[Penguin]

(02-28-2018, 01:05 AM)TEO Wrote: Do you have to take a standardized test to graduate? In the US it is controversial, but I had the impression it was common in many other countries.

TEO

for what?

For the UK EVERYONE should do their General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSEs) at the age of 16. You can take them early, or even take them as an adult, but schools will make you do your GCSEs at 16 in most cases. It depends on your school though. Most schools force you to do set subjects and let you choose others. GCSEs are the standard qualification. We have different exam boards that create exams and standardise between them so that someone with a B in maths with OCR is at the same level as someone with a B in maths with Edexcel.

Then there's A Levels. The majority of universities ask for you to do 3 A Levels. some more or less. For the course you apply for, there will be a subject department in that university who decide who to let in and what grades they should get. Most departments set a "typical offer" of the grades you need to get in, but they're allowed to raise or lower them depending on the person.

The exams you do to graduate from your degree are written by your university, however their course MUST adhere to standards set by some centralised governing body somewhere, so that a 1st in maths from university A is equal to a 1st in maths from university B. (In real life this isn't really true though but enough about that)

Then there's BTECs, which are equivalent to A Levels I think, but most universities won't accept them if you apply. There's also tons of other qualifications out there.

So no. There is no "one test" that everyone takes.