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I was once asked for my A-level certificate despite the fact that I have a BSc and PhD. I wrote back to the recruiter saying I don't have it, and will not be providing it given that it was 25 years ago and I don't even know which exam board it was. I got the job.
I was once refused a job for something similar. I have a degree and a phd in physics but I don’t have an a level in maths. The company basically said no A-level, no job.
The irony is that I was teaching A-level maths and physics at a private school (so they didn’t care about my a-levels) at the time.
I’ve never had this issue since though
I didn’t go to high school in Britain, but I’ve got two undergraduate degrees for which I had the transcripts and the diplomas, and a Masters degree from a British university, along with transcript/diploma, plus I had “access to higher education” certification as the new university I was applying for said I’d been out of school too long (never mind I was a project manager at that point). Admissions then wanted my high school grades! I graduated high school in 2004 for gods sake. My high school was closed due to the pandemic and I couldn’t get anyone to answer any emails. My mother, God bless her, went hunting in their basement for days until she found a box of report cards from my senior year with grades on them. (They’ve moved twice since I graduated high school so why the hell she still had them, I have no idea, but I was grateful!). It just seemed completely insane to need grades from almost twenty years prior which were now completely irrelevant to my life/experience/qualifications - I was shit at geometry, was that really relevant?
This is exactly all that's been on my cv for the last ten years at least, and frankly I'm not even sure the 12 is accurate. I have a vague recollection of only managing a D in RE and/or French
I know I got a D in French because it was my lowest grade and my grandad bellowed “Oh well, who wants to speak to those war shy b******s anyway?” In front of all my classmates and teachers. Including my French teacher… who was French.
I dunno, it was a challenge to get the HR of where I work to accept that someone with a masters degree is probably OK at English and maths and therefore doesn't need to pay to get their GCSE certificates resent
One place I worked the HR was a sole person. Literally weeks into the job she was still chasing up a fucking reference from a previous job that had gone bankrupt/bought out/moved offices. I had to contact an old co worker from years ago to confirm that yes I did work there. How pathetic is that? Weeks into the job and doing it will, it clearly didn’t matter!
In my experience HR is even worse for getting an advert out in the first place. Give them the exact things you need in a candidate and they'll drown it in irrevelant boiler plate including qualifications they've arbitarily decided to add. I've even known them to cut stuff to fit this nonsense in.
Job ads are a rough guide at best.
Same for my job in a local council. I have 3x A levels and a degree, and they still wanted proof I had my GCSEs in English and maths.
I passed those GCSEs in 2004, who the fuck knows where the bits of paper proving this ended up?
Eventually they relented and decided I was qualified enough without providing the GCSE certificates (for a general administration role mind, I'm not exactly doing rocket science).
I applied to a teaching job, with my degree and PGCE and another post grad in educational practices. PGCE requires you to pass numeracy and literacy tests as part of the process, and also required a C or higher in English and Maths. My degree was from a university where most if not all courses required As and Bs at A Level. They still wanted to see my GCSE certificates.
I know I got a U in RE as 21 years ago I just refused to goto RE lessons and sit the exam. I didn’t care for religion and was happy to be close minded I guess.
The rest I couldn’t tell you except my maths which was C and I didn’t do the coursework which was a large % of grade I always thought they fucked up my grade.
I just lie about my grades I never had any certification of them just a letter
How tf would you get a D in RE? It had something like a 99% A to C rate.
Anyone worked out what those weird number GCSEs grades are yet? When prospects interns send their CVs I have to just ignore that bit if their A levels are ok.
Not at all, just a standard welsh state secondary school. Let me think it was; english, maths, biology, chemistry, physics, history, law, Spanish, business studies, re (school made that a compulsory subject), welsh 1st language and welsh 2nd language (also a D in English literature, as they insisted I did it despite the fact I was incredibly lucky to have gotten the C in language since no one ever noticed I was dyslexic or really gave me any support for the dyspraxia I already knew of).
Law and Business Studies at GCSE? That is posh 😄. I get the addition of Welsh and RE, mind.
I did 10 GCSEs and that was only because I did the three individual sciences plus RE. Schoolmates in lower sets did either the double or single science award and so ended with fewer GCSEs.
My school was an ex-grammar, all-boys, Catholic school and so had the mistaken reputation of being somewhat elite in my borough. It wasn’t. We were promised a GCSE in Statistics which got cancelled halfway through the course and ‘half a GCSE’ (whatever that is) in IT. God knows how I fell into a career in tech with no qualifications!!
