"General Studies"

I remember the term, General Studies but that's it. Lol

I'm guessing I didn't excel at it!

My kids may have done it.
In my day it was all discrete subjects.

We all did it on 6th form to A level standard. I have a B grade A level in the subject despite skiving off most of the lessons

Yeah, GS was an A-level subject at our school, I think everyone did it in addition to their 3 chosen subjects.

At Oxford, they call it PPE.

Yeah, a few people have mentioned A'Level (I've asked this question elsewhere).

What I'm thinking of wasn't a full subject with an exam, just a way of grouping farty little subjects together. Like, you couldn't do Sex Ed for a year (though arguably probably should) and, sign of the times, Computing was considered a niche topic.

Pointless free A level for no real input at my school

Happened at my school too at O level. We went to the lessons but I have no recollection of the contents whatsoever.

Only one person was savvy enough to realise that it was a real qualification, so when we were all asked to check our exam entry slips only he questioned why GS wasn't on his slip, thus only he got entered.

All a bit rubbish really.

I've just realised, it was probably called "General Education" rather than Studies, I think I've confused the name with the A/AS Level others have mentioned.

Our year was the first year to sit GCSEs rather than O'Levels, we were pretty much guinea pigs for it. So it's wholly possible that it was a) new and/or b) short-lived.

I did General Studies at A Level. There was a weekly lesson to prep us for this but Computing, Cookery, Sex Ed, Sociology or Psychology were not part of this or the exam.

Separately I remember a weekly lesson as you describe, rotating topics focused on issues for real life. It went by some 3 or 4 letter acronym, but wasn't called General Studies. The first letter of the name might have been a G or C though

The A Level overview is here:

OCR.ORG.UK "https://www.ocr.org.uk/images/73471-specification.pdf"

It's a different thing from what I'm trying to recall. It would appear that the modern equivalent may be "PSHE."

We did it as an extra A-level but it was usually referred to as “pub quizzing” rather than General Studies.

I too have a B in 'A' Level General Studies.

It makes my 2 Bs and 2 Es sound almost respectable...  

But I also have a C in 'O' Level General Studies - i remember lessons in this only because i remember the Teacher who gave them. They were, indeed, best described as a hodgepodge - our teacher was great and introduced all sorts of ideas and topics, even creating mini debates in lesson, creating teams with one proposition facing off against one with  another. In retrospect i suspect it was an attempt to emulate the sort of thing Private Schools do, but within the Comprehensive system.

Certainly i was never asked if i wanted to take it as a subject, or if i wanted to be entered for an examination in it. It just sort of happened.

I further suspect that this is something that was very much 'of its time' and could probably be used to reasonably accurately work out someone's age.

I studied generals Custer, Cornwallis, Patton, Alexander the Great and Princess Anne but am yet to lead an army into battle.

I have an O/A level in General Studies, we did them in the lower sixth to give us proper exam practice between O and A Levels.

No idea what was involved....

Finest achievement ever (almost!) is my A in A-level General Studies. Basically means I'm an excellent bullshitter 😆

Nowadays we do stuff like Citizenship and PSHE in schools that cover sex-ed and other general life skills. Year 9s love a lesson on STIs!

It’s a different thing from what I’m trying to recall. It would appear that the modern equivalent may be “PSHE.”

We used to do PSE, this was the early 90s.

My A in general studies rescued my university application and got me into my degree. I clearly knew the difference between a race car and a baby.... 😎

I am also the proud owner of an A grade A level in general studies.

I have GCSE and an A-Level in General studies.
Basically a hodgepodge of "stuff" for those who hadn't covered it already.

A lot of the stuff mentioned up there was covered in other subjects, but i think (at least at GCSE) it was to make sure that those that just dossed around at least got a chance to learn some stuff rather than leave school with no quals at all.

In reality it was just another opportunity to doss around.

A-Level was all sorts of general knowledge, and "life skills".

Another that had to do General Studies at A-level, what a waste of time that was. Also had to do RE (more accurately Christian Education, not Religious Education)at o-level whether we wanted to or not.

Yeah my kids do PSHE once a week..... year 8 and 11 (2nd year and 5th year)

Personal, Social, Health and Economic education.

It's not a GCSE option but they will continue it in 6th form (or they'll bunk off, like we all did) 

General Studies grades were the best indicator of what someone  was likely to score at degree level. It was killed off by Gove when he decided it could not be included in UCAS points.

I used to run the programme in a comprehensive school, having the whole sixth form in the school theatre once a sweek. I tried to make it a bit like a students' union debate and also to expose predominantly working class kids to a wider range of ideas and people.  This involved a good number of outside speakers on a range of subjects. Significant ones included Sir John Berg (ex Chair of the Arts Council), Matthias Kelly (ex Chair of the Bar Council), The Countryside Alliance, animal rights organisations, Prof Tim Kasser, Stop the War, Friends of Israel, Palestinians, an ex Columbian cocaine dealer, autism specialists, Prof Andy Pilkington etc. The school's papers were used in the grade setting process at the exam board and our kids did well. One student who returned to the school to talk to sixth formers described it as the nearest thing you could get to a university experience.

