What did school kids do before GCSE’s existed?

idonthavealife05

Was it another exam or what?

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O Levels

I believe it was similar to gcses but they were called O levels and they were introduced in 1955 and replaced by gcses in 1988

Reply 3

Jonathanãƒ„

Played with those things mostly

Reply 4

McGinger

And O/A levels if we were smart enough - a rare, experimental exam, but I have one.

Reply 5

idonthavealife05

Original post by Vetofferholder1

I believe it was similar to gcses but they were called O levels and they were introduced in 1955 and replaced by gcses in 1988

Thank youu. Where they easier?

Reply 6

idonthavealife05

Original post by McGinger

And O/A levels if we were smart enough - a rare, experimental exam, but I have one.

We? how old are you-

Reply 7

idonthavealife05

So like higher GCSEs and foundation GCSEs

Reply 8

CaptainDuckie

Study Forum Helper

Read here

It says that there were both CSE and O levels but CSE was for the lower ability students..

GCSE got introduced in 1988 with the last O level/CSE examination in 1987

Reply 9

McGinger

O levels are believed to have been harder - no course work, MCQs was rare, and most people did 8 or 9 subjects. We spent most of June in an exam hall. See https://www.mirror.co.uk/interactives/were-o-levels-actually-harder-12759560

Reply 10

Compost

Original post by McGinger

And O/A levels if we were smart enough - a rare, experimental exam, but I have one.

Me too

Reply 11

_gcx

Study Forum Helper

Original post by idonthavealife05

So like higher GCSEs and foundation GCSEs

Much more people took CSEs than foundation GCSEs I think. I think less than half took O-levels. But it's a similar idea.

Reply 12

ALEreapp

Original post by idonthavealife05

Thank youu. Where they easier?

I get the impression they were a bit easier but then gcses were easier 10 years ago than they are now as they were made harder to bridge the gap to A level!

Reply 13

username5050312

Many less developed countries still do O levels.

Reply 14

threeportdrift

Careers Forum Helper

Original post by Vetofferholder1

I get the impression they were a bit easier but then gcses were easier 10 years ago than they are now as they were made harder to bridge the gap to A level!

They were much harder. There was little to no coursework, there were no multiple choice answers and assessment was nearly all done by essay in two sit down exams. Past papers were hard to come by and usually just available to the school to give mocks and there was no marking scheme, so no mechanism to judge what marks you'd get for each answer.

Reply 15

ALEreapp

Original post by threeportdrift

There’s no coursework now for 95% of subjects.. and where did you get the impression that there’s multiple choice questions in gcses now? I did 12 gcses (29exams) and not a single one had a multiple choice question and one had coursework that was worth 15% the rest were sit down exams (2 or 3 per subject) 🤣 I was also the new spec so forget past papers being hard to come by, they literally didnt exist for the exams I did. You’ve literally summed up today’s gcses so how were they much harder?

Reply 16

ReadingMum

The content may or may not have been harder back in the O level days but you were at the mercy of what the school provided - no internet, no access to past papers (even for a previous spec), no exam spec, no revision guide books to buy from Amazon (no Amazon), no one to ask except equally confuddled class mates, no YouTube videos. I ended up going to an evening class to help with one of my A levels as it was being taught so badly in school - the majority of my class was there.

Reply 17

AW_1983

O-Levels were supposedly harder but it's difficult to say for sure when the last O-Level was set about a decade before most households got dial up internet! Times change, content changes. There certainly wasn't any noticeable increase in difficulty for students progressing on to A-Levels after 1987.

Reply 18

the bear

the ones from decent families went to University and became Clergymen and that. the others provided useful services to their communities

https://images.halloweencostumes.com/products/41142/1-1/kids-chimney-sweep-costume.jpg

Reply 19

Compost

Original post by idonthavealife05

Thank youu. Where they easier?

A far smaller percentage of 16 year olds passed them -only about 25% of school leavers achieved the equivalent of at least 5 grade Cs https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1984/dec/20/school-leavers-examination-statistics, compared to about 60% achieving this, including English and Maths, in the 2010s so I think it's fair to say they were harder.