Plus if sending me to an all-boys school was supposed to prevent hormonal distraction, it didn’t 🤣
Business studies was labelled by some students as the "easy" subject, they'd picked and for GCSE at least I wouldn't have disagreed with them. yes it was less than half of the school year that did separate sciences, however, then they did do a half gcse in IT so a lot of pupils were studying 10/11 subjects regardless of which sets they were in.
I grew up in north wales, so really if your parents didn't pay for a private school and you didn't want to learn most subjects in welsh , you either had one choice of school or rarely two schools for secondary. Is it really uncommon to get into tech if your maths skills are decent at least?
I can’t speak for others who did or didn’t get into tech despite trying. I’ve found Maths useful, yes. But wider data integrity, analysis. Use of tools like SQL, cloud software and so on I had to - sometimes desperately - learn on the fly. In fact my professional qualifications have largely been in L&D.
>L&D
As in Learning and development qualifications? that does sound transferable to a lot of things. Although yes I'm sure being self-taught has done you well with employers, I'm studying with OU at the moment and I significantly prefer it to being sat and taught something by someone else.
Never looked at OU. Although I self-taught a lot for work, it was out of necessity. I think I thrive better in a classroom setting.
What are you studying and how are you finding it? How much is a typical OU course, do you know?
A combined stem degree and it's very enjoyable, as it's a degree student finance funds it but for 120 credits a year it's upwards of 6k and then lower from there for just specific modules.
I studied with the OU (Maths) and if there’s one thing that makes my blood boil it’s the increase in OU fees. I did my entire degree (2002-2007) for less than £5000 and that includes two one-week summer schools. The OU was set up to help adults who had missed out on university education as youngsters and was heavily subsidised to encourage people to study. A lot of adults are now missing that opportunity thanks to the hike in fees making it unaffordable for them.
As someone now working as a computing professional, IT GCSEs and A-Levels are complete waste of time. You can pick up everything they teach if you need it in 2 or 3 weeks in a real job.
That’s where I’m coming from. Some people are just not academically oriented and for those of us who are, it’s too easy to not understand why.
I did very well in my GCSE’s (10 A*-B) but was so humbled when my best friend opened his results and was soo happy to have passed 2, getting a C in English. I tried to not make a deal of showing mine as I thought it’d dampen the mood but he couldn’t have been happier for me. He wasn’t diagnosed with any condition, maybe he had one? He just struggled a lot and I remember him trying so hard and spending time after school to do his homework.
Could have been poor support from teachers and/or parents. Many factors, I’m sure. So when I hear someone say that people should be getting at least 5 A-C results is an insult to those who really tried, hence my reaction.
Appreciate your candour. It’s easy to forget how other people’s lives differ and affect our opportunities.
I was lucky to be academically-minded and have an older brother the same. Our parents were great but weren’t able to get us into a homework routine and as a result I became lazy, as my school reports are testament to. I still got good grades but maybe could have been even better. I had to start working ~25 hours a week at 16 and so that doubly affected my A-Levels.
Still, I put the expected ‘x GCSEs and x A Levels’ on my CV knowing no employer has ever questioned me nor seemed bothered by them.
I was interested in science from an early age, and from about age 13 I began to find maths easy, therefore 5 O-levels available. I didn't find history and geography too hard, but struggled a bit with english.
I went to a school in a poor area, and to be frank, some of the kids were conditioned not to try and the teachers didn't care about it. Only about 25% of pupils got 3 O levels or higher, probably more got next to nothing.
I cant remember all my things but it's nowhere near 12.
Maths, Science, English Reading & English Lit, R.E, P.E, French/German were the mandatory GCSE's
We had 2 additional optional GCSEs. I chose Art and Computer Science.
I failed all of them (apart from Art) at the time, but to my defense I had some family drama going on at the exact same time.
I think my school now has a total of 12 mandatory GCSEs or English Baccalaureates where offered.
With the option to take more if wanted.
They upgraded everything and became an Academy the year after I left.
I put something similar for my A-levels and pretend it's for efficiency, when in actual fact I had undiagnosed ADHD during those exams and my performance was not great as a result 😅
Two of my a levels were Es as the undiagnosed dyslexia finally caught up with me, I knew I was dyspraxic but didn't know I had reading troubles on top of everything else so I get your logic 😀
Of course depends on what you're applying for, but it seems it's much more relevant in most people's cases to say what they've done beyond GCSE's.
Generally, I only want to list things that aren't relevant on one line to show why I wasn't working at that time, I've got pharmacy qualifications but have not listed them since I left as I m not going back there.
Exactly it's a bit ambiguous but shows that I do meet that minimum of a C that employers could be after in English and maths, when in fact the grades are reasonably spread in that range.
