GCE Ordinary Level (United Kingdom)

Introduced in 1951 as a replacement for the 16+ School Certificate (SC), the O-level would act as a pathway to the new, more in-depth and academically rigorous A-level (Advanced Level), in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The O-Level and CSE were replaced in the United Kingdom in 1988 by the GCSE[1] and later complementary IGCSE exams.

Some commentators criticised this mainly exam-based approach as offering only partial proof of the student's overall ability in comparison with other methods (e.g., coursework-based assessment).

Madsen Pirie argued that the O-level was unfairly biased to boys because of the emphasis on exam-based learning, and therefore girls were placed at a disadvantage.

The independent exam boards soon offered competing numeric and alphabetic classifications, for example 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 would be a pass, while grades 7, 8 and 9 were fails from the JMB.

In 1976, 27% of Latin entrants gained an A, and ~17% of French, German and Music candidates, this was attributed to the O&C board being primarily used by the Independent schools.

Unlike CSE examinations the participating schools had a choice of syllabi and awarding body, and were not required to use a designated local board.

The O-level brand is still used in many Commonwealth countries, such as Bangladesh, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, and Singapore, instead of or alongside the IGCSE qualifications.

The Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination was also benchmarked against the O-levels for comparable subjects.