Are GCSEs important later on in life?

Glaucus · 22 Apr 2009 at 16:33

Nearly all jobs ask for C grade or above in English and maths or equivalent. so very important.

Tefal · 22 Apr 2009 at 16:34

C+ in English and maths are about the only important ones.

SideWinder · 22 Apr 2009 at 16:36

AcidHell2 said:
Nearly all jobs ask for C grade or above in English and maths or equivalent. so very important.

Tefal said:
C+ in English and maths are about the only important ones.

Yeah, what i thought. Ah.

Wonder how much it'll cost for her to do it...and at the end of the day, she can explain she got the GCSEs after University to help her get a job and so on.

Spike560 · 22 Apr 2009 at 16:46

Just to add, for grad schemes they all wanted GCSEs (such as minimum Maths and English requirements) and as part of one application had to bring my GCSE certificates in on the assessment day...

aslco · 22 Apr 2009 at 16:47

Not really, just important for a few Uni's in a FEW cases if there are lots of peopel applying to a coourse....

If you take a gap year after a-levels then when you appkly to Uni with full A-levels (as ooposed to AS's) then its even less likley they will be looked at.

by the way i did a thread asking this last year

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17876162&highlight=GCSE+importance&page=3

Edit: oops for a job.....well....GCSE shouldnt be needed at all if she has A-levels in maths and english....if not...unlucky.

OpenToSuggestions · 22 Apr 2009 at 16:51

My CV only has the number of GCSE's I have, it doesn't say I got this grade in amths, this in english etc.....as if I did then there would be no room on the CV for me to mention jobs etc.
GCSE's are nothing special and everyone has loads of them as they aren't very hard, and consequently aren't worth that much.

My CV says :
X amount of GCSE's over grade C
Alevels in XYZ grades blah blah blah.

If she has any concerns then as she has Alevels then she is far further up the learning curve from GCSE's and going back and doing your GCSE's at evening in night school would be a breeze.

Where is her degree from?? If it is from somewhere good then it shows her abilities far above GCSE's. If it is from somewhere where pretty much anyone can get in then her grades from earlier life will be more important.

Hope this helps

.

Barks · 22 Apr 2009 at 16:52

Getting straight A*s... No. There are better qualifications to academically judge people on.

Having a pass in English and Maths on the other hand is a different story. Most employers won't look at you unless you've got this minimum.

OpenToSuggestions · 22 Apr 2009 at 16:55

SideWinder said:
Yeah, what i thought. Ah.
Wonder how much it'll cost for her to do it...and at the end of the day, she can explain she got the GCSEs after University to help her get a job and so on.

It is never too late go back and get maths and english GCSE's

In a job interview a simple explanation that she was out of the UK at GCSE age (and so took them later in life) would be suffice. I would say going back and getting your high school grades would look like she has have gone out the way to better herrself....as she pretty much have

EDIT: For my bad grammer

SideWinder · 22 Apr 2009 at 16:55

But surely she'll have to study for 5 GCSEs? Not just the English and Maths? Or is it different because she's going backwards a bit?

University is quite new so not very high up the ranks - good college joined together - Roehampton. BPS recognised though.

OpenToSuggestions · 22 Apr 2009 at 16:59

SideWinder said:
But surely she'll have to study for 5 GCSEs? Not just the English and Maths? Or is it different because she's going backwards a bit?

University is quite new so not very high up the ranks - good college joined together - Roehampton. BPS recognised though.

The 5 GCSE thing from my experience has only been relevant for applying to college courses, getting 6th form entry and the like.

The grades an applciation asks for depends on the intelligence needed for the job. Uni placement year jobs don't really care about GCSE's, my job at Alton Towers asked for GCSE's and Alevels and Tesco asked for NONE - They actually assume you don't have any!

Whether 5GCSE's are needed or not, a minimum C in maths and C in english (no idea if you need to do both english GCSE's or not) is essential imo. The GCSE english that I did was a double one so that is 2 GCSE's right there

(no idea if that is the case for all english GCSE's though!)

G-MAN2004 · 22 Apr 2009 at 17:03

Greenlizard0 said:
GCSE's are only useful for university because A-Level's haven't been finished.

I'm planning for uni in the US, and they all require your GCSE grades, as well as A-level. Not exactly sure why though, as I wouldn't have thought they were needed.

SideWinder · 22 Apr 2009 at 17:03

So the basic advice is that is may vary from job to job...graduate schemes certainly want them though, at least the 2 GCSEs. Will pass this information on.

Any ideas about the cost of taking a GCSE course?

Very helpful replies as per always.

G-MAN2004 · 22 Apr 2009 at 17:05

SideWinder said:
So the basic advice is that is may vary from job to job...graduate schemes certainly want them though, at least the 2 GCSEs. Will pass this information on.

Any ideas about the cost of taking a GCSE course?

Very helpful replies as per always.

http://www.ocr.org.uk/news/2007/item_60.html may help. Not too sure.

OpenToSuggestions · 22 Apr 2009 at 17:06

SideWinder said:
Any ideas about the cost of taking a GCSE course?

With Alevels ABB already, I would contact the local high school and get the required text books and study at home and just go in for the exams (in maths I would do this). I bet this way the maths GCSE would not cost a huge amount - I have some idea of a GCSE costing £50 but no idea where I got this from.

EDIT: The link posted above seems right

ZG002 · 22 Apr 2009 at 18:08

Im pretty sure there are "keyskill" course's out there which are the same thing. I remember when i started my electrical stuff that i didnt really have to do keyskills because i had my maths and english gcse's. All i can really see it holding her back in is with anal uni applications or sending her cv in for places. As they tend to skim over them and the ones that dont seem to meet the basics are a glance (ie not having the required gcse's) get thrown in the bin. If She gets the interview i cant see it being a problem.

FrostedNipple · 22 Apr 2009 at 18:19

I would have thought it depends what her a-levels are in. A psychology degree doesn't prove she has basic maths skills, which is what most companies are looking for, however if she has a c in maths for a level then the gcse becomes redundant.

dowie · 22 Apr 2009 at 18:27

edit - actually re-read the OP - no I'm pretty sure she won't need them tbh.. she has good A-levels and a degree and wasn't in the country when she would have been doing her GCSEs.

I presume that Columbia is like the US in that they get some sort of high school diploma at 18?

dowie · 22 Apr 2009 at 18:36

Perhaps she could make a note of it on the CV - i.e. GCSEs - not applicable, I was educated in Columbia until 16 then moved to England in order to pursue A levels at XYZ college - or something to that effect.

SideWinder · 22 Apr 2009 at 18:48

FrostedNipple said:
I would have thought it depends what her a-levels are in. A psychology degree doesn't prove she has basic maths skills, which is what most companies are looking for, however if she has a c in maths for a level then the gcse becomes redundant.

Does involve maths, just for the record. And a lot of maths at that. Not all of it can be done using the SPSS software and we have to learn how to do it by hand as well.

Nix · 22 Apr 2009 at 18:50

Learning SPSS should be a GCSE in itself!