British Code for Student Tests
 

Now that I've asked my dumb question about bookmarking, and received clear answers from kind fodorites, I'm emboldened to ask another Obvious Question.

I've been reading English Fiction and Newspapers all my long life and for all this time encountering stuff about children taking their "O" Levels and "A" levels. I have even read looooong articles in the Guardian dealing with controversies regarding the testing system.

However, in NONE of these sources is there EVER an explanation of what "O" and "A" mean.

As a practicing journalist I always had the rule drilled into me; the first time one uses an abbreviation or "code word" it is obligatory to spell it out (if an abbreviation) or explain it (if a code word). In every article about the USA's dreaded pre-college SATs, buried somewhere are the words, Scholastic Aptitude Tests.

I recently heard it said that "A" means "advanced." Then, asked I, what is "O"? The answer: "Ordinary."
How cruel. To make children go thru angst to pass a test that is then called "Ordinary".

PS: I just now Googled this term (which I should have done before) and it said "O" level: Archaic UK Term.

So I guess my question now is, if it is archaic, why do I still see references to it? and why is it never explained anywhere?

Don't know why you still here it - it's been obsolete in the UK for at least a decade so whilst it still occurs in fiction it's not a term that would be used in the newspapers these days except by readers of the Daily Mail / Torygraph who consider anything more modern than the Black Death as proof that "it was better in my day".

The current equivalent is GCSE

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General...dary_Education

Back in the dim past when I was at school an O Level was a GCE Ordinary Level and an A level was aGCE advanced level. (GCE = General Certificate of Education) O Levels were normally taken at age 16 after 5 years of high school. A levels taken after a further 2 years study and were mainly used for university entry.

obtaining 5 GCE O Levels was the norm for entry into certain jobs eg nursing.



Along side O Levels were CSE's, in theory if you got a grade 1 CSE (top mark CSE's were graded 1 -5) it was inequivalent to an O Level grade C or above (O Levels graded A-E, ABC were pass grades, DE fail grades)

In the mid 1980's O Levels and CSE's were combined into GCSE exams General Certificate of Secondary Education. These were originally graded A-G, but then an A* (pronounced A star) was introduced as a 'super A grade'.

The main difference with GCSE's is the way they are marked. O levels were graded not just on what you had written in the exam, but on what other people had written. There were always the same percentage of passes at each grade. GCSE's are graded on what the students write. SO if you got 80% on a GCSE maths paper, you will get a B grade and that will be the same each year. For O Levels you could get 80% in a maths exam and it might be a B grade, but if a lot of people did better you might only get a C on the other hand other people may not do well and you could get an A grade.

Another change was the A level being split into AS (advanced subsidiary) and A2. So instead of studying for 2 years and taking a couple of final exams students take AS after 1 year and A2 after the second year. You cannot take A2 without AS and the combined AS and A2 = A Level.

The reason you still see references to O Levels is because they are still accepted as entry to courses and employers understand them.

If you apply for a course it will probably ask for GCSE grade C or above English and Maths (or equivalent)Those equivalents are O Level or CSE grade 1 or iGCSE.

These exams are mainly taken by teenagers, they are our version of a high school certificate but each qualification is in an individual subject so you can usually tell someone's age by which exams they did. eg I'm 41 (today - happy birthday to me) and I took O Levels. People 2-3 years younger than me took GCSE's.

But the exams can be taken by anyone, so you get the odd freaky 8 year old with an A Level and people like my mum who took 2 O Levels the last year they were available and a GCSE the year after.

Got that? Clear as mud? Just to complicate things further, although GCSE replaced O Levels in the UK countries abroad still use it.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/d...00/2516847.stm

http://www.britishcouncil.org/sierra...-exams-gce.htm

As a British person, I have the same problem with the abbreviation "SAT"! It's never explained or spelled out in any literature I've ever read.

Incidentally, GSCEs replaced O-levels in England and Wales, while Scotland switched from "O-Grades" to "Standard grades".

Aside: There are different school schemes in the UK. Private and Public! Class distinctions are obvious. One attempt to 'level the playing field' is the International Baccalaureate school. It operates from first grade through HS.

