GCSE Results

I did mine in 1999. Got 4 x Bs, 4 x C's and an E and an F in French and Art.

Looking back I was lazy as fuck and didn't try at all. My mam gave me too much space and I basically did no revision apart from reading through the revision guides in my mates house on a morning before each exam. Absolutely crackers.
My lad go 7,8s and some 6's last year, was giving it the big un, he's now doing A-levels, he's not so cocky now, that said, its the maths he's finding hard, no help here, I was shit at maths.
I scraped a C at maths. Hated it. Then had to do far higher level stuff training for my job. Doing differentiation and integration, fuck that! How do you do algebra with two unknowns ?! :lol:
 
Last edited:


7 = A
8 = A*
9 = A**

FFS man, just make an "A" the hardest to get, its all bonkers.
And only us could create a system "out of 9"

When A* first came out in about 1995, it was supposed to be to make it really clear who the top 1% was.
Then it became 5%
Then it became a fairly standard result, and now they've had to create an A**. Why not just not fuck up the system in the first place so that they didn't need to add stars to letters. Its bloody stupid.

When I did mine the brainiest girl I've ever known got 5 As and 6 A*s now it seems like everyone's knocking them out. Her mam said to mine that she wanted her to spend more time with me as she was worried she was studying too much:lol:
 
My son passed 6. With the exception of Maths, he was forecast to fail. Mixed emotions as I do not know whether I am relieved or if failing his exams might have given him the short sharp shock that he needs???
 
My daughter done hers last year mate, they explained it to us and because it was the first year of the new grading system they essentially had to squeeze 3 years into 2...

Used to take your options then have 2 years schooling before gcse's. Then it was changed to 3. The bairn and all the other kids of her age had to change midway to incorporate the new system which I thought was really unfair on them.. the bairn done ok but was expecting better, I'm sure there are lots of kids in the same boat from 2018.

Thing is how do you explain to an employer that you were in the first year of the changeover and what that meant for people of that age! Also if there's a kid a year older sat with A's and B's as opposed to 5's, 6's, and 7''s who do you think they are going to go with...

Hard enough time for the kids anyway without moving goal posts on them Galway through...

However well done to all getting results today... I found it hard just to turn up for mine so if you've got a grade well done...

It's really intense and hard going, essentially places the whole 3 years on having a good few weeks. Definitely must have been very unfair on those who changed half way through. You'd have thought it better to wait till they'd completed their course.
 
She's done exactly what she needs to to get to the next step. That's what GCSEs should be about, they're not an end in themselves. I scraped my O levels, mainly C's and it never did me any harm

She joined the police cadets when she was 13 with one eye on the future cos she wants to be a plod after her education. I'd argue that was a better move than exam results. Serving her apprenticeship of sorts already.
 
It's really intense and hard going, essentially places the whole 3 years on having a good few weeks. Definitely must have been very unfair on those who changed half way through. You'd have thought it better to wait till they'd completed their course.

That's what we thought, change it round for the kids starting comp and phase the old system out gradually rather than 1 year group being disadvantaged to make wholesale changes.. there's probably an explanation as to why that didn't happen but I definitely think leavers in 2018 were disadvantaged.
 
gcse's are not the be all and end all for teenagers FFS they only 16 , loads go on to do really well who didn't get great gcse grades and vice versa, A levels aren't for everyone and in some cases just lead to pointless degrees with no job/ career path at the end , the trend now is to stay on and do A levels but for half the kids that's not always the best path to take
 
7 = A
8 = A*
9 = A**

FFS man, just make an "A" the hardest to get, its all bonkers.
And only us could create a system "out of 9"

When A* first came out in about 1995, it was supposed to be to make it really clear who the top 1% was.
Then it became 5%
Then it became a fairly standard result, and now they've had to create an A**. Why not just not fuck up the system in the first place so that they didn't need to add stars to letters. Its bloody stupid.

The out of 9 thing is funny - when they first introduced it, obviously this was questioned - why do we need it to be out of 9? Isn’t 10 better? Etc

The genuine response I heard at the time (when I was going through my PGCE) was that it left room to extend to 10 if needed in the future :lol:
 
Me brother has netted ten this morning - not a born academic so mega proud of the lad, plus an A (or a 7 these days) in Maths! :cool:

Any success stories out there today? Best of luck to all.

Seveeennnn! Hours of fun with the results there :lol: Len Goodman likes this!
 
gcse's are not the be all and end all for teenagers FFS they only 16 , loads go on to do really well who didn't get great gcse grades and vice versa, A levels aren't for everyone and in some cases just lead to pointless degrees with no job/ career path at the end , the trend now is to stay on and do A levels but for half the kids that's not always the best path to take

Exactly this.^^ I fully agree. Life does not end with poor gcse results, nor do good results guarantee a decent career!! Myself and others I know of, did badly at "o" level, but went on later to get ONC, HNC, and Degree's through the part-time route, while working, earning, and progressing in our careers to senior level.,...... and alternatively, we all know stories of the media studies, performing arts, and sports science graduates....... flipping burgers..... but at the end of the day, as long as you are happy, doing the job you're doing, who's to say that career is wrong?
 
Exactly this.^^ I fully agree. Life does not end with poor gcse results, nor do good results guarantee a decent career!! Myself and others I know of, did badly at "o" level, but went on later to get ONC, HNC, and Degree's through the part-time route, while working, earning, and progressing in our careers to senior level.,...... and alternatively, we all know stories of the media studies, performing arts, and sports science graduates....... flipping burgers..... but at the end of the day, as long as you are happy, doing the job you're doing, who's to say that career is wrong?

Kind of hoping mine go down an apprenticeship/day release route asI did rather than 4/5 years pissing about before entering the real world green as grass.
As you say, each to their own.
 

Back
Top