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Official GCSE Results Day 2016 Thread (TODAY!)

Reply 1120

ExoIceCream99

19

Thank you for everyone clarifying about IGCSE :smile:

Reply 1121

AdeptDz

21

I would say Igcse is equivalent to gcse in how difficult it is and how respectable

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Ah okay ~

Lmao nah. I would say IGCSE is by far harder - the grading alone proves that. For IGCSE we use PUMS - Percentage uniform mark scores. Virtually have the same meaning as UMS but at the top of the curve (80+) it is much less steep thus harder to achieve higher grades. I am saying this as a student who did CIE IGCSE this year. For example, take a subject such as Additional Maths. Often over the last 6 years the GB for A* has hovered around 156/160, which is pretty high considering you can only get 2.5% of all the available marks wrong. This runs through most other subjects, though it may not be as high. Plus, I have gone through some GCSE papers and they are not that difficult.

Reply 1124

iwishicouldfly14

17

Original post by Enigmatically

Lmao nah. I would say IGCSE is by far harder - the grading alone proves that. For IGCSE we use PUMS - Percentage uniform mark scores. Virtually have the same meaning as UMS but at the top of the curve (80+) it is much less steep thus harder to achieve higher grades. I am saying this as a student who did CIE IGCSE this year. For example, take a subject such as Additional Maths. Often over the last 6 years the GB for A* has hovered around 156/160, which is pretty high considering you can only get 2.5% of all the available marks wrong. This runs through most other subjects, though it may not be as high. Plus, I have gone through some GCSE papers and they are not that difficult.

^^

In my school only Single science sits GCSE (everyone else sits IGCSE) and the top 3 Maths sets sit IGCSE.
Our content goes into more depth and is often more challenging (e.g. some IGCSE Maths contains the same topics as OCR Additional Maths), so IGCSE is usually thought of as more difficult than GCSE.

Reply 1125

AdeptDz

21

Original post by Enigmatically

Lmao nah. I would say IGCSE is by far harder - the grading alone proves that. For IGCSE we use PUMS - Percentage uniform mark scores. Virtually have the same meaning as UMS but at the top of the curve (80+) it is much less steep thus harder to achieve higher grades. I am saying this as a student who did CIE IGCSE this year. For example, take a subject such as Additional Maths. Often over the last 6 years the GB for A* has hovered around 156/160, which is pretty high considering you can only get 2.5% of all the available marks wrong. This runs through most other subjects, though it may not be as high. Plus, I have gone through some GCSE papers and they are not that difficult.

I'm speaking from experience of IGCSE English which is very straightforward and the grade boundaries are pretty low and If not then it isn't hard to achieve the marks (for coursework)

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Reply 1126

JoshuaE

11

Original post by Enigmatically

Lmao nah. I would say IGCSE is by far harder - the grading alone proves that. For IGCSE we use PUMS - Percentage uniform mark scores. Virtually have the same meaning as UMS but at the top of the curve (80+) it is much less steep thus harder to achieve higher grades. I am saying this as a student who did CIE IGCSE this year. For example, take a subject such as Additional Maths. Often over the last 6 years the GB for A* has hovered around 156/160, which is pretty high considering you can only get 2.5% of all the available marks wrong. This runs through most other subjects, though it may not be as high. Plus, I have gone through some GCSE papers and they are not that difficult.

That's so strange because only the bottom sets in my school did iGCSE

Reply 1127

Enigmatically

9

That is from your point of view. I think the enquirer would prefer "on-the-average" information. I did 8 subjects at CIE IGCSE including English. Specifically, they are:
English (FL Oral Endorsement)
Physics
Chemistry
Biology
Additional Mathematics
Mathematics
ICT
French
If you would like to know anything about any of them, feel free to enquire.

And aren't all types of English straightforward? :P

Edit - The bottom sets most likely did it because for CIE there are two types of exams student take - Core or Extended. Core is much more simple than GCSEs, and GCSEs don't offer this flexibility, so I assume that is why the lower sets in your school did it. Extended on the other hand is aimed at higher level candidates aiming for A* to B.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 1128

ExoIceCream99

19

Only two people in our year did IGCSE Maths. No one did English language IGCSE...

But my sister (two years ago) did IGCSE in year 11 English language and it was easier and she didn't do coursework???

Reply 1129

ursulab

9

Original post by iwishicouldfly14

3 consecutive nightmares last night about results day :s-smilie:

I need my English Lang to have been marked by someone really sympathetic and with a good sense of humour because I was so delirious that day. I had stayed up the night before crying about Add Maths and my writing piece was basically me on a rant about how I hate OCR (which is the same exam board as my English) and because I was so tired, virtually none of it made sense and there was no clear structure and ughghghghhghghghgh :angry:

OMG THE SAME THING HAPPENED TO ME. My mom shouted at me to get it together or otherwise I would fail my english exam lol.

Reply 1130

iwishicouldfly14

17

Original post by ursulab

OMG THE SAME THING HAPPENED TO ME. My mom shouted at me to get it together or otherwise I would fail my english exam lol.

I wish you good sleep and good luck then

Reply 1131

TheAnon121

4

Last night I had a dream about the grade boundary for edexcel maths!!!! It was 178 for an A*

Reply 1132

Charlie4789

7

Igcse is an objectively more challenging qualification, no debate

Reply 1133

ExoIceCream99

19

Original post by TheAnon121

Last night I had a dream about the grade boundary for edexcel maths!!!! It was 178 for an A*

I had this dream too!!
But it was 180 instead

Reply 1134

XLittleSparrowX

12

I keep getting grade boundary dreams too, as well as practically every night having a dream about results day being a total flop

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Reply 1135

ExoIceCream99

19

Original post by XLittleSparrowX

I keep getting grade boundary dreams too, as well as practically every night having a dream about results day being a total flop

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I feel you, I keep imaging good bad and terrible grades