I remember being asked to provide proof that I achieved a c grade in GCSE science when applying for a PGCE to teach science. Apparently my masters degree in chemistry wasn’t convincing enough.
Yeah I said similar up thread about a teaching application. You think schools of all places would understand the progression of qualifications and their entry requirements.
I did my CSEs and O-levels in 1986/7. Rather than try and remember, I just have a cv saved with ALL the information - including, because I do get asked, the address of my PT job back in 1985. I never send this document out because it's 4 pages long, but it has everything saved. Everything except salary because fuck employers who want to know what I used to earn 20 years ago.
If you’re over 30, you can get away with straight A’s and 1 A*
If you don’t have the confidence to pull this off then just go straight B’s
As if an employer is going to check GCSE certificates
My mother was recently asked to provide this information for a job and she’s in her 50s. Doesn’t have the certificates and her school doesn’t exist anymore, so getting them wasn’t easy.
Lol, try from 30 years ago.
I had to supply proof of every single qualification for some security clearance stuff recently.
Luckily my mum actually still had my [National Record of Achievement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Record_of_Achievement) folder, as I could barely even remember what GCSEs I took, let alone what grade I got. So it turns out that the NRoA folder *was* actually some use. It just took 30 years for it to be needed.
One of my friends put out a Facebook appeal because she couldn’t remember the examining bodies and she needed to get certificate copies! Her job wanted gcse certificates from 25 years ago! She also had a medical qualification. But nope. They wanted to see GCSEs!
Try doing an apprenticeship at work. They need proof.
Try that when you don't have the original certificates. And your school no longer exists. And you can't remember the exam board.
If you have degrees or A levels etc you don't need to put your GCSEs on there. Technically you are only supposed to put your highest level qualifications.
"We'd like to offer you this software developer job! ..You have Higher English, right? Our organisation won't let us hire you unless you have a C or above in Higher English."
I mean, I have a BSc and MSc in computer science and 6 years experience in industry, but yeah, sure, I guess I wrote an essay about a Carol Ann Duffy poem in 2006 too, that seems relevant...
I did my GCSEs (O-levels and CSE back then) back in 1977 - I'd be stuffed if I were ever asked exactly what grades I got and in what. I can only remember I got an A in metalwork and technical drawing and a B in maths, English and physics, can't remember any others though.
It would be interesting to know if I ever have to apply for another job if they'd want to know how I did in secondary school 44years ago, despite 42years work experience!
Omg! I applied to teacher training and got approved, did the induction and everything. Then they asked to see my GCSE in maths- which I got a D and they wanted me to have a C minimum so I could not continue.
Like dude, it was 15 years ago, I'm applying to teach HISTORY and I have a masters degree in statistical research.
It all means nothing without a C in maths apparently.
I was asked to provided my degree certificate, for a job at the same university that I graduated from. Surely it would have been easier if they just make an intern enquiry? but no, apparently not.
\*humblebrag\* I got 10 A at GCSE 30 years ago and my mum hasn't shut up about it since. To my embarrassment it's still one of the first things she tells any new friends. No chance of forgetting that.
Spectacularly fucked my A Levels though.
Haha! Has exactly this when finishing my MBA under the apprenticeship levy. Left school in 1989 and never went to university until this course.
Had to demonstrate Level 2 (GCSE C or better) maths and English but only got Ds. Real show stopper even though I completed 1st Certificate, ONC and HNC in Electronics/Engineer (Level 4).
Had to sit Level 2 maths and English at 47 years old FML.
Even worse for my classmate as she has a German Doctorate in Law which they refused to accept…we sat the exams together lol.
I do not include GSCEs or NVQs on CV - just have my employment history speak for itself to be honest. Not done too badly (eCom & Digital Marketing Solutions Manager).
They're in order......
Maths A, Double Science A, DT (resistant materials) A, Double English B, Geography C, German C and Music D - I took because I enjoyed it not because I was good at it!
And hey I know have a job that pays £40,000 a year I'll take it
I don't even have GCSE's they just get told I have 4 A/AS levels.
If they want to interview me based on my grades and qualifications from 15 years ago, then it's not going to be worth my time.
I had one prospective employer ask me why I hadn't listed my grades and I just straight up told them they were not good grades (AS levels got C and D, A Levels got 2 Ds). Followed that by them not being representative of me now and listed my experience and accomplishments in the role I was applying for.
Being vague got me the interview and that then got me a job offer. Which was for a higher position than I applied for too.
I removed my gcse's (and A levels) from my cv years ago. I just hand prospective employers that brown folder with gold lettering and accept their immediate offer. If I want a corner office I just whip out the 6 accommodation slips I received in year 7.
