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Memory test for you! GCE "O" Levels...


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Just to emphasise that I'm not talking of CSE or the newer GCSE exams, but the "old fashioned" GCE 'O' Level exam of years gone by....

Can you recall the grades involved?

Or was it simply a case of either pass or fail?

Something seems to nag me about passes being grouped A-D, with perhaps E and F indicating failures?

I can remember the number of passes I achieved, and in which subjects, but I'm damned if I can recall if they were by narrow margins!

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You want the official version or the as-taken-by-the-general-public version?

 

 

"O" levels were graded A,B,C,D,E; papers not worthy of a grade were classed U. (I think it used to be F, but it was changed to U long before I took mine.

 

So far as employers, colleges and universities, and the general public were concerned, only grades A,B,C counted as a pass; D and E counted as fails.

 

The other level of exam was the CSE; a CSE Grade 1 was counted equal to an O level grade C (pass), and Grades 2,3,4,5 (6?) were counted as not worth the paper they were written on.

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You want the official version or the as-taken-by-the-general-public version?

 

 

"O" levels were graded A,B,C,D,E; papers not worthy of a grade were classed U. (I think it used to be F, but it was changed to U long before I took mine.

 

So far as employers, colleges and universities, and the general public were concerned, only grades A,B,C counted as a pass; D and E counted as fails.

 

The other level of exam was the CSE; a CSE Grade 1 was counted equal to an O level grade C (pass), and Grades 2,3,4,5 (6?) were counted as not worth the paper they were written on.

 

That fits with my undesrtanding of it, and was also the run down given by my teachers as I sat mine. :)

 

As for narrow margins - I squeaked a C in Maths and French but did better in the other subjects. My French teacher was gobsmacked I even managed a C. :)

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You want the official version or the as-taken-by-the-general-public version?

 

 

"O" levels were graded A,B,C,D,E; papers not worthy of a grade were classed U. (I think it used to be F, but it was changed to U long before I took mine.

 

So far as employers, colleges and universities, and the general public were concerned, only grades A,B,C counted as a pass; D and E counted as fails.

 

The other level of exam was the CSE; a CSE Grade 1 was counted equal to an O level grade C (pass), and Grades 2,3,4,5 (6?) were counted as not worth the paper they were written on.

 

Yup - quite right - well remembered.

There was always some debate as to the "acceptability" of D and E - I seem to recall some aggro between the governing body - Metriculation Board? - and companies that offered apprenticeships over that very matter...

 

Cheers all....10/10! VG.

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Four As, three Bs, one C (we only did six months' work on the Sociology course, so I was happy with a c), one refused to sit.

 

Disappointing. The teachers expected me to be their bright shining star and go to Oxbridge. Walking out of school partway into the A level course was not in their plans.

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