O-Levels

[nbc%inf.rl.ac.uk@mitvma.mit.edu]

OK. Here is more than you will probably wish to know about O-Levels.

>From:	graham@UG.CS.DAL.CA (Michael Graham)
>Subject: 0 levels????
>i remember reading somewhere that Kate had ten or so "0 levels". What does
>this mean. Obviously it means that she is very intelligent

O-Levels are GCE (General Certificate of Education) Ordinary Level Exams
usually taken in the fifth year of secondary education (at age c. 16).
There then follow A-Levels after another two years and then it is
on to University if you are lucky enough.

At my school it was normal to take 8 O-Levels at one time with possibly
one or two extra whilst studying for A-Levels where one did 3 main subjects.
The O-Levels were graded from A (top) to F (fail).

Just how "good" Kate was depends on what her grades were (ok I know exams
are only one test of intelligence). In terms of number of passes then 10
is very good, as even someone as obviously gifted as myself only got 9 :-)
:-) I believe sone bright sparks used to do 12 or so (doing subjects
like RI, music and art, spinning and hand-loom weaving etc.)

>| From: Henry Chai <chai%utflis%toronto.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA>
>| Subject: O-levels
>| The U of London gives a (yearly?) public exam called the General
>| Certificate of Education Exam (GCE), of which there are the ordinary
>| level (O) and advanced level (A), on a host of academic subjects

GCE exams were set and marked by a number of "Boards" not just London,
including Cambridge, Oxford, Midlands, Northern etc. One could sit an
exam set by any board not just the one for your geographical area.
They tend to set slightly different syllabuses.

>From:   martinn@csri.toronto.edu (Tippi Chai)
>Subject: Re: O levels????
>>graham@ug.cs.dal.ca (Michael Graham) writes:
>>So Kate had 10 (O) levels...hmm
>>Can you get your O level by getting a 50% on the exam?
>
>*NO* *WAY*.  The British system considers anything below grade C
>a failure, so you need at least 60%.

Sorry this is NOT true. The pass mark was nearer 40% for a grade E and
people certainly have gone on to do A-Levels and then University
with grade E O-Levels. Clearly if all 10 of Kate's O-Levels were grade E
then she would not be considered particularly intelligent (by the educational
system) but in general this would not preclude anyone from continuing
in further education.

>From: rhill@pnet01.cts.com (Ronald Hill)
>Subject: Re: O levels????
>
>But why would she have so many more than needed?  Is this as unusual as they
>say?

Yes it is - as I say, 8 was he norm at my school. The idea was to give you a
broad base at age 16 and then you took 3 subjects at A-Level to become
more specific. There is debate in educational circles as to whether
restricting A-Levels to 3 subjects is a bad idea, and 5 have been mooted.
Neil

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