Difference between OCR and CIE

I'm from India. I'm writing to learn more about the difference between OCR and CIE. I have two questions.

1. Why is Cambridge itself awarding two IGCSE one via CIE and another via OCR? I realise that they are two different organisations, and the each offers its own version of IGCSE, however, what I'm unable to understand is if all the IGCSE awarding organisations are equally recognised by colleges around the world and if it makes any difference going with CIE, or OCR or even Edexcel, as long as the scores are the same.

2.So the question is will a candidate awarded 3 A* in the CIE IGCSE programme and another candidate awarded 3 A* in OCR IGCSE programme or a candidate with 3 A* in the Edexcel IGCSE programme be treated equally?

I hope one of you members can help me sort this out.
thanks
Smacks

Reply 1

purple-girl

17

1) They are just different exam boards-it gives schools the choice of which course to choose. Overall the course for the same subject on every exam board will be very similar, but the variety of exam boards gives the schools some choice-some might have different exam styles, different amounts of coursework etc-schools decide which they think would work best for them.

2) They would all be equally recognised-the exam boards all have to have similar standard questions so no exam board should be seen as "better" than the others. Some people say that certain exam boards tend to set harder questions, but really they should all be about the same. Colleges/Universities don't generally care about the exam board-just the subjects and the grades.

Reply 2

Tetrahedral

1) OCR and CIE are both offered by UCLES (University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate). They are slightly different in terms of syllabus coverage. OCR is only available in the UK while CIE is offered all over the world. The only other board offering A levels outside the UK is Edexcel which is said to be easier (from personal experience I agree with this).

2)All exam boards are treated equally by UCAS and the university admissions. They dont care which exam board you do your exams with as long as you get the grades required.

I am currently doing CIE A levels so you can ask me questions.

Reply 3

smacks

OP

1

Canary Lane,

I have a quick question. Can the ICE certificate be achieved by taking a few CIE IGCSE examinations in combination with others from the CIE's O Levels?
I was told that if one were to seek the ICE award (for those taking at least 7 syllabi, with a min of 1 from each group)

What combination of exams can be taken for the CIE ICE certificate?
Thanks
Smacks

Reply 4

Ash_94

1

Original post by Tetrahedral

1) OCR and CIE are both offered by UCLES (University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate). They are slightly different in terms of syllabus coverage. OCR is only available in the UK while CIE is offered all over the world. The only other board offering A levels outside the UK is Edexcel which is said to be easier (from personal experience I agree with this).

2)All exam boards are treated equally by UCAS and the university admissions. They dont care which exam board you do your exams with as long as you get the grades required.

I am currently doing CIE A levels so you can ask me questions.

Hi,
Can you do AS OCR and then A2 CIE?

Reply 5

Sweetobsession

Hi, I'm inti. I'm doing cie bio & chem Alevel and wanted your advice on a few things. Firstly, as the only one of my friends doing CIE I feel that I am at an unfair disadvantage as cie is said to be harder. Is there any truth to this and if so, how can I find a way around this?. I'm failing with D's at the moment and am struggling to find revision material and websites. Any help gratefully received.

Reply 6

ireneTM88_01

6

Original post by smacks

Canary Lane,

I have a quick question. Can the ICE certificate be achieved by taking a few CIE IGCSE examinations in combination with others from the CIE's O Levels?
I was told that if one were to seek the ICE award (for those taking at least 7 syllabi, with a min of 1 from each group)

What combination of exams can be taken for the CIE ICE certificate?
Thanks
Smacks

I have the ICE certificate and all of my subjects were CIE except for english language and literature (edexcel). Here's wt I took: Co-ordinated sciences, maths, french, drama, art, spanish literature and spanish as a foreign language. (A's and above)

You have to take subjects from different 'areas':
1-Languages
2-Humanities and social sciences
3-Mathematics
4-Creative and proffesional

You also need at least 4 A's in each field to get the highest certificate possible

ALL IGCSE!!!

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 7

Rahaf sr

1

Can you give me revision guides for a level biology similar to CGP books ??

Reply 8

paulyboy4

4

Original post by Tetrahedral

1) OCR and CIE are both offered by UCLES (University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate). They are slightly different in terms of syllabus coverage. OCR is only available in the UK while CIE is offered all over the world. The only other board offering A levels outside the UK is Edexcel which is said to be easier (from personal experience I agree with this).

2)All exam boards are treated equally by UCAS and the university admissions. They dont care which exam board you do your exams with as long as you get the grades required.

I am currently doing CIE A levels so you can ask me questions.

The latin course I found is with cie but it looks harder than ocr. I wondered if there is much difference.

Difference between OCR and CIE

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