CSEs

MissAdventure

That sounds likely, except I can't remember sitting two lots of exams.

The main thing is, it doesn't matter now, I suppose.
I'm sure my grade 3 in shorthand is of no interest to anyone.

The Mocks were just internal exams, set by the school. They were taken in February and designed to frighten you into doing some work and revision after 18 months of messing around.

I didn’t take any exams at school, having left at 15 to begin full time work in the civil service in London.
Years later I was a mum with 2 children when I started looking into education opportunities for myself. Did a few courses before applying to and being accepted by a polytechnic now university for a degree. I took my first formal examination which was for my degree in my late 30 s. I studied with a group of A level school leavers, there were about 10 mature students and we all got on well.
Access courses gave those of us who for whatever reason had missed out first time, an opportunity to study at a higher level. Happily I think Access still exists.
As for grade 3 shorthand, well done MissA. I coukd never get past the circle S.

I'm writing your comment down in shorthand as we speak.

Indigo8

At my school if you passed your mock GCE it was free and if you failed the mock but still wanted to take the subject, you paid.

Never heard of that.

I failed Mock History GCE (miserably, 22%!) but didn't have to pay to take it and got a 3. That was the days when they were graded 1 - 9, 1 being the highest grade. Now they're the opposite way round. 🤔

That sounds likely, except I can't remember sitting two lots of exams.

The main thing is, it doesn't matter now, I suppose.
I'm sure my grade 3 in shorthand is of no interest to anyone.

At my school if you passed your mock GCE it was free and if you failed the mock but still wanted to take the subject, you paid.

Cumbrianale , languages were examined at CSE level at most schools. I went to moderation meetings as Head of Modern Languages. Some pupils did O levels as well.

I'm pretty sure my tests showed I was OK at some subjects, but my coursework was terrible, so my mum was advised to pay for o'levels.
She certainly wasn't the sort of person to take it on herself and insist I did them in fact I was threatened that I'd b3tter pass.

The is, unless I've made this whole thing up, in which case I'm quite impressed with my imagination.

My grammar school was part of an experiment when they were looking to bring in CSEs and for that one year we sat both in just English and Maths.
I do remember the exam seemed a lot easier but I suppose it would have been, logically.

Presumably someone was looking at the grades of the people who sat both to look at parity?

I'd forgotten I'd even taken it as I only ever wrote my GCSEs on my CV/job applications.

That's what I thought happened with me.

It's quite possible that secondary modern schools only routinely entered pupils for CSEs and charged the exam entrance fee if parents specifically requested that their child took the O level too.

I did O levels and 16+ in 1985. Got a CSE grade in my 16+ maths so retook it the following year and got a worse grade. Five years later did the GCSE maths and passed despite no tuition!

I attended a semi selective school, which was the town's old grammar school, but which had abolished the 11 plus entry in the sixties and where everyone had to attend a secondary modern until they were 13 and a head of house decided whether you were suitable for the grammar school. This school expected everyone to study for 8 O levels, but there was a CSE class for those considered weak at maths. OTOH the secondary moderns mostly taught CSEs and there was a strong emphasis on craft subjects for boys, where there was continual assessment, and home economics subjects for gitls. Subjects such as languages and music weren't taught to CSE level.

CSEs were introduced in 1965 and continued until 1987.
They were introduced to secondary modern schools which previously did not offer any exams to pupils.

I think they were introduced in 1958 in a few schools, and finished 30yrs later when GCSEs came in. Previously (remember school leaving age was 15 until 1973) there had only been O levels, most pupils left with no qualifications. Some might have had coursework, most didn't. Like O levels there were different boards, mainly based on geographical area.
Pupils who might get an O level grade but might not, the school would double-enter. Occasionally parents would pay for double-entry

Before GCSEs came in, there was a trial exam called the 16+. Candidates could get either an O level or a CSE, if I remember rightly. I’m not sure how many years it ran for, maybe two. I remember being an examiner for it, probably around the early 70 ies.

MiniMoon

I went to a secondary modern and took CSEs. I achieved two 2s two 3s and two 4s. Really they weren't worth taking, I might as well have left school at 15 and gone straight into employment. None of my employers ever asked about them.
I went into nurse training in the good old days when nursing didn't need a degree.

Two girls I knew at primary school who went to the Secondary Modern did a Pre-nursing course at the local Further Education college. I don't know whether the one I kept in touch with took any GCEs at all as CSEs weren't around then. She became a Sister in charge of a large department.

The 11+ was very divisive; some children would have felt they would always be failures. I think her school was very good in fact.

I went to a secondary modern and took CSEs. I achieved two 2s two 3s and two 4s. Really they weren't worth taking, I might as well have left school at 15 and gone straight into employment. None of my employers ever asked about them.
I went into nurse training in the good old days when nursing didn't need a degree.

It sounds more stressful than an 'O' level!!

I taught O level and CSE English Language and Literature classes for several years at a comprehensive school, starting in the late 1970s. No payment was required from parents and a few students were encouraged to take both exams. At both levels, coursework was teacher-assessed and externally moderated and it counted towards the final grade. Some exam boards even offered 100% coursework assessment so there were no final exams at all. That was great for the students but very hard work for the subject teachers!

It definitely wasn’t easy to get a CSE Grade 1 in English. In addition to the written coursework and perhaps a written final exam, students had to give a talk / presentation in front of their teacher and external moderators (teachers from another local school) and then answer a number of questions about their chosen topic.

Those who achieved a CSE Grade 1 in English had worked extremely hard. They deserved to be very proud that it was equivalent to an O Level.

Actually, thinking about it, it's not really fair.

Students who get a D or equivalent in GCSE are told they've failed yet with the other system, they have passed a CSE.
A good set of CSEs used to be enough for entry to many vocational courses.
Sadly, vocational course are undervalued in this country.

Ah, yes.
I did a mixture, too.
I passed maths- no idea how!!!!

I never even understood what on earth they were on about in maths lessons.

My school put you in for the CSE in some subjects as well as the O level in case you missed the O level pass. I was entered into 7 O levels and 4 CSE's- a total of 32 exams in June 1973, it was very hard going. The only subject I didn't get an O level pass in was maths, I got a CSE grade 2. I retook O level maths but still didn't pass....

MissAdventure

I must have been in a league all my own, I expect.

I think they did a mix at some of the new comprehensive schools for a while, before they were amalgamated with GCE and GCSEs were introduced.

My mum told me a fib!!
And I believed it!!