Patrick's exams

[forester48.livejournal.com]

Why does Patrick take all his O'levels in the Christmas term? I can't see the point of it and also, I vaguely remember that this was very much a retake time and really only for the essential Maths or English - although could be wrong and you could retake anything.
But asuming he were to pass them what next? Start the A'level syllabus in January? Why?
Or is he catching up as he's a year late because of falling off that cliff? But from Ginty and Patrick's converstaion at the beginning of TAT it seems as if it's policy at his school.

Comments

[debodacious.livejournal.com]

As you say, Ginty tells him it's only his peculiar place that sit the exams in December and at Kingscote it's just for the summer failures to retake. I can't imagine what they would do for the next two terms as there must be some sort of gap before the results come which would presumably mean they wouldn't dive straight in to A'levels in January. I took English a year early during the winter but I am 99% certain it was after Christmas.

O levels in autumn term

[richenda.livejournal.com]

In the 1950s We took 2 or three O levels in autumn term, so that we could get on with a further five or six in the summer term.

Re: O levels in autumn term

[richenda.livejournal.com]

Oh yes - sorry - we also did retakes in December - but the principal point of December was getting strong subjects out of the way in order to concentrate on weaker subjects in the summer.

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

It is pretty peculiar. Perhaps it was so that their sixth-formers had longer to cram for A-levels or Oxford / Cambridge Entrance.

Os in December

[richenda.livejournal.com]

On reflection - yes, taking all subjects in December would have been odd for us.
It would have been either two strong subjects taken in advance, or retakes.

[sollersuk.livejournal.com]

Christmas term is normally for resits.

[ex-ajhalluk585.livejournal.com]

I imagine it's so that his school can get their people to do the bare minimum of O levels at creditable grades, and move straight on to having a whole extra two terms to do the A level syllabus. Why then being simple: having the extra tuition time means that the A levels which count will be relatively better than other schools. MGS do (or did) a number of O levels at the end of summer in the fourth year for exactly that reason, and it maximises chances of getting into Oxbridge, because the students are better prepared because extra time (they tend to flounder and panic at the later stage, however, simply because they haven't had the leeway built in).

[alchemyangel351.livejournal.com]

We did GCSE's (but just a few years after their introduction) in December so that a) we could resit in the summer if necessary and b) if we passed we could do two terms of A/AS level work to boost our A-level grades (supposedly). It was thought of as odd though, we seemed to be the only school locally who did that.