Back জিসিএসই Bengali/Bangla General Certificate of Secondary Education Catalan Tystysgrif Gyffredinol Addysg Uwchradd CY General Certificate of Secondary Education German Certificado General de Educación Secundaria (GCSE) (Reino Unido) Spanish گواهی عمومی آموزش ثانوی FA General Certificate of Secondary Education French General Certificate of Secondary Education ID GCSE Japanese General Certificate of Secondary Education Malay
| Acronym | GCSE |
|---|---|
| Type | Prerequisite to a school leaving certificate |
| Skills tested | Varies depending on subject, but in almost all GCSE subjects, general knowledge, fundamental writing, and numerical skills are tested. |
| Year started | 1988 |
| Score range |
|
| Restrictions on attempts | All units for a single subject must be taken in one examination series. Only the first attempt of a student is recorded for school league table purposes, but students may take a subject as many times as they like. |
| Regions | England, Wales and Northern Ireland |
| Languages | English, Irish a and Welsh b |
| Fee | Free to students in schools. Resits and private entries incur variable fees. |
| ^a Irish-medium exams are only available in Northern Ireland, from the CCEA exam board. ^b Welsh-medium exams are only available in Wales, from the WJEC exam board. | |
The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. Public schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. However, private schools in Scotland often choose to follow the English GCSE system.[1]
Each GCSE qualification is offered as a specific school subject, with the most commonly awarded ones being: English literature, English language, mathematics, science (double & triple), history, geography, art, design and technology (D&T), business studies, economics, music, and modern foreign languages (E.g. Spanish, French, German) (MFL).[2][3]
The Department for Education has drawn up a list of core subjects known as the English Baccalaureate for England based on the results in eight GCSEs, which includes both English language and English literature, mathematics, science (physics, chemistry, biology, computer science), geography or history, and an ancient or modern foreign language.[4]
Studies for GCSE examinations take place over a period of two or three academic years (depending upon the subject, school, and exam board). They usually start in Year 9 or Year 10 for the majority of pupils, with around two mock exams- serving as a simulation for the actual tests- normally being sat during the first half of Year 11, and the final GCSE examinations nearer to the end of spring, in England and Wales.[a]
- ^ "GCSE options 2024: What GCSE options are there?". BBC Bitesize. Retrieved 28 October 2023.
- ^ "GCSE subject content". Gov.uk. November 2013. Retrieved 28 October 2023.
- ^ Editor, Think Student (20 February 2022). "The 10 Most Popular GCSE Subjects – Ranked for 2024". Think Student. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
{{cite web}}:|last=has generic name (help) - ^ "English Baccalaureate (EBacc)". Gov.uk. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
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