I’ve been asked for my GCSE qualifications, specifically maths and english so I can go on a site carpentry course.
As I did these 26 years ago I can’t remember what they were, all I remember is they weren’t very impressive.
They were at my parents house in Carlisle last time I saw them back in 1990 and they’ve been flooded out twice since with over 5 feet of water both times so no hard copies of my GCSE grades exist in my family home.

Where should I start looking for these?
Would my old school have a copy of these somewhere? Bear in mind they were probably flooded at the same time as my parents.

I don’t think you can get replacements of the actual certificates but if you can work out who the exam board was (which is a pain because I think we had at least two exam boards for various exams at my school) then those boards can send you a sort of statement of results. The school may at least have a record of which exam boards they were using for different subjects at the time

Maths and English GCSE for a carpentry course??

https://www.gov.uk/replacement-exam-certificate/who-to-contact

Maths and English GCSE for a carpentry course??

meausrements and quantities, angles and calculations, scaling from drawings – reading and writing risk assessments and method statements – lunchtime crossword and remembering how many sugars people have in their tea

Maths and English GCSE for a carpentry course??

Basic literacy and numeracy seems like a sensible requirement for any course if you ask me.

Your old school won’t have copies of your certificate but they might be able to direct you to the exam board that would have a record of the result.

Safely kept in your

I know mine are along with my Head Prefect certificate and DofE badge safely… umm… shit! Hope no one ever asks me to prove my GCSEs.

I understand that carpenters use maths and might write some stuff down, but still thinks it’s a bit weird that a 42 year old is being asked to prove his GCSE results for a course where they would teach you how to do those things. Well not write, but you know what I mean….

I haven’t ever had to prove I have a HND to work as a civil engineer. 5 different companies and not one has ever asked to see my certificates!!

Do they really need the paperwork or can you just tell them the grade? If you can’t remember it then go for C.

I have been dreading the day they digitised academic results – I did appallingly at school, ADD they would say now perhaps or “couldn’t be arsed” as we called in the 90’s anyway the first couple of CVs were written in pure fiction – 9 GCSEs 4 A-Levels and the advanced GNVQ I actually gained because it was course work and not just an exam.

Got my first job with it, and my second, they never checked or asked for ‘proof’ after that 10 years experience in fairly senior roles trumped a GCSE in Art so they dropped off my CV, no biggie, move on.

Nowadays I’m seeing these little notes at the bottom of jobs about minimum entry requirement of 4 GCSEs even for roles you want a few decades of experience for. I’m not in the market for a new job, but I wonder if the day will ever come when they look at my CV, all the things I’ve done since my first job in 1999 and say “you’re perfect, but I’m afraid the database says you got a D in GCSE English”. Ha ha.

That sounds crazy.

Considering that a University will regularly drop basic entrance requirements for degree courses for mature students, seems strange that you need them for an on site course.

Sounds like an ISO 9001 tick box exercise and the trainers are too ignorant to understand exceptions can be made but “the computer says no”.

I’ve always wondered whether this stuff was ever checked. I know what my grades were but wouldn’t know where my certificates are, I’ve not seen then in donkeys’ years. And as others have said there’s no central repository, so it’d be difficult for anyone to disprove. I mean, even if they found the certs, for all they know you resat them at college under a different examination board.

@Cougar some places do check, but very very few basically the intelligence service and GCHQ. I’ve worked at some huge, well known organisations they don’t check – the sum total of checks made me when I was in charge of a portfolio of around £5m was a 2 line reference check from a former employer and a public info only credit check – that was it. As I wasn’t on the voters roll and had no CCJs so it came back blank.

I’ve had to check applicants in the past during interviews and then HR take copies.

I have been dreading the day they digitised academic results – I did appallingly at school, ADD they would say now perhaps or “couldn’t be arsed” as we called in the 90’s anyway the first couple of CVs were written in pure fiction – 9 GCSEs 4 A-Levels and the advanced GNVQ I actually gained because it was course work and not just an exam.

And this is what really **** me off, you cheated, end of. How many people have you screwed out a job. Really sums up my attitude to sports doping s***s think that they can get away with it and cheat, and the punishment???

As for proving it, i have been asked to bring my MA cert in for completely unrelated jobs before just to prove the qualifications.

