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IGCSE's harder than GCSE's?

So, as I'm going into year 10 this September and starting a mix of igcses and gcses, I was just wondering if there is any large difference in workload between the 2 qualifications. I've already started my IGCSE,s in the three seperate sciences, which I've found incredibly challenging and have had to work very hard for as there is a lot of course content. Other people on TSR often say that they found GCSE's incredibly easy, or that you only need to revise if you want above a C. I know that with the igcses I've started, not revising would get me a U. Is this because IGCSE's are harder than normal gcse's?


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Out of interest, how are they easier to navigate? My school chose whether we did igcse or gcse for each subject,though I don't know why we couldn't just have all of them the same.


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Reply 2
Original post by Sheldor
Out of interest, how are they easier to navigate? My school chose whether we did igcse or gcse for each subject,though I don't know why we couldn't just have all of them the same.


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Your school has chosen IGCSEs for some subjects because they feel the course is more suited for the pupils of your school rather than the other, 'normal' GCSEs. It doesn't necessarily mean that the IGCSEs will be harder/easier than the 'normal' GCSEs.

I don't think there is much difference between GCSEs and IGCSEs and uni's don't prefer one over the other. Having said this, though, IGCSEs are terminal exams and there is some uncertainty as to whether or not terminal exams are harder (because non-terminal exams "break down" the course, some people think that they are easier than terminal exams).

:smile:
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 3
they are much harder- I did IGCSEs for practically all my subjects, bar 1 or 2. I believe they're harder; the syllabus is much larger and much more complicated, and trust me, GCSE modules are the equivalent of the end of chapter questions in our IGCSE book. My school did IGCSE, because it's a private school, and it's also supposed to minimise the gap between normal GCSEs and A-level.
Original post by HASH1SICKUNT
they are much harder- I did IGCSEs for practically all my subjects, bar 1 or 2. I believe they're harder; the syllabus is much larger and much more complicated, and trust me, GCSE modules are the equivalent of the end of chapter questions in our IGCSE book. My school did IGCSE, because it's a private school, and it's also supposed to minimise the gap between normal GCSEs and A-level.


Ugh, I kind if wish we did GCSE's for science, because although the content is fascinating, having to memorise and understand it all is tough, especially when you have no intention if doing sciences at a level and beyond. :frown:


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Reply 5
Original post by Sheldor
Ugh, I kind if wish we did GCSE's for science, because although the content is fascinating, having to memorise and understand it all is tough, especially when you have no intention if doing sciences at a level and beyond. :frown:


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Exactly! This is my point, I think that schools would do better to only use IGCSE for subjects that students wish to carry on.
Original post by HASH1SICKUNT
Exactly! This is my point, I think that schools would do better to only use IGCSE for subjects that students wish to carry on.


Yes, or let people do GCSE's in their worst subjects!( Gcse maths, was helping my friend revise and I could probably get an A. IGCSE, a B at best. :frown:)


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Original post by Hippysnake
iGCSEs aren't harder. They're easier to use, more friendly to navigate, and designed for complete beginners. They're really expensive though. Personally I don't see the advantage over normal GCSEs.


You are clearly mistaken. IGCSE is a whole level tougher , you can just see by results , it is much harder to get A*s , unlike GCSE where its quite common,
The UK board does not want to bow down to other international boards , so they don't differentiate between them. The level of academics is higher in other parts of the world. After my IGCSE's in US , i checked out the same year GCSE papers , and i was so shocked at how easy it was.. i mean the syllabus is nearly half!
No wonder people get go many A*s here..:rolleyes:
Also as for having advantages , i have fared much better than my GCSE counterparts at AS , barring a few , none of them seem to do justice to the waggon loads of A*s they got. I say i was lucky to be able to do the more rigorous IGCSE course though.
(edited 11 years ago)
I was alwaysunder the impressions they were much harder?
Reply 9
Original post by The Unique Bloke
You are clearly mistaken. IGCSE is a whole level tougher , you can just see by results , it is much harder to get A*s , unlike GCSE where its quite common,
The UK board does not want to bow down to other international boards , so they don't differentiate between them. The level of academics is higher in other parts of the world. After my IGCSE's in US , i checked out the same year GCSE papers , and i was so shocked at how easy it was.. i mean the syllabus is nearly half!
No wonder people get go many A*s here..:rolleyes:
Also as for having advantages , i have fared much better than my GCSE counterparts at AS , barring a few , none of them seem to do justice to the waggon loads of A*s they got. I say i was lucky to be able to do the more rigorous IGCSE course though.


:no: The content is slightly tougher but then the grade boundaries are adjusted, so it's not harder to score an A* in IGCSE than GCSE.
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by usycool1
:no: The content is slightly tougher but then the grade boundaries are adjusted, so it's not harder to score an A* in IGCSE than GCSE.