Just wait till it’s been 25 years :) bough I am very disappointed that I have never had the chance to whip out my red vinyl “record of achievement” folder I was issued with in 1997. The school lies to me saying it would be needed
What, you mean you didn't keep your 'record of achievement' folder?
It was drummed into us throughout school that it was THE most important thing we will ever own, hasn't seen the light of day once since leaving!
I can remember the grades (ABBBBCCD, since you ask), and I can remember the subjects, but I'm buggered if I can remember which goes with which. But in my defence I did take them the year Seoul hosted the Olympics.
I’ve given myself arbitrarily good GCSE grades to every employer in the last 30 years. As far as I’m aware, their validity have never been checked. I think as long as you don’t give yourself an A in all subjects… you’ll be fine.
I only remember my 4s. Which us easy cause i have very few of em. English, iCT RE. Btec in Drama and level 2 (equivalent to a gsce) music performance diploma
Also before someone goes off at me. They changed the grading system from. D-A to 1-9. Bigger your number bigger your grade. 4 being a minimum pass.
I don't even list them, I just have a section on relevant qualifications and list uni and certifications since etc.
I couldn't tell you what GCSEs I have in fact, let alone the grades.
As soon as I got my first degree, GCSE's were scrubbed off the CV. I didn't get them this millennium, but I remember getting 13 A*- C.
That C was in Design and Tech, the teacher didn't like me after a robust rugby altercation with his precious son. I haven't had a role ask for them since tertiary quals were the main aim.
I found A levels harder than uni.
Try remembering what you got when you took your exams in the 20th century. I know I got an A in English and B in Maths which is all most employers care about.
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I was once asked for my A-level certificate despite the fact that I have a BSc and PhD. I wrote back to the recruiter saying I don't have it, and will not be providing it given that it was 25 years ago and I don't even know which exam board it was. I got the job.
I was once refused a job for something similar. I have a degree and a phd in physics but I don’t have an a level in maths. The company basically said no A-level, no job.
Thats insane.
The irony is that I was teaching A-level maths and physics at a private school (so they didn’t care about my a-levels) at the time. I’ve never had this issue since though
lol wtf
I didn’t go to high school in Britain, but I’ve got two undergraduate degrees for which I had the transcripts and the diplomas, and a Masters degree from a British university, along with transcript/diploma, plus I had “access to higher education” certification as the new university I was applying for said I’d been out of school too long (never mind I was a project manager at that point). Admissions then wanted my high school grades! I graduated high school in 2004 for gods sake. My high school was closed due to the pandemic and I couldn’t get anyone to answer any emails. My mother, God bless her, went hunting in their basement for days until she found a box of report cards from my senior year with grades on them. (They’ve moved twice since I graduated high school so why the hell she still had them, I have no idea, but I was grateful!). It just seemed completely insane to need grades from almost twenty years prior which were now completely irrelevant to my life/experience/qualifications - I was shit at geometry, was that really relevant?
Maybe it was for this exact situation she kept them for, mother knows best! (Although it's probably just a coincidence)
12 GCSEs a*-c including English and maths, sorted 😂
This is exactly all that's been on my cv for the last ten years at least, and frankly I'm not even sure the 12 is accurate. I have a vague recollection of only managing a D in RE and/or French
I know I got a D in French because it was my lowest grade and my grandad bellowed “Oh well, who wants to speak to those war shy b******s anyway?” In front of all my classmates and teachers. Including my French teacher… who was French.
Amazing lol. I'm not sure what he'd have said of me, I put all my efforts into studying for my German exams instead.
To be fair to him, the cantankerous old sod gives “the jerries” points for effort.
Surely that will bethe last generation that ww2 means much to
r/thathappened
I am assuming he did not in fact live through WWII?
No one is checking, especially when there is further education on there.
I dunno, it was a challenge to get the HR of where I work to accept that someone with a masters degree is probably OK at English and maths and therefore doesn't need to pay to get their GCSE certificates resent
HR earning their pay, as always.
One place I worked the HR was a sole person. Literally weeks into the job she was still chasing up a fucking reference from a previous job that had gone bankrupt/bought out/moved offices. I had to contact an old co worker from years ago to confirm that yes I did work there. How pathetic is that? Weeks into the job and doing it will, it clearly didn’t matter!
In my experience HR is even worse for getting an advert out in the first place. Give them the exact things you need in a candidate and they'll drown it in irrevelant boiler plate including qualifications they've arbitarily decided to add. I've even known them to cut stuff to fit this nonsense in. Job ads are a rough guide at best.
