Originally Posted by heero_yuy (Post 35445176)

You have to question what examinations are meant to demonstrate. If it's just remembering facts, like history, then those with photographic memory will breeze it.....

Originally Posted by TheNorm (Post 35445200)

How many of us managed to pass the driving test first time around?

Originally Posted by devilincarnate (Post 35445204)

It took me 2 times to pass the theory and only one to pass the practical.

Originally Posted by cookie_365 (Post 35445146)

O levels were dreadful qualfications. They tested nothing of any value. All they tested was your ability to regurgitate a fairly predictable set of key facts.

Good at problem solving? Good at working together in a group? Good at doing stuff (instead of knowing stuff)? Good at finding stuff out rather than memorising a tiny proportion of it? Good at applying what you've learned to real life scenarios?

If you answered 'yes' to any of these - well, no-one would ever know if you took O levels. Because they measured none of the above.

If you think about the skills you need to get through life and perform jobs in 2012 Britain, then O levels are about as far away as those skills as you can get.

Believe me, I was one of the last group in the UK to take them. I very quickly learned that I didn't need to do any work whatsoever for three years. I just memorised a small number of key points, regurgitated them into essays, and got good results.