What a weird training the poster must have received.

She ignores it, talking about the USA. So do all US (oops, but somehow I don't think this audience needs spoonfeeding) newspapers when they universally refer to the FBI, CIA and some weird things called the NFL, NHL and NBA. I've absolutely never seen any newspaper - even the real style fascists like the New York Times - explain what a GOP is when it's at home. Unexplained oddities abound throughout American media - like MTA, BART, or CPR.

Actually, American freedom hasn't yet been debauched to a point where there's some institition defining what's 'obligatory' in how newpapers write. True, there's a bizarre heresy among many American writers that somewhere there are inviolable rules of English, whereas here we believe in freedom. But most US papers judge for themselves how much explanation their readers need.

In America, just as in the UK (oh dear, there I go again) I suspect overexplanation - and excess pedantry - is something most readers just won't put up with.

<<< Aside: There are different school schemes in the UK. Private and Public! Class distinctions are obvious. One attempt to 'level the playing field' is the International Baccalaureate school. It operates from first grade through HS. >>>

Well without introducing the Scottish schooling system, most private & state schools do GCSE's & A Levels, some private schools OFFER the IB instead to A Levels and there are a few state schools that offer the IB.

There are 3 different IB's depending on the age of the child. Most pupils will only be doing the final stage

"Public" in the UK means a specific type of Private school

Flanner?? What exactly is your point?

The OP has asked a perfectly sensible question.

We live in a world where abbreviations and acronyms form part of everyday life, are we all supposed to know exactly what every one means?

To travelerjan, people of my generation still refer to the GCSE's that our kids took in the last few years as 'O' levels. Strange habit but one which will probably never go away, in me anyway.

:-)

Muck

Changing the subject rather, and moving from abbreviations to words, can one of the U.S. posters tell me what "homecoming" is?

>I suspect overexplanation - and excess pedantry - is something most readers just won't put up with.<

Shouldn't that be "is something up with which most readers will not put"?


>I have the same problem with the abbreviation "SAT"! It's never explained or spelled out ...

I went to the official College Board (the folks who administer the SATs) website. They don't tell what it means, either. :)

SAT = Scholastic Aptitude Test

((I))

Not to confuse you, but we also have SATs in the UK
http://www.satsguide.co.uk/

And just to confuse, teachers in England also have to contend with SATs: but our SATs are "standard assessment tests" at "key stages" before the GCSE exams. They're intended mainly to work out how each cohort of pupils is doing overall, and what that says about how well the teachers are teaching. Allegedly.

The government publishes league tables to show how well each school does in its SATs results

Chartley - "homecoming" is a high school event, usually a big football (American style) game where you play your cross town rivals and is often followed by a parade and a formal dance. Usually alumni will come and support their team as well. At the dance the student body can elect a homecoming king and queen as a popularity contest, in case you weren't already aware of who the cool kids are!

Homecoming is not just a high school event. Most colleges and universities in the US also have homecomings. These events are usually held in October.

Thingorjus,
Dartmouth alum

Flanner, flanner, flanner, flanner.

Travelerjan drops a quip like 'How cruel - to make children go thru angst to pass a test that is then called 'Ordinary' ---- I think, flanner, this should have been a large clue to the tone in which you should take her post.

(And travelerjan, I laughed, at least. I once had a British friend patiently explain to me the system, but neither of us copped to that....goooooood one!)

Calling someone "Ordinary" is hardly worth noticing, you see, Sue.

I never got the hang of rugby when I was at school, but you still had to turn out on Wednesday afternoons for some compulsory physical activity (those were the days, eh?). So every week I was one of those listed on the school noticeboards under "Remnants". Not that I'm bitter, or anything.

Thanks for the clarification re. SATs!

Thank you Thin -- my answer was incomplete.

BKP
dropout (I know, I know, dropped out to follow my husband. Yes, my parents are still upset about it.)

GCSE's are not as difficult as the old O levels.

I got a B in O level Physics in 79, twenty five years later, dating a physics teacher, took the GCSE paper, with a hangover, over breakfast and got a B.

25 years since studying the subject with zero preparation.

Either I am astonishingly clever, or the exams are a lot easier.