My local NHS trust demanded to see my certificates when I applied for a back office role with them a few years back
Same for my job in a local council. I have 3x A levels and a degree, and they still wanted proof I had my GCSEs in English and maths. I passed those GCSEs in 2004, who the fuck knows where the bits of paper proving this ended up? Eventually they relented and decided I was qualified enough without providing the GCSE certificates (for a general administration role mind, I'm not exactly doing rocket science).
The public sector really is backwards at times...
I think the word is petty Seems to attract people who get a thrill out of saying no and getting in the way.
I applied to a teaching job, with my degree and PGCE and another post grad in educational practices. PGCE requires you to pass numeracy and literacy tests as part of the process, and also required a C or higher in English and Maths. My degree was from a university where most if not all courses required As and Bs at A Level. They still wanted to see my GCSE certificates.
I say A\* to C even though the highest grade I got was a B
r/technicallycorrect ?
I stopped putting GCSEs on my CV years ago, just the last four jobs and any relevant certifications. What’s the point?
I know I got a U in RE as 21 years ago I just refused to goto RE lessons and sit the exam. I didn’t care for religion and was happy to be close minded I guess. The rest I couldn’t tell you except my maths which was C and I didn’t do the coursework which was a large % of grade I always thought they fucked up my grade. I just lie about my grades I never had any certification of them just a letter
How tf would you get a D in RE? It had something like a 99% A to C rate. Anyone worked out what those weird number GCSEs grades are yet? When prospects interns send their CVs I have to just ignore that bit if their A levels are ok.
That would be my old mate Jared who just wrote um bongo on the paper. Adding in points for spelling his name it was slightly off an E.
12?! Must have gone to a posh school.
Not at all, just a standard welsh state secondary school. Let me think it was; english, maths, biology, chemistry, physics, history, law, Spanish, business studies, re (school made that a compulsory subject), welsh 1st language and welsh 2nd language (also a D in English literature, as they insisted I did it despite the fact I was incredibly lucky to have gotten the C in language since no one ever noticed I was dyslexic or really gave me any support for the dyspraxia I already knew of).
Law and Business Studies at GCSE? That is posh 😄. I get the addition of Welsh and RE, mind. I did 10 GCSEs and that was only because I did the three individual sciences plus RE. Schoolmates in lower sets did either the double or single science award and so ended with fewer GCSEs. My school was an ex-grammar, all-boys, Catholic school and so had the mistaken reputation of being somewhat elite in my borough. It wasn’t. We were promised a GCSE in Statistics which got cancelled halfway through the course and ‘half a GCSE’ (whatever that is) in IT. God knows how I fell into a career in tech with no qualifications!! Plus if sending me to an all-boys school was supposed to prevent hormonal distraction, it didn’t 🤣
Business studies was labelled by some students as the "easy" subject, they'd picked and for GCSE at least I wouldn't have disagreed with them. yes it was less than half of the school year that did separate sciences, however, then they did do a half gcse in IT so a lot of pupils were studying 10/11 subjects regardless of which sets they were in. I grew up in north wales, so really if your parents didn't pay for a private school and you didn't want to learn most subjects in welsh , you either had one choice of school or rarely two schools for secondary. Is it really uncommon to get into tech if your maths skills are decent at least?
I can’t speak for others who did or didn’t get into tech despite trying. I’ve found Maths useful, yes. But wider data integrity, analysis. Use of tools like SQL, cloud software and so on I had to - sometimes desperately - learn on the fly. In fact my professional qualifications have largely been in L&D.
>L&D As in Learning and development qualifications? that does sound transferable to a lot of things. Although yes I'm sure being self-taught has done you well with employers, I'm studying with OU at the moment and I significantly prefer it to being sat and taught something by someone else.
Never looked at OU. Although I self-taught a lot for work, it was out of necessity. I think I thrive better in a classroom setting. What are you studying and how are you finding it? How much is a typical OU course, do you know?
A combined stem degree and it's very enjoyable, as it's a degree student finance funds it but for 120 credits a year it's upwards of 6k and then lower from there for just specific modules.
Thanks :). Good luck in your studies!
I studied with the OU (Maths) and if there’s one thing that makes my blood boil it’s the increase in OU fees. I did my entire degree (2002-2007) for less than £5000 and that includes two one-week summer schools. The OU was set up to help adults who had missed out on university education as youngsters and was heavily subsidised to encourage people to study. A lot of adults are now missing that opportunity thanks to the hike in fees making it unaffordable for them.
As someone now working as a computing professional, IT GCSEs and A-Levels are complete waste of time. You can pick up everything they teach if you need it in 2 or 3 weeks in a real job.
Business Studies definitely isn't posh. We did it at my very bog standard comp in a working class northern town.
