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I'm going to tell you guys something which really gets on my nerves. It's people saying that they take 'IGCSE O Levels'. No, they don't. They take IGCSEs OR they take O Levels. Argh.
Right, Cambridge offers two SIMILAR qualifications: the O Level and the IGCSE. They are different. Different. Get it?
For example, people who enter for O Level English will get this paper and this paper.
And if you take IGCSE English, you get this paper and this paper.
Now, aren't they different? Do you know why? Because O Levels are different qualifications to IGCSEs.
If I briefly go over the history of O Levels and (I)GCSEs...
1956: Ordinary, or 'O', Levels were introduced in the UK along with the Advanced, 'A', Level as part of the 'GCE' - the General Certificate of Education.
1986: O Levels were scrapped, and replaced with GCSEs in the UK: the General Certificate of Secondary Education. Around the same time, Cambridge International Examinations came up with the International General Certificate of Secondary Education: the IGCSE.
So, in the UK, O Levels were dead; and in fact, here in the UK, they still are. Schools only take GCSEs and IGCSEs here. However, Edexcel (or the University of London as they were called then) and Cambridge kept on offering O Levels, and offered them internationally.
June 2011: Edexcel finished with O levels, replacing them all with their International GCSEs.
Cambridge is probably going to do the same with its O Levels in the near future, but they're still offering a few subjects, and there are still specifications published for 2016 exams. However, Cambridge are offering many more IGCSEs than O Levels. However, the effect of this is now that only Cambridge offer O Levels, and even then, only in a few subjects.
The main point of this really is that people say they are taking 'O Levels' when a lot of the time, they aren't. Most of the time, people are taking an IGCSE, and whilst they're on the same level, they are different qualifications.
For example, this site: http://egyptigstudentroom.com/past-papers
The 'O Level' papers offered here are actually IGCSE papers. And Edexcel don't even offer any O Levels anymore! Get it right.
Rant over.
Right, Cambridge offers two SIMILAR qualifications: the O Level and the IGCSE. They are different. Different. Get it?
For example, people who enter for O Level English will get this paper and this paper.
And if you take IGCSE English, you get this paper and this paper.
Now, aren't they different? Do you know why? Because O Levels are different qualifications to IGCSEs.
If I briefly go over the history of O Levels and (I)GCSEs...
1956: Ordinary, or 'O', Levels were introduced in the UK along with the Advanced, 'A', Level as part of the 'GCE' - the General Certificate of Education.
1986: O Levels were scrapped, and replaced with GCSEs in the UK: the General Certificate of Secondary Education. Around the same time, Cambridge International Examinations came up with the International General Certificate of Secondary Education: the IGCSE.
So, in the UK, O Levels were dead; and in fact, here in the UK, they still are. Schools only take GCSEs and IGCSEs here. However, Edexcel (or the University of London as they were called then) and Cambridge kept on offering O Levels, and offered them internationally.
June 2011: Edexcel finished with O levels, replacing them all with their International GCSEs.
Cambridge is probably going to do the same with its O Levels in the near future, but they're still offering a few subjects, and there are still specifications published for 2016 exams. However, Cambridge are offering many more IGCSEs than O Levels. However, the effect of this is now that only Cambridge offer O Levels, and even then, only in a few subjects.
The main point of this really is that people say they are taking 'O Levels' when a lot of the time, they aren't. Most of the time, people are taking an IGCSE, and whilst they're on the same level, they are different qualifications.
For example, this site: http://egyptigstudentroom.com/past-papers
The 'O Level' papers offered here are actually IGCSE papers. And Edexcel don't even offer any O Levels anymore! Get it right.
Rant over.
