GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education)
UK’s General Certificate of Secondary Education was first launched in 1986. It is offered in England, Wales and Northern Ireland schools, with Scotland offering it with its own qualifications system.
GCSE can be taken through seven different exam boards. However, Hong Kong students are usually preparing through either:
- CIE (University of Cambridge International Examinations)
- EdExcel (Privately owned by Pearson)
- AQA (Assessment and Qualifications Alliance)
- OCR (Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations)
IGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education)
UK’s International General Certificate of Secondary Education was introduced in 1998. It is an internationally recognised curriculum and therefore, students can sit its examinations in over 120 countries.
IGCSE can be currently taken through any of the following three exam boards:
- CIE (University of Cambridge International Examinations)
- EdExcel (Privately owned by Pearson)
- AQA (Assessment and Qualifications Alliance)
Differences between GCSE and IGCSE
GCSE and IGCSE are very similar and share the same level with the aim of marking the end of UK middle school years’ curriculum, which is when students turn 16.
Both qualifications are recognised similarly by higher education institutions and employers. However, the key differences between them are the following:
- IGCSE certification is more recognised internationally than GCSE.
- They don’t share the same subjects; in terms of languages for example, Latin and Ancient Greek aren’t offered in IGCSE curriculum.
- IGCSE is commonly perceived academically more challenging than GCSE and, therefore, it has been adopted by over 300 independent schools within the UK so far .
- At Immerse Languages, we assist our students to get the best out of their GCSE and IGCSE skills in the following languages:
GCSE/IGCSE Chinese
GCSE/IGCSE English
GCSE/IGCSE English & English literature
GCSE/IGCSE Spanish
GCSE/IGCSE French
GCSE/IGCSE German
GCSE/IGCSE Japanese
GCSE / IGCSE拉丁语和拉丁语文学预备课程