I had it - no qualifications; but a lot of discussion, encouragement of critical thinking and weird psychology.  Sex education was found in the hedge.

Also had to do RE (more accurately Christian Education, not Religious Education)at o-level whether we wanted to or not.

Oh yes, Religious Education, i have a GCSE in that too. We had two teachers, a devout religious woman from some off kilter Christian cult, who was absolutely rabid about those who didn't believe, going to hell. She'd quite literally scream in your face about hell and damnation (it wasn't a good school) and how it would apply to us all.

So we'd wind her up.

She shouldn't really have been allowed near children.

Then we had a semi retired professor of theology who was running a small holding up on the NYM somewhere, he didn't give a shit about the syllabus and would just talk for hours about anything to do with any religion, world politics, sociology, psychology, immigration, world history. Found out after he died that he'd actually been a respected and well known (internationally) professor in the 70's until he gave up and left the whole thing behind. Ended up teaching us horrors, poor sod.

I passed at GCSE, an E.

We had some sort of basic "Home Economics" in first year of secondary school. I remember very little about it except that for some reason I'd missed the part where the teacher had told us that we had to fill our exercise books with examples of food (cut out pics from magzines basically) to show the various food groups and so on. As I hadn't clocked this I was surprised when she asked the class to hand their books back in at the end of the term and mine was pretty much empty.

Didn't score well in that one...

And then in 6th Form, we had various 1hr lessons on basic adulting - all sorts from how to apply for uni to sex ed to "don't do drugs". It was more a sort of open discussion - no marks or exams.

I can't remember a specific "General Studies" but I was doing A levels in 1995/6 so maybe it wasn't around then. Or maybe my school considered itself above such things. Either are perfectly possible!

“what’s the difference between a baby and a racecar?”

Well, don't leave us hanging?!

I did GS A Level too. It was a mind opener for me - first time I went to the theatre, discussed philosophy or politics. Wasn’t much of that sort of thing around on my estate in the 80s.

my school didn't teach General studies at A-Level.<br /><br />they mentioned it a day before the exam "if you'd like to do it, please turn up tomorrow". Of course hardly anyone did (me included!), but it would've made a bit of difference to my university admission. Those that did turn up generally got an A (i know, i know. Correlation is not causation).<br /><br />My wife did take it, did get an A, and did get the uni admission she wanted.

My A in general studies rescued my university application and got me into my degree. I clearly knew the difference between a race car

Same here. Never did any lessons, just sat the exam. Remember my tutor in my first term saying I shouldn't have got in with my grades but that my General Studies mark saved me. I seem to recall it was basically like a quiz.

I was in secondary school from 2002-2007 and have never heard of General Studies

LIke many others here I did it as an A level. Didnt have to attend any lessons if you were doing 3 other A levels, and I managed a B grade...

My daughter is currently looking at University options and a couple have mentioned that they don't accept General Studies as a qualifying A-level.

She is looking at the better end of the University spectrum, so might be different at the other end..

We did General Studies as a compulsory A-level and I used to get, and still get, annoyed at the belittling of it.

For every other A-level subject you're basically taught what you need to know to pass the exam. They are, essentially, a test of memory. However for General Studies you're not, and to do well you have to have a pretty good, pretty broad knowledge of 'stuff' in the wider world. In my exam, for example, I did an essay on the importance of hedgerows, one on the newspapers of the UK and the differences between them, answered questions on the notes on a piano keyboard and there was something about working out where you are on a map and the directions various landmarks were around you.

It is, for me, a really good guide to the how much the person is aware of what's going on outside of their little teenage bubble of A-levels, people they fancy and what's currently in the Top 40. It's an excellent test of (I'm going to say character here, which isn't quite right, but I can't quite think of the right word) character.

(and yes, I got an A)

There's an obvious correlation between getting A in A level general studies and posting assorted bullshit on here.

(Another. No lessons but it was my specialist subject. I don't think many unis gave it much credence when it came to admissions. And rightly as I think it conveyed more about your background and general reading (a thing in those days) than academic ability or potential.)

When I applied to university (back in ~1989) General Studies wasn't accepted as an A level for my degree. I don't think my (private) school even offered it, TBH.