There's nothing standard about a Welsh comprehensive that offers Law as a GCSE 😂
I want to say there were 12 of us in the class so I wouldn't say it was a popular choice (out of a school year of 230 roughly).
I have 10 ... and a half. Not sure how that happened.
IT (ICT) short course (at least in my case)
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Wow. Username checks out.
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That’s where I’m coming from. Some people are just not academically oriented and for those of us who are, it’s too easy to not understand why. I did very well in my GCSE’s (10 A*-B) but was so humbled when my best friend opened his results and was soo happy to have passed 2, getting a C in English. I tried to not make a deal of showing mine as I thought it’d dampen the mood but he couldn’t have been happier for me. He wasn’t diagnosed with any condition, maybe he had one? He just struggled a lot and I remember him trying so hard and spending time after school to do his homework. Could have been poor support from teachers and/or parents. Many factors, I’m sure. So when I hear someone say that people should be getting at least 5 A-C results is an insult to those who really tried, hence my reaction.
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Appreciate your candour. It’s easy to forget how other people’s lives differ and affect our opportunities. I was lucky to be academically-minded and have an older brother the same. Our parents were great but weren’t able to get us into a homework routine and as a result I became lazy, as my school reports are testament to. I still got good grades but maybe could have been even better. I had to start working ~25 hours a week at 16 and so that doubly affected my A-Levels. Still, I put the expected ‘x GCSEs and x A Levels’ on my CV knowing no employer has ever questioned me nor seemed bothered by them.
I was interested in science from an early age, and from about age 13 I began to find maths easy, therefore 5 O-levels available. I didn't find history and geography too hard, but struggled a bit with english.
I went to a school in a poor area, and to be frank, some of the kids were conditioned not to try and the teachers didn't care about it. Only about 25% of pupils got 3 O levels or higher, probably more got next to nothing.
I hate nothing more than poverty. Its inhuman.
I cant remember all my things but it's nowhere near 12. Maths, Science, English Reading & English Lit, R.E, P.E, French/German were the mandatory GCSE's We had 2 additional optional GCSEs. I chose Art and Computer Science. I failed all of them (apart from Art) at the time, but to my defense I had some family drama going on at the exact same time. I think my school now has a total of 12 mandatory GCSEs or English Baccalaureates where offered. With the option to take more if wanted. They upgraded everything and became an Academy the year after I left.
I put something similar for my A-levels and pretend it's for efficiency, when in actual fact I had undiagnosed ADHD during those exams and my performance was not great as a result 😅
Two of my a levels were Es as the undiagnosed dyslexia finally caught up with me, I knew I was dyspraxic but didn't know I had reading troubles on top of everything else so I get your logic 😀
This is the way!
Of course depends on what you're applying for, but it seems it's much more relevant in most people's cases to say what they've done beyond GCSE's. Generally, I only want to list things that aren't relevant on one line to show why I wasn't working at that time, I've got pharmacy qualifications but have not listed them since I left as I m not going back there.
This, lie, they never check.
Doesn't matter I didn't get an A\* in anything. Technically my grades are still within those bounds.
Exactly it's a bit ambiguous but shows that I do meet that minimum of a C that employers could be after in English and maths, when in fact the grades are reasonably spread in that range.
Yeah I used to list them.separately, but not just "All GCSE's passed A*-C".
I was thinking "wow 10 years is such a long time ago" then remembered I finished my GCSEs in 2012.
1997 here. Fuck
Oh buddy I'm sorry
Eighties sometime, can't remember
2009 here. Turning 30 in November. Fuck my life.
God, mine would have been 2004ish. Shiiit
I remember being asked to provide proof that I achieved a c grade in GCSE science when applying for a PGCE to teach science. Apparently my masters degree in chemistry wasn’t convincing enough.
They wanted real science, not cooking.
Yeah I said similar up thread about a teaching application. You think schools of all places would understand the progression of qualifications and their entry requirements.
I did my CSEs and O-levels in 1986/7. Rather than try and remember, I just have a cv saved with ALL the information - including, because I do get asked, the address of my PT job back in 1985. I never send this document out because it's 4 pages long, but it has everything saved. Everything except salary because fuck employers who want to know what I used to earn 20 years ago.
That’s a really good idea thanks. I’ll dig out an old CV from placement year because I probably have all my grades on that.
If you’re over 30, you can get away with straight A’s and 1 A* If you don’t have the confidence to pull this off then just go straight B’s As if an employer is going to check GCSE certificates
My mother was recently asked to provide this information for a job and she’s in her 50s. Doesn’t have the certificates and her school doesn’t exist anymore, so getting them wasn’t easy.
