General Certificate of Secondary Education

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The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) (in Welsh: Tystysgrif Gyffredin Addysg Uwchradd (TGAU) is the name of a set of British examinations, usually taken by secondary school students at age 14–16 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (but not Scotland, where the equivalent is called Standard Grade).

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Structure

A different examination is taken for each area of study, but school students are usually obliged to take examinations for certain "core subjects" (English, English literature, Mathematics, Science and sometimes a modern language) along with several optional subjects. Normally pupils take ten GCSEs, though taking more is not unusual. There is also an option for students to take "short" or "half" courses for certain subjects.

Grades range from an A* for exceptional performance, A to G, and U standing for Ungraded or Unclassified . The A* was introduced in 1994 due to the increasing number of students attaining A-grades.

There were initially three tiers for most examinations: "Basic" (renamed "Foundation"), "Intermediate", and "Higher" tier. Most subjects moved to two or one tier during the 1990s. Mathematics remained an exception, but as of summer 2006 (first exam in 2008), maths will only have two tiers: Foundation and Higher. Students are entered for a certain tier based on their ability. The tier a student is entered for affects the range of grades that student could attain. In most subjects (but, until 2008, not maths), Higher candidates can achieve grades A*-D (with an allowed E if the candidate narrowly misses the D grade boundary), and Foundation can achieve C-G. In Maths, the three-tier system means that Higher candiates can attain A*-C, Intermediate B-E and Foundation D-G. Failing to reach a grade within your tier will result in a U (for example a Higher student of Maths who fails to reach a C will receive a U, and cannot access D-G).

Some subjects, such as Science, can be split up into several different subjects: it is possible to be examined on Science as a whole, with one or two GCSEs, or Biology, Chemistry and/or Physics separately (where 3 GCSEs are awarded).

There are now five exam boards offering GCSEs, AQA, Edexcel, OCR the WJEC and the CCEA; while all boards are under the control of the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) who deal with examination conduct and legislation, the boards are self-sufficient not-for-profit organisations. Traditionally, there were a smaller number of regional exam boards, but changes in legislation allowed schools to use any board before a series of mergers reduced the number to five. Some examining boards offer a "modular" structure for some subjects, alongside the more traditional "linear" structure. In a modular structure, one or more modular examinations which focus on a sub-set of the syllabus are taken at intermediate stages of the course. Modular examinations may be re-taken to attempt to improve results. In addition to modular examinations, a modular structure may also include final or terminal examinations which examine the whole syllabus.

In most subjects, one or more coursework assignments may also be completed. Coursework typically contributes to 20-40% of the final GCSE grade in most subjects, but this varies a lot. In subjects such as Design and Technology, Information and Communication Technology, Art, Music Studies and Architecture, the proportion of the total mark relying on coursework is 60%. GCSE Music coursework accounts for 60% of the final grade, but in Mathematics or Science, it only accounts for 20%. In ICT, for example, coursework is known to take up very comfortably over 200 hours per student during the two year course, although the media scarcely comments on this. This is due to the more practical nature of the qualification.

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History

GCSE was introduced for teaching in September 1986, and replaced both the O-level GCE (Ordinary level General Certificate of Education) and the CSE (Certificate of Secondary Education) qualifications, which suffered problems due to the two-tieredness of the system. Grade C of the GCSE was set at the level where the O Level and CSE overlapped (making grades A-C equivalent to the respective O-level pass grades and grade 1 CSE while grades D-G are equivalent to CSE grades 2-5 respectively).

Some commentators feel that the GCSE system is a dumbing down from the old GCE / O-level system (as it took the focus away from the theoretical side of many subjects and taught students about real-world implications and issues relating to ICT and Citizenship), joking that it stands for General Certificate for Sitting an Exam. Some public schools (private schools), have even gone as far as removing GCSEs from their curricula and instead encourage their pupils to progress straight to A-level or the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme studies. On the other hand, it could be said to be better because it takes into account the ability of the student in the duration of the course, through coursework. However, some private schools are replacing the GCSEs with IGCSEs whereby there is an option to do no coursework, as schools see it as an opportunity to cheat.

Introduced in 2000 was the Vocational GCSE, which encouraged students to take the work-related route and included courses such as engineering, applied business, ICT and leisure and tourism. From September 2004, the word Vocational was dropped and a Vocational GCSE is now known simply as a GCSE. This is to show that the vocational side is "on par" with the traditional academic side.

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List of G.C.S.E. subjects

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
  • Arabic
  • Archaeology
  • Art and Design
  • Applied Art and Design (Double Award)
  • Astronomy
  • Biblical Hebrew
  • Biology
  • Business and Communication Systems
  • Business Studies
  • Business Studies and Economics (Nuffield-BP)
  • Applied Business (Double Award)
  • Chemistry
  • Child Development
  • Chinese (Mandarin)
  • Citizenship Studies (Short Course)
  • Classical Greek
  • Classical Civilisation
  • Dance
  • Design & Technology - split into five separate areas:
    • Systems and Control (Electronics)
    • Food Technology
    • Graphic products (Graphics)
    • Resistant Materials
    • Textiles
  • Drama
  • Dutch
  • Economics
  • Electronics
  • English (formerly known as English Language, a name which is retained in higher qualifications such as A-levels)
  • English Literature
  • Engineering (Double Award)
  • Expressive Arts
  • French
  • Geography
  • German
  • Gujarati
  • Health and Social Care (Double Award)
  • History
  • Information and Communication Technology
  • Applied Information and Communication Technology (Double Award)
  • Irish
  • Italian
  • Japanese
  • Latin
  • Law
  • Leisure and Tourism (Double Award)
  • Manufacturing (Double Award)
  • Mathematics
  • Media Studies
  • Modern Greek
  • Music
  • Panjabi
  • Persian
  • Photography
  • Physical Education
  • Physics
  • Religious Studies (Short and Long Courses)
  • Russian
  • Science (Double and Single Award) - it is also possible to do three sciences as separate GCSEs.
    • Biology
    • Chemistry
    • Physics
  • Applied Science (Double Award)
  • Scottish Gaelic
  • Sociology
  • Spanish
  • Sport Studies and Physical Education
  • Statistics
  • Turkish
  • Urdu
  • Welsh
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See also

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External links


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Revision

There are a lot of different revision websites that cover different exam board syllabuses, below are a few recommended websites that are to be given as a revision aid only.

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Exam boards

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UK Government Education Bodies

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