GCSEs are p*** easy
Ben_Caesar
Posts: 307 Forum Member
✭
Seriously, I just can't understand how one could fail these exams. Especially when year by year they get easier. Just my opinion after looking at a lot of the past papers (especially the English papers).
0
Comments
Bear in mind though that we are looking back through the lens of many years' experience, improved knowledge, and further education.
GCSEs didn't feel very easy to me at the time, though looking back they were more-or-less general knowledge quizzes.
You and I sat them around the same time I guess, OP? 1997/98
I'm guessing it wasn't English.
I got a D in English
But I Just put all C's on my CV
None, I took my exams years ago. But I have seen a lot of the past exam papers of recent years, esp the main subjects and they're laughable compared to the papers I had taken as a teen.
Heaven forbid we congratulate people on their hard work. People can be so dismissive
This is true.
Yeah, late 90s. Plus we had none of this BTEC nonsense.
Or maybe it's just that an exam aimed at 16 year olds is not challenging to someone with 20 years more life experience.
I saw a higher-level Maths GCSE paper recently and, although I recognised all the topics, even as a Maths graduate I had to dig deep to answer some of the questions on there (mostly a memory problem as it's been a while since I did any calculus in the real world). I certainly don't remember integration being a GCSE subject in 1990.
Give them Their Day.
I took my GCSEs in 2000. What is wrong with a BTEC? I have a BTEC in Foundation Art & Design which is required if you wish to go further in that area. Of course I don't have a degree. I never went to Uni. After my one year at Art College I decided I wanted to work rather than study. Now I'm an Art Editor... Not bad for someone with a BTEC
I find it very sad that we can't congratulate kids for their hard work. Do you remember the worry and stress at the time, when you took your exams? That dread, waiting for results to arrive and then those talks which made GCSEs sound like the be all and end all of your life... Until A-Levels then you had the same talk again.
What would be the point in that?
As I say, it has been going on for generations... the first thing my dad muttered when I told him my results, 25 years ago was that the tests were easier than in his day. Slightly cruel I thought.
It's wrong and I despise people who do it. Even if they are easier (and I don't believe that to be the case), it's unforgivable to belittle the achievements of young people just leaving school.
Fair play to him.
When people say that they are easy they should think back to when they were 16.
My daughter got 7 B's and 2 C's today.
She had to work really hard for those grades as she didn't do very well in her sats at the end of primary school.
I disagree with the OP, I think the exams now are a lot harder than they were a few years back.
It felt like they were belittling the hard work I and many of my peers were putting in to do well and get good grades.
Yes, the content of the exams isn't that complicated, but you have to remember that the people sitting these exams are much younger than you are and they aren't just sitting one exam; they're sitting probably over 20 papers in around 10 subjects all at the same time.
Also, you have to remember that everyone is different. I managed to get 9 A*'s and 2 A's without much effort at all, whilst some work every day for hours on end just to get C's and B's.
My favourite is 'well what's the point of these if everyone passes them?!' which of course shows their ignorance since everything down to and including a G is a pass but anything below a C is of little use.
Frankly you'd hope adults would look at GCSE papers and think they weren't too bad - they're designed to be taken by children!