Any students here who took ESO instead of GCSE's?

So with all the talk about GCSEs I'm feeling a bit left out because I was schooled in Spain and thus I only have an ESO certificate.

Is there anyone else here who did ESO instead of GCSEs? What did you get? Do you think ESO is an equivalent to the english system or is it better/worse?

Discuss.

Edit: my background: I came to England when I was 16 after ten years of living in Spain. I took my A levels at a sixth form college and now I'm at a uni here. I'm a British native but I moved to Spain when I was 5. When I applied to college and then to university I got a lot of stick for not having GCSEs. One of the requirements of my course at Kent uni, for example, was that I needed a C grade or above in GCSE level maths. I didnt think that I'd have to take a GCSE as well as my A levels, I assumed that my ESO qualification in maths would suffice, so when I got my grades I had to call Kent uni before they recognised that I had met the conditional offer. Also at Henrietta Barnet they were asking for 6 A*s at GCSE which I felt was absurd. Nobody gets that many A's in Spain and I had just spent the past three years at a rubbish state school where the more "insufficientes" (fails) you got, the more popular you were.

It does happen in the UK too, but it's far worse in Spain.

UK's education system is harder yet we have a higher pass rate.
Kids are better behaved.
Books are free/deposit.
Teachers are paid more here.
It's cheaper here.
The government gives more support/learning resources.

Anyway, enough of this.

I have also done la E.S.O and from what I've gathered it counts for $2%! here. What I did was re-do the most two important GCSE's which were maths and english (needed to get into most courses). For the rest of the subjects you can actually call each university and talk to them about if they would accept you in a course with the qualifications you have.

Have you ever heard of the phrase: if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all?

I suggest you look back at my posts where I posted an incident of bullying that was clearly uncalled for. Yes I was bullied because I was unpopular. If I was popular I would not have been bullied or at least I would have had people to defend me. Simple.

You don't sound very nice if you laugh at people for being beaten up. Makes you sound like a bit of an ass tbh.

This is true. Although I do suggest you check out the series Waterloo Road (when you're not busy revising of course). I think some episodes are still on iplayer.

I've lived in the UK for long enough to know of the problems, don't worry. The UK is a nice mixture, and what counts to me (such as university education) the UK is the best at.

Example - why go to France for better healthcare when their education etc... is worse.

Anyway now I'm gone for real, I need to memorise all of the factors of supply and demand (I do know them but it's best to be 100% sure) and all of the Math formulas.

allowing myself to be bullied? how dare you? I didn't ask to be smacked across the head by a girl twice my size, I did not deserve it and anybody who says so needs a reality check.

you sound like a bully yourself tbh. I don't see how you can say that.

bump...i was hoping to hear of other people's grades and experiences with ESO.

LOL @ no one else replying.

wow, I'm sorry for all that experiences you had back in Spain but I think that describing Spanish kids and education like a bunch of violent monkeys is not very fair...
There are problematic kids everywhere and is enough to know who they are and to avoid them...

About the ESO I don't think I can help you because I don't really know the UK educational system. I can only tell you that the important thing in Spain is the "bachiller" which are the 2 final years when you prepare yourself for University.

My experience tells me that ESO is easy. I had very decent grades considering that in the ESO you take 10 different subjects and that I didn't study much at that time.

Oh, then it was 12 subjects, it's been a long time...

Well, I never failed a single subject. I got good marks and still I was far from beeign the better student...
I mean that there are people who get really good grades in so many different subjects.

By the way, how many subjects do people have to study in GCSE?