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.

---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---

Yes, it could come up with odd results.
My daughter got an A in O-Level English and a C in Latin.
Any "fule" took English because it was compulsory for many jobs and university. Latin tended to be taken by the brighter pupils and so it's likely that the A was obtained with lower marks than the C.

...and everyone has forgotten to mention the CSE - easier qualifications taken by kids not up to the O Levels. The main difference was that CSEs were coursework based, and O levels were exam based, but the qualifications weren't equivalent. A top grade CSE (CSE Grade 1) was only the equivalent of an O Level Grade C (3rd grade down). You were allocated to either CSE (not too bright kids) or O Level (the brighter kids) by your school.

To my utter shame I got a CSE Grade 4 (4!!!!!) in Art. Normally you only had to spell your name right to get a Grade 4 in anything.

The rest of my exams were O Levels with pretty good grades though :-)

So the whole point of the new GCSE was to get rid of this double system and the stigma it gave to the kids only taking CSEs. All kids take the same qualifications.

Of course, it just means that they end up with really low GCSE grades instead of a good grade CSE, so I'm doubtful how helpful that really is.

I've been lying about my O levels for so long, I don't know how many I've got. Took nine but failed a heap. (Going to class helps)

Got an A in maths which I took in the fourth year (before I started skiving)

I think it's unrealistic to expect an article that mentions the term O or A level to then give an explanation of the British grading system. If you read an article with references to a US grade of A or gradepoint average of 3.5, you don't then always read a paragraph explaining the entire US grading system (which can vary a lot between schools anyway).

I never even took the SATs as an American, and my last degree was a a master's degree from UCLA, a good university. It's not required in the US, it's a private test that is optional and just some universities or colleges require it. I didn't go to one that did. SAT is just an abbreviation of the company's name for its test (scholastic aptitude test given by the Educational Testing Service).

I always remembered hearing the most about O and A levels when I remember Princess Diana saying she never passed any O levels and didn't even take the A levels (she said that in a BBC interview).

I would have thought a practicing journalist would have looked up what those meant when first encountered, if they didn't know what they were. Especially if reading fiction and newspapers their entire life about this and never knowing what they mean. Also, a journalist should know the English language fairly well (one would hope) and that the word ordinary is not necessarily pejorative in the English language, it can simply mean "usual".

Hey friends, it was intended in a lighthearted way, please take it that way! I already acknowledged that I should have Googled the terms -- I guess my befuddlement dated from before the Google era, where we can get instant answers to every puzzle!

Back in the the way-back, in my pre-college days, SATs were almost unheard of, required only of Ivy League applicants. Most colleges had no pre-entrance test requirementa at all. That led to a small "firestorm" in my infamous newspaper career:

I was assigned to find out why so many students were being flunked out of our State's "Big Ten" University (my alma mater). I discovered it was because it admitted anyone with a high school diploma from the state...even a 1-room school up in the boonies. So the University was forced to wash out the "incapables." I wrote the obvious suggestion that the U institute an entrance test (and also that students should be required to hold a "B" average in order to have a car on campus). The world exploded! Quel Horreur!!

Numerous investigative articles later, the public still outraged, I did the sensible thing -- I packed my books and moved to NYC.

Hey! A a Scot, I did O Grades and Highers, but we STILL referred to them as O Levels.

And all of mine were As (shame I can't say the same about my Highers)

Actually we don't have SATs any more, they were dumped in 1991. We just call them SATs, they are actually National Tests.

My apologies for not mentioning the Scottish system.

Sheila, that's interesting, at my school in Edinburgh we never referred to O-grades as O-levels... I think they were marked on a scale of 1-4, too, rather than A,B,C etc.

I was at school just as the changeover to Standard grades happened, so we were the last year to take O-grades. One of our teachers had us sit a couple of Standard grade papers (French and Spanish) just to act as guinea pigs - we all agreed they were astonishingly (indeed, insultingly) easy.

Anyone who thinks exams haven't got easier needs their head testing. I reckon a modern-day GCSE (or whatever they're called now) equals about a fifteenth of an O-level. Practically every CV we got from job seekers (at my fomer workplace) had 10 A-stars - completely meaninglesss.

Did anyone else catch 'That'll teach 'em' on Channel 4? - Simultaneously eye-opening, alarming and hilarious.

Actually, travelerjan, if you're going to insist on journalistic precision, it hasn't been the Scholastic Aptitude Test for years.

It's the Scholastic Assessment Test. Check your house stylebook.

And for a journalist, your take on capitalization is a bit -- archaic.

Bluehour, that's because I AM archaic -- haven't held a paid editorial post for 6 years (blissfully retired)... and admit haven't worked in Education publications for longer than that.

As for Capitalization, when I'm doing it on Forums, I follow any rule I want -- I often capitalize Just for Emphasis. Punctuation.. same way.

Sheila

When I sat my O levels and Highers they weren't even graded! It was a straight forward pass or fail. The results were always sent in those large brown envelopes that filled you with fear.

Now I really feel my age.

bill

Oh, and do you remember the 11+ exam, or as we called it 'the qualifying'?

bill

I hate to say it, Bill, but I'm even too young for the 11+.

It was still spoken about when I was young, but we did IQs.

My Os and As weren't graded either.
In my day, the 11 plus made the difference between going to university or ending up in a dead-end job. It was nerve racking,
I can still remember walking to school and hearing running footsteps.
My mother was so out of breath that she couldn't speak but she was waving a big envelope with the news that I'd passed.
They say that children today are stressed pshaw!

"So every week I was one of those listed on the school noticeboards under "Remnants". Not that I'm bitter, or anything. "

Oh my, PatrickLondon. Visions of torn strips of discarded cloth are coming to mind....

My sister-in-law, hearing me relate our exchange, wants you to know she still....remembers, uh, fondly the elementary school teacher who segregated her class into different musical subgroups. There were the canaries, and then there were the robins, and then there were the blue jays. She was a 'blue jay'.

In case you don't have blue jays in your part of the world, this in effect announced one to the world as 'can't carry a tune in the proverbial bucket.'

Interesting explanations, now it's crystal clear.