No Graduation in the UK?

[Geoff Bannister]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <bboyminn at ...> wrote:
>
> --- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Bill" <wgsilvester@> wrote:
> >
> > > Geoff:
> > > <snip> ...
> > >
> > > In 1951 the General Certificate of Education (GCE) was
> > > introduced which gave pupils individual passes. It ran at
> > > two levels:  Ordinary (O) Level, for pupils in the Fifth
> > > Year and Advanced (A) Level for pupils at the end of their
> > > Upper Sixth Year.
> > >
> > > 
> > > The school leaving age was raised to 16 in 1974. During the
> > > 1980s, the GCE and CSE were combined to create the General
> > > Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), in which exam
> > > Grades A, B and C were considered passes. A Level continued,
> > > being generally known by this name. This is the basic
> > > situation today. <snip>
> > 
> > 
> > Does that mean that OWLS are the equivalent of O levels and
> > NEWTS the same as GCSE?
> > 
> > Bill

Steve:
> I'm sure Geoff will correct me if I'm wrong, but OWLs, O-levels,
> and GCSE are the equivalent. O-Level is the old name for what
> is now called GCSE. The 'O' in O-Level is for 'ordinary' level,
> hence OWL = Ordinary Wizarding Level. The 'A' in A-level is
> for 'Advanced' as in advanced levels of study. 
> 
> A-level or 6th Form is the equivalent of NEWTs. 
> 
> Did I get it right?

Geoff:
Almost.

GCSE was a merging of GCE O Level and CSE - so the old O Level could 
be considered to be the top half of the current GCSE.

I'm pretty certain JKR had this structure in mind when she introduced 
OWLs and NEWTs.