Another. No lessons but it was my specialist subject. I don’t think many unis gave it much credence when it came to admissions. And rightly wrongly as I think it conveyed more about your background, general reading (a thing in those days) and potential in addition to simply academic ability

FTFY

This kind of qualification could be especially important for pupils from less privileged backgrounds (this wasn't me, FWIW, I went to a good comp in Manchester's stockbroker belt). Tarquin or Jennifer from St Chulmondley-Spiffing's Grammar School for the Frightfully Nice will doubtless have flawless GCSEs and A-levels, as those places are exam passing specialists. But for Darnel or Keisha from Struggling Inner City Comp, they may not have the raw grades due to many other factors, but may have the potential to do brilliantly.

We used to get a subject one period a week on sex education, it was a waste of time and the teacher chucked a book at you with a young smiling couple pushing a pram on the outside cover

Tarquin or Jennifer from St Chulmondley-Spiffing’s Grammar School for the Frightfully Nice will doubtless have flawless GCSEs and A-levels, as those places are exam passing specialists. But for Darnel or Keisha from Struggling Inner City Comp, they may not have the raw grades due to many other factors, but may have the potential to do brilliantly.

That's testable. I agree that an exam you can't revise for has merit but tests of cognitive ability might have more.

(Mot sure where I came personally on the Tarquin/Darnel continuum but there many of the latter and none of the former at my Leeds inner city (intake) comp. Not sure how many got A in A level general studies.)

did it on 6th form to A level standard. I have a B grade A level in the subject despite skiving off most of the lessons

likewise

General Studies grades were the best indicator of what someone  was likely to score at degree level. It was killed off by Gove when he decided it could not be included in UCAS points.

Oh. I literally stopped going to General Studies and got a B at A-Level. I attended most some a few of my lectures at uni and got a Desmond. I was close to a Simon but not close enough that I felt I should appeal

I recall watching "Nuts In May" in the General Studies "lessons" but even the prospect of watching videos was not enough to tempt me to continue when I didn;t have to

I think it could usefully be replaced with a course entitled "How not to be a dick".

Never went to a lesson and got an A. <br />Obviously I misspent my youth. 

My A in general studies rescued my university application and got me into my degree. I clearly knew the difference between a race car and a baby…. 😎

They got wise to this technique by the time I got to A-levels. 

If your chosen degree was vaguely academicly related to A-level subjects, your uni offer would be specific to those subjects. ie anything stem would require them to be in maths and science, history would require history and engish etc.

Only the very obscure subjects and at ahem less reputable universities persisted with the "points" based offers. Half assing 4 A levels plus general studies could net you similar points to doing 3 A levels reasonably well.

As far as we could tell it still benefited the school somehow but not the students. 

I was somewhat surprised to be entered for A level General Studies as I couldn't attend any of the lessons due to a time table clash. Got a C.

Well, don’t leave us hanging?!

I honestly can't remember now where they were going with this. It was presented as some sort of thought experiment but it made little sense to us at the time. I think it may have been something to do with softening us up for the concept of reproduction.

I always wondered what people were actually studying in General Studies. I did five A levels so never had the option of GS, since my timetable was completely full. Was it a bit like Fight Club? You don't talk about GS?

One thing I do remember from my general studies lessons was that one of the official languages of Switzerland is Romansh despite hardly anyone speaking it.

In the a level I wrote an essay about how medicine had replaced the role of the church in UK society.

We used to get a subject one period a week on sex education, it was a waste of time and the teacher chucked a book at you with a young smiling couple pushing a pram on the outside cover

I think we did rather well, all things told, we got a freshly qualified female science teacher, about 22/23, 5 foot 1 at most, petite, very little classroom control (she was usually our chemistry teacher), pink hair, pierced nose, visible tattoos, we thought we'd wind her up for the entire course (one lesson a week for the whole term, 40 plus, 14 year boys in one room, all the girls in another).

First lesson in she gets this big Gladstone bag out and then flips a massive purple rubber appendage with a sucker on the bottom and sticks it to the desk at the front and then starts talking.

Spent the next 10 weeks actually being educated.

And i'll be honest, i was fairly naïve at that age, but some of my contemporaries, Jesus wept, i'm not surprised we had a massive run on teenage pregnancies at the school.

I always wondered what people were actually studying in General Studies.

We didn't study anything, it was a test of what you knew anyway or could work out for yourself, not what you'd been taught.

I have an A level in General Studies (grade B). I remember absolutely nothing about it, so it can't have been that useful.

I was in secondary school from 2002-2007 and have never heard of General Studies

I was in secondary 1985-1992, My General Studies exam pass was 1992....

A question - could General Studies be the reason for so many 'experts'...?

I was in secondary 1985-1992, My General Studies exam pass was 1992…

Hang on, are you me?

It would appear that the modern equivalent may be “PSHE.”

"Pish" wasn't a priority at my school. I think I bunked off a lot. in retrospect, i would probably have been much better in life if I had shown up...

Hang on, are you me?

Only if one of your few regrets is not getting it on with Rose in 6th form and doing more sailing that studying....?