I went for an internal transfer within HMRC a couple of years and had to produce my exam certificates. I do have them, and took them along and handed them to the HR person to be approved.

Bless her! She had to ask a colleague what an O level was!

If you can’t find your certificates just rock up and give them a quick demonstration of Pythagoras’ Theorem, tell them why Curley was such an evil so-and-so in Of Mice and Men then leave them with a coloured in box plot to stick on the wall.

That should convince them 😉

National Record of Achievement- forgotten about those!

Mine got nicked from car when it was parked outside my folks house on the way to uni.

Can’t say I’ve missed it!

How many people have you screwed out a job

Only ever one at a time. If he can do the job and didn’t get sacked what makes that worse than putting a true cv in and being a lazy shit?

Bless her! She had to ask a colleague what an O level was!

I hope you tipped her a saucy wink.

And this is what really **** me off, you cheated, end of. How many people have you screwed out a job. Really sums up my attitude to sports doping s***s think that they can get away with it and cheat, and the punishment???
As for proving it, i have been asked to bring my MA cert in for completely unrelated jobs before just to prove the qualifications.

Yep, that’s one way of looking at it – I suspose I could spend the rest of my life paying for my lack of attention 20+ years ago, but I choose not to.

And this is what really **** me off, you cheated, end of. How many people have you screwed out a job. Really sums up my attitude to sports doping s***s think that they can get away with it and cheat, and the punishment???

Please God No! In the words of John McEnroe:

Not had exam certs checked since the 90s. Likewise references. Not that I’ve put references on CVs for the last 10 years and no one’s ever asked for them.

Though I’d expect some checking on a graduate application. There’s nothing else to go on basically.

ads678 – Member 
Maths and English GCSE for a carpentry course??

Probably more relevant than in software development. Computer does the calculations for me and corrects my spelling 😀

Plus you barely need a command of English on Stack Overflow 😉

Cheers I’ll let you know how I get on if I can’t find them.

Just been through this exercise, having to get copies of GCSE’s, AS, City&Guilds and BTEC’s vertificate from over 20 years ago while living in Hong Kong was not easy and took age so I wish you luck.
One thing that did make things easier was contacting the various schools and colleges and getting their exam number and the list of the different bodies that might hold the exam results, after that its an exercise in on-form filling and getting your credit card out.

Yep, that’s one way of looking at it – I suspose I could spend the rest of my life paying for my lack of attention 20+ years ago, but I choose not to.

I can see his point after all why shouldn’t we pay for our mistakes? In this case it’s not as though there aren’t educational opportunities to correct such mistakes.

I’ve always wondered whether this stuff was ever checked

Friend at Uni was booted out at end of 2nd year when they dug into his CV and found he’d lied about O and A levels. He had failed 2nd year exams IIRC, which is why they went digging….

Please God No! In the words of John McEnroe:

+1

Full marks to P-Jay for initiative 🙂

Yep, that’s one way of looking at it – I suspose I could spend the rest of my life paying for my lack of attention 20+ years ago, but I choose not to.

Its fraud by false representation, hardly shows good character does it?

Yes, you did it 20 years ago but it sounds like you are still reaping the benefits.

Its fraud by false representation, hardly shows good character does it?

Yes, you did it 20 years ago but it sounds like you are still reaping the benefits.

However, as he managed to perform the job to the standard required and progress, then he really did the employer a favour by bypassing a very flawed education system. he also showed some initiative and a bit of courage, I for one, would of been too sacred of getting caught to have tried it.

Not sure what you mean “by still reaping the beneifts”?

Been for a chat this morning with the college and they now don’t want to see my GCSE qualifications when they found out I’ve done two other C&G courses in Engineering and Motorcycle Mechanics. So it would appear that I can read and count.
Funny thing was, they didn’t ask to see those certificates, which also went down in the floods.
I was also shown a maths test paper which they’d mentioned I’d have to sit if I couldn’t find my GCSE’s as discussed yesterday, my 8 year old is doing harder topics at junior school!

i had to find my degree cert for a **** visa application recently.

a colleague was asked to produce his – he doesnt have one….

visa woman said any further education cert is good.

so he applied for his visa for his O&G position using a HND in joinery

All of mine (GCSEs > MSc) were checked, copied and stored when I was employed by my current employer.