GCSE
/dʒiːsiːɛsˈiː
/noun [mass noun]
1(In the UK except Scotland) a qualification in a specific subject typically taken by school students aged 14-16, at a level below A level. The equivalent in Scotland is Standard Grade. Compare with A level, O level.In school, he achieved straight As at GCSE, while on the sports scene he played for West Ham and Wimbledon....
- Gaine and George claimed that 'girls are outstripping boys at almost every subject at GCSE'.
- Bias, as every GCSE pupil now knows, is often a problem in the presentation of history.
1.1 [count noun] A GCSE exam or pass: you need five GCSEs...
- Tickets were due to go on sale at 10 a.m. the following Friday - the very morning I was due to sit my History GCSE.
- The academic teaching was good and Isabel passed 11 GCSEs.
- Finding herself expelled three months before her GCSEs, she ran off to Barcelona.
Origin
1970s: acronym from General Certificate of Secondary Education.