Is GCSE (England) Maths is of same level as Matric (Pakistan) level Maths?

InformedConsent · Jun 25th, 2009, 08:41 AM

Have a look on GCSE foundation & higher level topics on this website:
BBC - GCSE Bitesize - Maths

aramis · Jun 25th, 2009, 10:49 AM

gcse math is of higher level i think......bcz it's (gcse/O-level,igcse) recognized as high school qualification internationally. but matric is not.

roulade · Jun 25th, 2009, 04:28 PM

gcse's are jokes. i didnt revise n still managed to get an A.

O'levels are harder. they are mainly done in other developing countries to UK. Standards are much higher than GCSE that we do in school in england.

Even Pakistani matric is better and covers more topics than gcse maths. and dont even get me started on science.

Lucid Chaotic · Jun 25th, 2009, 04:31 PM

I'd have to say that in terms of curriculum, GCSE is at par with Matric, while GCE O'Levels are more difficult.

InformedConsent · Jun 26th, 2009, 10:52 AM

I agree with roulade. I would appreciate if you post more of your experiences, these are valuable.

This is the reason GCSE Maths teaching and learning is not of good quality. 50% teachers in English schools who are teaching secondary GCSE Maths do not have a Maths degree to do their teacher training. You are only required to have A level Maths to do teacher training and on top of that Govt. is paying around £9000 if you are willing to do training as a Maths teacher. In addition, if you stay in teaching for next 2 years after training then can get Golden Hello worth of around £5000.

As in England, on the one hand many students are not keen to learn Maths and on the other hand no one wants to teach Maths. So GCE O level does not exit anymore, it is the story of past. They started GCSE Maths foundation and higher level with a narrow curriculum. Then some schools are doing leaner Maths and some Modular. It has been made too easy so student can get A grade and would be willing to learn.

Because of that poor quality Govt. is getting highly talented Masters Degree holder teachers from Pakistan and India to teach in Secondary Schools. I believe Pakistan’s Matric level education of Maths and Science subjects is of better standard than the present GCSE’s. I can not comment on old O levels as they no longer exist in State English secondary schools here, however top Private schools in Lahore still have them.

Snowdrop · Jun 26th, 2009, 05:25 PM

GCSE Maths is a bit more advance than matric I guess., just a bit more.

InformedConsent · Jun 27th, 2009, 10:42 AM

One of our friends, who was a science student at Matric level in Lahore, wanted to apply for a post grade diploma, which has the requirement that she should have GCSE Maths grade A-C or equivalent (she already have a masters degree). She was in confusion she called the university and got different replies from admissions department. When she visited the university, she was told that her Matric Level Maths is equivalent to GCSE Maths. She got admission straightforwardly and had not to sit for University’s equivalency test. She is a British National and a home student.

However, UK Naric has considered her Matric Maths below GCSE Maths. UK Naric also says it is only a guidance of equivalency not the authority. I believe which means that a Pakistani or the other applicants would not be able to sue them for issuing misleading (discriminatory) guidance. Her University never required Naric’s guidance but she had that for other (employment) purpose.

sweet.i.f · Jun 27th, 2009, 04:51 PM

GCSE Maths in modules was the joke! But I would assume they both would be, more or less, quite similar.

psyah · Jun 27th, 2009, 07:26 PM

Peace InformedConsent

I am a Maths tutor in my spare time and GCSE Maths along with A'Level is what I really enjoy teaching. Through the years I have noticed why people tend to believe that O levels are harder than GCSE's really the fact is they are not really harder.

The perception that teachers have of teaching a subject is in terms of scope that certain topics are being covered and that certain styles of syllabus are more onerous than others on this, but GCSE's although they are going in to increasingly fewer topics, they are in fact trying to focus more on application and analysis and less on memory work.

The Pakistani education system is therefore more compatible with the O level style of learning, because up until the recent past the English style was also focussed on memory, the education authorities realised that an enhanced memory of the topic is all one needs to do a certain subject. GCSE on the other hand has made certain areas easier to memorise only so more abstract thinking can be prompted for assessing the level of intimacy a child has with the subject at hand. Teachers therefore think that subjects are getting easier, but on the flip side subjects are also getting more abstract and thinking critically is getting better. Skilling to enhance greater skills will make children into managers and being expert in a topic yet being unable to think outside the box will make specialists who will need managers to direct them. This is only a general rule not a hard and fast one.

The idea to pass a GCSE subject is to understand it, to pass Matric or O Level is to revise it. I love Maths and really encourage others to learn Maths for their own benefit and it can be learnt at any time. Since GCSE's prepare for A'Level and hence Degrees, it is important to know at what level the student is at, Matric often falls slightly less than GCSE not because of content, but because of that depth of applied forms of questions required and hence lowers the level of comparability.

In English maths books you will see many questions for Maths phrased as Jim, Sally and Sarah did so and so to find how much they owed la da da, but in Pakistan text books I tend to see lines and lines of sums straight forward sums. Number crunching is perhaps the least interactive of the Mathematical domain, measurement and testing being the highest. The questions in UK exams are as if we are taking the concepts of Maths and applying them to solve real problems, which is not really seen in Pakistan.

InformedConsent · Jul 1st, 2009, 10:46 AM

Here we go again. I don’t agree with psyah at all.

Top private schools are ditching GCSE Maths because it does not prepare better for the A level (Maths) but it is inadequate for prep. GCSE exam is being made too easy. They are opting for IGCSE.

Eton College is also offering IGCSE Maths not GCSE Maths for the above reasons.

Harrow’s headmaster had also ditched GCSE Maths and read below what he says:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/harrow-drops-gcse-maths-and-history-for-being-too-banal-401098.html

Amour · Jul 1st, 2009, 11:52 AM

well looking at the mock exam of bitsize link on this thread, I can assure you Matric is a lot tougher than this GCSE.

may be memory based exams true in other subjects but in maths it doesnt apply. NARIC or other rating agency only rate matric slightly lower than GCSE cause its from Pakistan. contents and exams are certainly at par or better than micky mouse GCSE!