:rolleyes:
You cannot adjust the grade boundaries soo much that you make a hard IGCSE exam the same equivalent of a GCSE exam. No matter what the boundaries are , IGCSE is a lot tougher. Check any exam paper without being bias and you will see. Do you think that in GCSE the grade boundries arent adjusted?? Its done in both. You cannot say which exam boards brings it boundaries lower than the other without any proof.
PS for example check the 2011 IGCSE math paper , and compare it to the 2011 GCSE math paper. There is a world of a difference.
(No matrices and transformation wtf!)
Reply 11
Original post by Sheldor
So, as I'm going into year 10 this September and starting a mix of igcses and gcses, I was just wondering if there is any large difference in workload between the 2 qualifications. I've already started my IGCSE,s in the three seperate sciences, which I've found incredibly challenging and have had to work very hard for as there is a lot of course content. Other people on TSR often say that they found GCSE's incredibly easy, or that you only need to revise if you want above a C. I know that with the igcses I've started, not revising would get me a U. Is this because IGCSE's are harder than normal gcse's?


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Idunno
Reply 12
IGCSE's are harder as they are ment as an introduction to a levels so obviously have more content and harder content but yes the boundaries are adjusted. The reason a school would choose IGCSE's over GCSE's is if a school believes most of the pupils will continue the subject they will choose the IGCSE over the GCSE course as then they will have to teach less in year 12 and also most IGCSE's don't have coursework eg Maths so teachers prefer that.
Original post by usycool1
:no: The content is slightly tougher but then the grade boundaries are adjusted, so it's not harder to score an A* in IGCSE than GCSE.


Correct!

Original post by The Unique Bloke
:rolleyes:
You cannot adjust the grade boundaries soo much that you make a hard IGCSE exam the same equivalent of a GCSE exam. No matter what the boundaries are , IGCSE is a lot tougher. Check any exam paper without being bias and you will see. Do you think that in GCSE the grade boundries arent adjusted?? Its done in both. You cannot say which exam boards brings it boundaries lower than the other without any proof.
PS for example check the 2011 IGCSE math paper , and compare it to the 2011 GCSE math paper. There is a world of a difference.
(No matrices and transformation wtf!)


Incorrect.
Original post by usycool1
I've already said that the content is tougher; I never said that it wasn't. Of course GCSE grade boundaries are also adjusted - they just aren't adjusted as much as the IGCSE boundaries. So no, it is not harder to score an A* in IGCSE than GCSE because of the way the grade boundaries are adjusted :yep:



Original post by GreenLantern1
Correct!



Incorrect.





Original post by BlueJohn
IGCSE's are harder as they are ment as an introduction to a levels so obviously have more content and harder content but yes the boundaries are adjusted. The reason a school would choose IGCSE's over GCSE's is if a school believes most of the pupils will continue the subject they will choose the IGCSE over the GCSE course as then they will have to teach less in year 12 and also most IGCSE's don't have coursework eg Maths so teachers prefer that.


Who am i kidding? No point in arguing over here , where everyone has taken GCSE's.
You know sometimes no matter how wrong the majority is , they always seem think they are right.
Well you can think what you want. Yet no one can show me any proof that the grade boundary adjusting is any different. <- SHOW ME PROOF
The level of GCSE's is so primary. See the three IGCSE science papers , you wont know what hit you.. no matter how much you push your beloved boundaries down.
I understand the point that the UK board cannot differentiate between them , because not everyone gets the chance to do them.
Yet to say they require the same level to achieve an A* , is utter tomfoolery
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 15
Original post by The Unique Bloke
Who am i kidding? No point in arguing over here , where everyone has taken GCSE's.
You know sometimes no matter how wrong the majority is , they always seem think they are right.
Well you can think what you want. Yet no one can show me any proof that the grade boundary adjusting is any different. <- SHOW ME PROOF
The level of GCSE's is so primary. See the three IGCSE science papers , you wont know what hit you.. no matter how much you push your beloved boundaries down.
I understand the point that the UK board cannot differentiate between them , because not everyone gets the chance to do them.
Yet to say they require the same level to achieve an A* , is utter tomfoolery


You can find the grade boundaries on the exam boards websites if you want to have a look for yourself. I've tutored both IGCSE and GCSE (and yes, I can say the IGCSE content is much harder) maths students in the past so I'm not saying this because I'm being biased. :smile:
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by usycool1
You can find the grade boundaries on the exam boards websites if you want to have a look for yourself. I've tutored both IGCSE and GCSE maths students in the past so I'm not saying this because I'm being biased. :smile:



Original post by usycool1
I've already said that the content is tougher; I never said that it wasn't. Of course GCSE grade boundaries are also adjusted - they just aren't adjusted as much as the IGCSE boundaries. So no, it is not harder to score an A* in IGCSE than GCSE because of the way the grade boundaries are adjusted :yep:



Original post by GreenLantern1
Correct!