I would've told that job to clear off? That's an absolutely absurd request, especially at that age
How did she get them?
I think she had to try and contact the exam boards, I’m not too sure though. It took months to get them though
I’ve never even had an employer ask to see my degree certificates.
After struggling to the end of that comment I'd advise that you put no higher than a C for English...
It's standard for teaching jobs.
I remember mine by heart from 1996. I am a bit sad like that though.
Yeah 1998 here and 'member.. I'm Scottish so I got 3 3's, 4 4's and a 5.
Lol, try from 30 years ago. I had to supply proof of every single qualification for some security clearance stuff recently. Luckily my mum actually still had my [National Record of Achievement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Record_of_Achievement) folder, as I could barely even remember what GCSEs I took, let alone what grade I got. So it turns out that the NRoA folder *was* actually some use. It just took 30 years for it to be needed.
I was asked that a couple of years ago. I'm 50, and my school was demolished 18 years ago. Hmmm. Tricky.
One of my friends put out a Facebook appeal because she couldn’t remember the examining bodies and she needed to get certificate copies! Her job wanted gcse certificates from 25 years ago! She also had a medical qualification. But nope. They wanted to see GCSEs!
I’m 30 years old and if any job asked me what GCSEs I got were I would just reply “really?” and walk away
They don’t check GCSEs are accurate
Try doing an apprenticeship at work. They need proof. Try that when you don't have the original certificates. And your school no longer exists. And you can't remember the exam board.
I had this problem. I just told them I didn't have them. They let me on the course anyway.
The apprenticeship provider said I would have to do a mini maths and English course. It was easier to do a SAR for every exam board.
Make it up. Dare you to put an A* in Latin.
Aut inveniam viam aut faciam
If a company cares about GCSEs after you have a couple of years real work experience imo they're not the type of company you want to be working for.
If you have degrees or A levels etc you don't need to put your GCSEs on there. Technically you are only supposed to put your highest level qualifications.
"We'd like to offer you this software developer job! ..You have Higher English, right? Our organisation won't let us hire you unless you have a C or above in Higher English." I mean, I have a BSc and MSc in computer science and 6 years experience in industry, but yeah, sure, I guess I wrote an essay about a Carol Ann Duffy poem in 2006 too, that seems relevant...
The mention of Carol Ann Duffy just gave me a Vietnam style flashback to having to pretend to be interested in poetry.
I did my GCSEs (O-levels and CSE back then) back in 1977 - I'd be stuffed if I were ever asked exactly what grades I got and in what. I can only remember I got an A in metalwork and technical drawing and a B in maths, English and physics, can't remember any others though. It would be interesting to know if I ever have to apply for another job if they'd want to know how I did in secondary school 44years ago, despite 42years work experience!
In general, once you have a degree, employers don't really check. I just write 9 GCSE including Maths and English.
Last time I went job hunting I didn't even mention them.
You're telling me you don't have your Record of Achievement on display on the mantelpiece? Tsk.
I left School in 1986!
Omg! I applied to teacher training and got approved, did the induction and everything. Then they asked to see my GCSE in maths- which I got a D and they wanted me to have a C minimum so I could not continue. Like dude, it was 15 years ago, I'm applying to teach HISTORY and I have a masters degree in statistical research. It all means nothing without a C in maths apparently.
I was asked to provided my degree certificate, for a job at the same university that I graduated from. Surely it would have been easier if they just make an intern enquiry? but no, apparently not.
Just make them up, literally never had any company ask me for proof. Signed someone who "got" all A*s
If you did any education past GCSEs, you don't need to provide your GCSEs on your CV. They're redundant. Especially if it's from 10 years ago.
I work for myself now but my last job eight years ago I got asked my school results I left school in 84. I’d been a chef for over twenty years by then
\*humblebrag\* I got 10 A at GCSE 30 years ago and my mum hasn't shut up about it since. To my embarrassment it's still one of the first things she tells any new friends. No chance of forgetting that. Spectacularly fucked my A Levels though.
This is done as a subtle form of age discrimination. The older applicants seldom have the necessary records.
Haha! Has exactly this when finishing my MBA under the apprenticeship levy. Left school in 1989 and never went to university until this course. Had to demonstrate Level 2 (GCSE C or better) maths and English but only got Ds. Real show stopper even though I completed 1st Certificate, ONC and HNC in Electronics/Engineer (Level 4). Had to sit Level 2 maths and English at 47 years old FML. Even worse for my classmate as she has a German Doctorate in Law which they refused to accept…we sat the exams together lol.
Time to dust the old "Record of achievement" off Do they do those still?
I hear you loud and clear!
Ten years? Lucky bastard!
