Do GCSEs actually matter ?

I’d say yes, they do matter AND no, they don’t. You are the person you decide to be. GCSEs or not. And ultimately, you can take them at evening classes in the future.
Your grades, no matter how dire or stellar, will never reflect who you are. But, they can smooth the paths ahead or make the roads more challenging, tiresome and difficult.
I am retaking my maths GCSE over 30 years after the first attempts (D, and D again). I didn’t do the homework in the year leading up to my exams, let alone revision (doodling a boyfriend’s name, partying, anything but study).
I fought for my place to take A’levels. Passed. Just. Had I revised, had better attendance, the grades would have been better.
I fought like hell for a Uni place and it went to panels and meetings until I won over the key decison maker. Again, a lot of hassle and time could have been avoided by actually studying to begin with.
Degree done (1% off a 1st), a Post Grad done. So GCSEs shouldn’t matter, right? Wrong.
They did. Turns out a pass at GCSE maths equated to career jumps and promotions to the tune of a good £30k pa, until I gave up work. Board’s like to see GCSE maths on the CV of managers in charge of budgets. Director? You need Maths. And, ime, twits with little experience or common sense were promoted time and time again because they came armed with passes (no relevant experience or degrees). One of those twits is now the Director of the department I worked in. He is on a hefty wage.
Me? I’m taking my GCSE maths again now. Over 30 years later. So I can get a minimum wage job in a school to fit around my kids.
Do GCSEs really matter? No. But without effort now, and passes, they can make your life harder than it needs to be. Now is your time and opportunity to try your best. Because when I was passed over at interviews or work, it was my effort (lack of) that infuriated me, not the grade.
Now. 2 kids. Full time job. Constant cleaning and feeding of children and appliances. And crammimg GCSE maths into 1 evening a week for 8 months.... I wish I studied 30 years ago x

only matters for medicine and other competitive courses IMO. Just do good in english and maths and you should be good

i am in yr 11 right now so i am not really sure but want to do medicine in the future.
i heard from an university student that apparently for medicine they only look at whether or not u got a 5 for maths and English and science for GCSEs but primarily just look at ur Alevels since that is the most important.

but from what ur saying, if u want to do medicine u have to do really good at English and maths. how good tho? 8/9s? or is 6/7 okay?

but my main question is- is what the uni student said true?

The higher the better because you are competeting for places, the course I’m
Trying to get on have 300 applicators for 10 places!
So you need to the best you can.

oh wow u do medicine?! u must be really smart!

but don't they compare in terms of your results in exams? like your medical examinations?
how would GCSEs affect how you do in the future. eg if i get 5/6s for GCSE but then i start building myself up and start getting top marks in Alevels , shouldn't that get me closer to medicine since during that PRESENT time, i am excelling in what i want to study?

since u r competing with 299 other applicators, shouldn't the exam u r doing for that determine who gets in? and if there are a lot of people with really high grades, they would just look at ur a-level results right?

I’m in year 10 soon to be in year 11 but I feel like everyone is over stressing about GCSES like I do understand because I’m stressing but sometimes I come to think of it do they actually matter? Please tell me ur opinions below

It’s annoying I know that teachers often say that GCSEs mean everything in life, I have spoken to many older and successful people who have said that GCSEs really don’t matter, I have also spoken to a lot of people in uni and they said that their uni didn’t even ask for GCSE results only A level results. If you fail at GCSEs or still do well but not as much as you hoped for, it is not the be all end all sort of thing

Wait why have lots of people I have spoken to said that they do not matter later in life?

Because generally they do not matter later in life, especially for careers that require university degrees.

No, perhaps not for graduate careers (although teaching is an exception).

I have to assess job applications for C1, C2 and D positions, and one of the things we do look at is the candidate's GCSE (and other Level 1 and 2 qualifications) profile.

This is true even for people applying for posts in their 40s and 50s.

Perhaps it is true that GCSEs matter less later in life if you have a good honours degree, but most people in Britain are not university graduates.

But much do GCSEs weight compared to other factors?

I’d say yes, they do matter AND no, they don’t. You are the person you decide to be. GCSEs or not. And ultimately, you can take them at evening classes in the future.
Your grades, no matter how dire or stellar, will never reflect who you are. But, they can smooth the paths ahead or make the roads more challenging, tiresome and difficult.
I am retaking my maths GCSE over 30 years after the first attempts (D, and D again). I didn’t do the homework in the year leading up to my exams, let alone revision (doodling a boyfriend’s name, partying, anything but study).
I fought for my place to take A’levels. Passed. Just. Had I revised, had better attendance, the grades would have been better.
I fought like hell for a Uni place and it went to panels and meetings until I won over the key decison maker. Again, a lot of hassle and time could have been avoided by actually studying to begin with.
Degree done (1% off a 1st), a Post Grad done. So GCSEs shouldn’t matter, right? Wrong.
They did. Turns out a pass at GCSE maths equated to career jumps and promotions to the tune of a good £30k pa, until I gave up work. Board’s like to see GCSE maths on the CV of managers in charge of budgets. Director? You need Maths.
Me? I’m taking my GCSE maths again now. Over 30 years later. So I can get a minimum wage job in a school to fit around my kids.
Do GCSEs really matter? No. But without effort now, and passes, they can make your life harder than it needs to be. Now is your time and opportunity to try your best. Because when I was passed over at interviews or work, it was my effort (lack of) that infuriated me, not the grade.
Now. 2 kids. Full time job. Constant cleaning and feeding of children and appliances. And crammimg GCSE maths into 1 evening a week x

No, perhaps not for graduate careers (although teaching is an exception).

I have to assess job applications for C1, C2 and D positions, and one of the things we do look at is the candidate's GCSE (and other Level 1 and 2 qualifications) profile.

This is true even for people applying for posts in their 40s and 50s.

Perhaps it is true that GCSEs matter less later in life if you have a good honours degree, but most people in Britain are not university graduates.

I’m in year 10 soon to be in year 11 but I feel like everyone is over stressing about GCSES like I do understand because I’m stressing but sometimes I come to think of it do they actually matter? Please tell me ur opinions below

I’m in year 10 soon to be in year 11 but I feel like everyone is over stressing about GCSES like I do understand because I’m stressing but sometimes I come to think of it do they actually matter? Please tell me ur opinions below

No, perhaps not for graduate careers (although teaching is an exception).

I have to assess job applications for C1, C2 and D positions, and one of the things we do look at is the candidate's GCSE (and other Level 1 and 2 qualifications) profile.

This is true even for people applying for posts in their 40s and 50s.

Perhaps it is true that GCSEs matter less later in life if you have a good honours degree, but most people in Britain are not university graduates.

It does depend on the job, but 5 Cs (4s in today's money) at GCSE is still considered a benchmark of good secondary education for many non-graduate positions.

People on this thread all have different opinions but I think the moral of the story is that GCSEs can matter (particularly maths and English), although no one knows at the young age of 15/16 whether their GCSE results are going to matter to them later in life. This being the case, no one should say to a young person, "don't worry about your GCSEs, not doing well in them never held me back" because everyone takes a different path in life and some people are going to need those high grades to progress in their career. It's incredibly frustrating not to have the right GCSEs grades to be able to do what you want to do, so young people should take them seriously and do their best to get good grades first time around.