Incorrect.



Original post by BlueJohn
IGCSE's are harder as they are ment as an introduction to a levels so obviously have more content and harder content but yes the boundaries are adjusted. The reason a school would choose IGCSE's over GCSE's is if a school believes most of the pupils will continue the subject they will choose the IGCSE over the GCSE course as then they will have to teach less in year 12 and also most IGCSE's don't have coursework eg Maths so teachers prefer that.


Look at this then:
http://web.aqa.org.uk/over/stat_pdf/AQA-GCSE-UNIT-GDE-BOUND-JUNE11.PDF
GCSE Biology: BIOLOGY UNIT 2 TIER H 26/45 = 58% FOR AN A*!!!!
GCSE Chemistry: CHEMISTRY UNIT 1 TIER H 31/45 = 69% FOR AN A*!!!
GCSE Physics: PHYSICS UNIT 1 TIER H 30/45 = 67% FOR AN A*!!!

The level of education is screwed up here! Face it! It's not your fault!

IGCSE after it being so much harder:
To start with, A* Boundaries have been 79% for June 2010, and 78% for November 2010 for Math
Jun 11
Biology you needed 147/180 for an A* that's like 81.6%!!!!
You check it out yourself..http://bangladesh.exams.britishcouncil.org/doc_mj/iGCSE%20Grade%20Boundaries-June%202011.pdf
Reply 17
Original post by The Unique Bloke
Look at this then:
http://web.aqa.org.uk/over/stat_pdf/AQA-GCSE-UNIT-GDE-BOUND-JUNE11.PDF
GCSE Biology: BIOLOGY UNIT 2 TIER H 26/45 = 58% FOR AN A*!!!!
GCSE Chemistry: CHEMISTRY UNIT 1 TIER H 31/45 = 69% FOR AN A*!!!
GCSE Physics: PHYSICS UNIT 1 TIER H 30/45 = 67% FOR AN A*!!!

The level of education is screwed up here! Face it! It's not your fault!

IGCSE after it being so much harder:
To start with, A* Boundaries have been 79% for June 2010, and 78% for November 2010 for Math
Jun 11
Biology you needed 147/180 for an A* that's like 81.6%!!!!
You check it out yourself..http://bangladesh.exams.britishcouncil.org/doc_mj/iGCSE%20Grade%20Boundaries-June%202011.pdf


I knew someone would bring up last years B2 AQA biology paper... but yes, I agree with you that the boundaries were ridiculous for that paper. In fact, the boundaries have never gone lower than that before. But that was more of a one off thing.

If you compare maths for the same exam board (Edexcel) for June 2010, of the top of my head, I think you needed 88% for an A* in the GCSE but only about 76% on the IGCSE. Obviously you will sometimes find, like in cases above, grade boundaries are lower in GCSEs than in the IGCSEs but that happens more rarely than the other way around :smile:
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by usycool1
I knew someone would bring up last years B2 AQA biology paper... but yes, I agree with you that the boundaries were ridiculous for that paper. In fact, the boundaries have never gone lower than that before. But that was more of a one off thing.

If you compare maths for the same exam board (Edexcel) for June 2010, of the top of my head, I think you needed 88% for an A* in the GCSE but only about 76% on the IGCSE. Obviously you will sometimes find, like in cases above, grade boundaries are lower in GCSEs than in the IGCSEs but that happens more rarely than the other way around :smile:


Haha considering it was a piece of data handling paper containing five small questions , i wouldn't be surprised...
Grade boundaries differ each year , you cannot prove which way round is more often for any exam board. According to you IGCSE is tougher , but the grade boundaries make up for it ?? then why aren't they consistently lower than GCSE grade boundaries??

I love proving people who are wrong , wrong.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/juliehenry/9740567/Science_GCSEs_are_so_easy_pupils_can_pass_them_drunk/
Original post by The Unique Bloke
Who am i kidding? No point in arguing over here , where everyone has taken GCSE's.
You know sometimes no matter how wrong the majority is , they always seem think they are right.
Well you can think what you want. Yet no one can show me any proof that the grade boundary adjusting is any different. <- SHOW ME PROOF
The level of GCSE's is so primary. See the three IGCSE science papers , you wont know what hit you.. no matter how much you push your beloved boundaries down.
I understand the point that the UK board cannot differentiate between them , because not everyone gets the chance to do them.
Yet to say they require the same level to achieve an A* , is utter tomfoolery


I took 7 GCSEs and 6 IGCSEs. I am not trying to defend GCSEs just because I did them. But I noticed no major difference except for the fact IGCSEs included terminal papers.

The difficulty was comparable and I never thoguht one subject was harder just because it was an IGCSE.

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