without necessarily taking it as a GCSE. But if most kids didn't leave with English and Maths GCSEs then the school wouldn't be rated very highly in inspections, same if they didn't offer lots of other GCSEs.

Reply 26

TheMeister

15

*Star*Guitar*

That's just like asking: Who here seriously had no life at 16/17 years old?
God bless the day the OP finds out there's more to life than grades.

There's more chance of October following February.

Reply 27

Slick 'n' Shady

15

It doesn't really matter how many GCSEs you did once you get to uni.

Reply 28

mzwoteva16

2

impervious

Why would someone do that to themselves...

Ditto...Doing just nine made me pretty :confused:

and

Reply 29

Domo-Kun

8

im doin 17!!!
Its cos our school is crap and they need to meet a quota of grades, so every remotely clever person is given loadsa gcses, as a normal school would have 5-6 sets, mine has 14!!!

Reply 30

impervious

15

Domo-Kun

im doin 17!!!
Its cos our school is crap and they need to meet a quota of grades, so every remotely clever person is given loadsa gcses, as a normal school would have 5-6 sets, mine has 14!!!

I refuse to believe someone can do 17.

Reply 31

Palladio

impervious

I refuse to believe someone can do 17.

The idea is kinda tedious too, I doubt someone could have interests in around 14 different subjects (thinking of 3 cores) - I don't see why people do extra gcses, obviously there's the ego to do more than everyone else, but seriously :rolleyes:

Reply 32

xxstace123xx

14

I do 6.5 hahahah and 2 btecs which all together are worth 6 GCSEs LIES

Reply 33

Charlie2

7

I did 13 GCSEs

10 of which with A*/A
2 were B
1 one an ALAN test which was a C (could only get up to a C) was compulsary

Reply 34

fubsadoo

I took optional GCSEs after school, because it kept me busy, gave me wider preperation for A Level in some cases, and just so I had enough to do. I don't really understand why everyone's saying 'Oh why do these people do all these GCSEs, do they have no life, it's just not necessary'. GCSEs are pretty much the same as A Levels (non-compulsory GCSEs anyway) - you should do them because you enjoy them and find them interesting, not because it means you can go to suchaplace or some uni admissions tutor will like it (or not do it because they don't care). That's a stupid way of looking at things, and if you're saying that people shouldn't take extra GCSEs because it's not necessary, then you're obviously thinking that way.

/rant

Reply 35

MathsHamster

10

I had to do 11 1/2 at school (english, english lit, maths, stats, french, german, history, music, rs short course, ICT, double science) then I took latin outside of school - just out of interest, I wasn't worried about getting loads of GCSEs to look good, but I had been learning it anyway and it just seemed the natural progression. I have never regretted it, I had a life, so I don't see that it did me any harm.

Reply 36

sasjegbruv123

1

i did 14 gcse's and got mainly A's and A*'s and like 2 B's, the thing is it is not worth the effort... just do like 8 or 9 and get all A*'s and then you're sorted for uni applications. AS's and A2's count so much more than gcse's they become really irrelevant by the time you apply for university

Reply 37

Luca118

13

impervious

I refuse to believe someone can do 17.

Easily possible, I did 16 + an A-Level and A/S Level, but the A level was a GCSE option which could have been another single GCSE subject, and I dropped my engineering which was a double award and took project design instead which I used my double lessons to complete in half time...

So I could have done 18 + an A/S but did 16 + an A Level and A/S Instead, should all be A's and A*'s, except one which I couldnt get higher than a B in! :smile:

Reply 38

Palladio

fubsadoo

I took optional GCSEs after school, because it kept me busy, gave me wider preperation for A Level in some cases, and just so I had enough to do. I don't really understand why everyone's saying 'Oh why do these people do all these GCSEs, do they have no life, it's just not necessary'. GCSEs are pretty much the same as A Levels (non-compulsory GCSEs anyway) - you should do them because you enjoy them and find them interesting, not because it means you can go to suchaplace or some uni admissions tutor will like it (or not do it because they don't care). That's a stupid way of looking at things, and if you're saying that people shouldn't take extra GCSEs because it's not necessary, then you're obviously thinking that way.

/rant

So you must take examinations in something to prove you're interested in the subject? I've got loads of interests which I've read into at advanced levels and not sat exams for. Noone is saying you shouldn't take extra GCSES if you want to but just commenting that it isn't necessary, and in a way, it isn't. I think apart from interest, it's also down to competitiveness and wanting to do more than others, if I'm honest.

Reply 39

xmaidenx

Well, i'm just doing 10 and a half, seriously why do loads. Anyways, that's just what our school offers, so couldn't really do much more unless I took it upon myself to learn extra.

And I find it really dumb when people are like, yeah- I'm getting four gcse's in like ICT or something. Seriously, do you want a certificate or something. Wow, four gcses in one subject is going to get you really far. For one subject, you just need one GCSE unless it is like properly split up into different components -like English and Science. Otherwise, no on actually gives a sh*t and it's a waste of time.

Who here does 14 or more GCSEs?

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