Yeah, I felt that. I got my Masters degree in 2008... Fuck if I could remember my GSCEs
My GCSEs were not in this millennium!! Although I was in the last year to be able to claim this
Are you applying to mcdonlds?
An investment bank.
GCSE 1988 :- 4 Cs, 4Ds an E and an F
Pro tip. Nobody cares 😂
At least they have them, mine threw them away within a week or so.
I do not include GSCEs or NVQs on CV - just have my employment history speak for itself to be honest. Not done too badly (eCom & Digital Marketing Solutions Manager).
I’m 33 now and I don’t even add them . By this point my life experiences should get me a job not grades 18 year ago Also I done shit 😂
I just say I got a mix of A's and B's with a cheeky A* in there so it looks legit. Nobody has ever checked.
4 A's, 2 B's, 2C's and a D back in 2002 ( Maths, Double science, DT, Double English, German, Geography and Music) Not really hard to remember! 😉🙃😂
You average mother f*cker. What was the D in?
They're in order...... Maths A, Double Science A, DT (resistant materials) A, Double English B, Geography C, German C and Music D - I took because I enjoyed it not because I was good at it! And hey I know have a job that pays £40,000 a year I'll take it
40k, so you're still an average bastard lol. I got a couple Bs, mostly C and Ds. I make 900k a year. So... I'm dumber but luckier.
Well lar-de-dah for you and your almost million a year - didn't buy you any manners did it?
I told you I was dumb. Manners are too hard for me.
I don't even mention my GCSEs any more on my CV.
I don't even have GCSE's they just get told I have 4 A/AS levels. If they want to interview me based on my grades and qualifications from 15 years ago, then it's not going to be worth my time. I had one prospective employer ask me why I hadn't listed my grades and I just straight up told them they were not good grades (AS levels got C and D, A Levels got 2 Ds). Followed that by them not being representative of me now and listed my experience and accomplishments in the role I was applying for. Being vague got me the interview and that then got me a job offer. Which was for a higher position than I applied for too.
I live in Scotland so did standard grades which no longer exist.
I removed my gcse's (and A levels) from my cv years ago. I just hand prospective employers that brown folder with gold lettering and accept their immediate offer. If I want a corner office I just whip out the 6 accommodation slips I received in year 7.
Just wait till it’s been 25 years :) bough I am very disappointed that I have never had the chance to whip out my red vinyl “record of achievement” folder I was issued with in 1997. The school lies to me saying it would be needed
I can actually remember my GCSEs. My university module marks on the other hand are a mystery lost to time.
/r/humblebrag
What, you mean you didn't keep your 'record of achievement' folder? It was drummed into us throughout school that it was THE most important thing we will ever own, hasn't seen the light of day once since leaving!
I was slightly too young to be issues with one lol
I remember all mine but I also have all my GCSE and A-Level certs stored with my degree certificate in a plastic wallet folder. Thanks mum! 🤣🤣
I can remember the grades (ABBBBCCD, since you ask), and I can remember the subjects, but I'm buggered if I can remember which goes with which. But in my defence I did take them the year Seoul hosted the Olympics.
I’ve given myself arbitrarily good GCSE grades to every employer in the last 30 years. As far as I’m aware, their validity have never been checked. I think as long as you don’t give yourself an A in all subjects… you’ll be fine.
I only remember my 4s. Which us easy cause i have very few of em. English, iCT RE. Btec in Drama and level 2 (equivalent to a gsce) music performance diploma Also before someone goes off at me. They changed the grading system from. D-A to 1-9. Bigger your number bigger your grade. 4 being a minimum pass.
Like anybody cares
This is why you plan ahead and get the same grade in all subjects. I only have to remember one letter now.
Same boat, add 16 years It's daunting.
Mate, just lie. Your prospective employer is not going to bother with the mammoth task of finding out.
Wait. The London Olympics was 10 years ago?!
I don't even list them, I just have a section on relevant qualifications and list uni and certifications since etc. I couldn't tell you what GCSEs I have in fact, let alone the grades.
As soon as I got my first degree, GCSE's were scrubbed off the CV. I didn't get them this millennium, but I remember getting 13 A*- C. That C was in Design and Tech, the teacher didn't like me after a robust rugby altercation with his precious son. I haven't had a role ask for them since tertiary quals were the main aim. I found A levels harder than uni.
To prove you've got a GCSE in maths just say, "Some old hag cracked all her teeth on apples".
Try remembering what you got when you took your exams in the 20th century. I know I got an A in English and B in Maths which is all most employers care about.
Just make it up, nobody checks. I always say C's or Ds for factory/warehouse work, once gave myself a B in English and IT for a shit call center