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England(+): 16 year olds take the GCSE Mathematics exams along with 9 other subjects. [1] 17/18 year olds take the GCE A/AS levels along with 3 or 4 other subj

England(+): 16 year olds take the GCSE Mathematics exams along with 9 other subjects. [1] 17/18 year olds take the GCE A/AS levels along with 3 or 4 other subjects. The layout of this qualification is changing with the cohort starting this year. [2] What are the comparable exams in US? (and any other countries)? Just wondering where we are at... [1] https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/mathematics/gcse/mathematics-8300/assessment-resources https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/mathematics/gcse/mathematics... [2] http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/mathematics/as-and-a-level/mathematics-6360/past-papers-and-mark-schemes http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/mathematics/as-and-a-level/ma... (+): Scotland has Standard and Higher grades, and NI and Wales have GCSEs with different syllabi.

dboreham 9y ago
>What are the comparable exams in US? (and any other countries)? Just wondering where we are at... I live in the US and my kids are in the middle of this right now, so I'll try to answer, but I'm not yet an expert: I came through the Scottish system and I'm reasonably familiar with England. In the US there are exams called "AP" that are roughly analogous to A-levels. But, AP classes are not offered in all schools and they don't seem to cover all subjects (e.g. just Calculus and Statistics). The list is here: https://apstudent.collegeboard.org/apcourse https://apstudent.collegeboard.org/apcourse At the tier below AP afaik it is up to the state education dept, or even local schools to make up their own curriculum and although there are exams and the students are awarded grades, I get the impression they are less valued than for example an A-level result because the examinations are not set and graded by a 3rd party. These days the federal government tries to set some consistent standards across the country and most schools try to comply. These are available here : http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Practice/ http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Practice/ fwiw when I have tried to compare US to UK school mathematics for the same student age I've always come to the conclusion that they are roughly the same, modulo the difference that there really aren't commonly valued exam results for the kids in the US. In general I find that there is much less emphasis on exam results in general in the US -- it is more like you either pass or fail, or pass with distinction. More like UK university grading I suppose. There is not the O-level/A-level type split in the US at all. There is an order to the Mathematics classes (e.g. you can't take Calculus unless you're already passed Algebra 2) but otherwise things just seem to be done in whatever order the school allows (e.g. in our school you do Biology one year then Chemistry the next). Hope some of that helps and doesn't offend the US education system experts here..
- keithpeter 9y ago
  Thanks for those links. I've always liked the look of the Scottish Standards and Highers but that could just be a case of the grass being greener over the border. There has been some mumbling about whether we need GCSEs as we move to what is effectively education until 18, but no party wants to make the first move on what would be a huge change. Good luck to the offspring.

dboreham 9y ago

>What are the comparable exams in US? (and any other countries)? Just wondering where we are at... I live in the US and my kids are in the middle of this right now, so I'll try to answer, but I'm not yet an expert: I came through the Scottish system and I'm reasonably familiar with England. In the US there are exams called "AP" that are roughly analogous to A-levels. But, AP classes are not offered in all schools and they don't seem to cover all subjects (e.g. just Calculus and Statistics). The list is here: https://apstudent.collegeboard.org/apcourse https://apstudent.collegeboard.org/apcourse At the tier below AP afaik it is up to the state education dept, or even local schools to make up their own curriculum and although there are exams and the students are awarded grades, I get the impression they are less valued than for example an A-level result because the examinations are not set and graded by a 3rd party. These days the federal government tries to set some consistent standards across the country and most schools try to comply. These are available here : http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Practice/ http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Practice/ fwiw when I have tried to compare US to UK school mathematics for the same student age I've always come to the conclusion that they are roughly the same, modulo the difference that there really aren't commonly valued exam results for the kids in the US. In general I find that there is much less emphasis on exam results in general in the US -- it is more like you either pass or fail, or pass with distinction. More like UK university grading I suppose. There is not the O-level/A-level type split in the US at all. There is an order to the Mathematics classes (e.g. you can't take Calculus unless you're already passed Algebra 2) but otherwise things just seem to be done in whatever order the school allows (e.g. in our school you do Biology one year then Chemistry the next). Hope some of that helps and doesn't offend the US education system experts here..

keithpeter 9y ago
Thanks for those links. I've always liked the look of the Scottish Standards and Highers but that could just be a case of the grass being greener over the border. There has been some mumbling about whether we need GCSEs as we move to what is effectively education until 18, but no party wants to make the first move on what would be a huge change. Good luck to the offspring.