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The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is the name of a set of British qualifications, taken by secondary school students, at age of 14-16 in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Gibraltar (in Scotland, the equivalent is the Standard Grade). Structure GCSE courses are taken in a variety of subjects, which are usually decided by the students themselves between the ages of 13 and 14 (in Year 9). Study of chosen subjects begins at age 14 (Year 10), and final examinations are then taken at age 16 (Year 11). Contrary to popular belief, GCSEs are not compulsory, but they are by far the most common qualification taken by 14-16-year-old students. The only legal requirement is that English, Mathematics, Science, Physical Education and Religious Education are studied during Key Stage 4 (the GCSE years of school); in England, some form of ICT and Citizenship must also be studied and, in Wales, Welsh must also be studied. These subjects do not have to be taught for any examination (or even be discrete lessons), though it is normal for at least English, Mathematics and Science to be studied to GCSE level. For the reasons above, virtually all candidates take GCSEs in English, Mathematics and Science. In addition, many schools also require that students take English Literature, at least one Modern Foreign Language, at least one Design and Technology subject, Religious Education (often a short, or 'half', course) and ICT (though increasingly this is the DiDA, rather than the GCSE). Students can then fill the remainder of their timetable (normally totalling nine different subjects) with their own choice of subjects (see list below). Short Course GCSEs (worth half a regular GCSE) can also be taken. At the end of the two-year GCSE course, each student receives a grade for each subject. These grades, from best to worst, are: In most subjects, one or more coursework assignments may also be completed. Coursework can contribute to anything from 20-60% of a student's final grade, with more practical subjects, such as Design and Technology and Music, often having a heavier coursework element. The rest of a student's grade (normally the majority) is determined by their performance in examinations. These exams may either be terminal exams at the end of Year 11, a series of modular examinations taken throughout the course, or a combination of the two. Students can sometimes resit modular examinations later in the course and attempt to improve their grade. In many subjects, there are two different 'tiers' of examination offered: Higher, where students can achieve grades A 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 more often two, GCSEs (typically known as Double Award Science), or with Biology, Chemistry, and Physics separately (where three GCSEs are awarded, one for each science). There are now five examination boards offering GCSEs: AQA, OCR, Edexcel, the WJEC and the CCEA; while all boards are regulated by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) - a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) - the boards are self-sufficient organisations. Traditionally, there were a larger 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. The Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) acts as a single voice for the Awarding Bodies, and assists them create common standards, regulations and guidance. Students receive the results of their GCSEs in the fourth week of August (the week after A Level results). The CCEA publish their results on the Tuesday and the other examination boards publish theirs on the Thursday. Normally, students have to go to their school to collect their results. History GCSEs were 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 equivalent to O Level Grade C and CSE Grade 1. The table below shows what each GCSE grade is equivalent to (note that the O Level grades are the ones used at the end of the system): The basic format of the GCSE has been same since its inception, though many minor changes have been made. Initally, there were three tiers for examinations: Higher (grades A In 1994, the A 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. Criticism 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. It is illuminating to look back at some examinations from the past to see how standards of questions have altered. In recent years, concern about standards has led 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. However, the other side of the argument is that the GCSE system is just as hard as the old GCE/O-level system it replaced and that the recently rising numbers of top grades are due to better student preparations from school. 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. List of GCSE subjects Note: Not all schools offer many of the subjects in this list. Also note that subjects that are extremely rare, such as minor languages or subjects taught by only one or two schools, are not listed below. Effectively compulsory subjects Common subjects Uncommon subjects See also Revision Although there are many different revision websites covering different exam board syllabuses and subjects at various skill levels, below are some of the more popular websites used by schools for student revision. Examination boards UK government education bodies | |||||||
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