Assessment through the ages: exploring Cambridge's exam archives

By Katie Phoenix | 26 June 2024

Cambridge has been leading in assessment for more than 160 years.

As we reach the end of another exam season, we are diving into the archives to take you through the history of assessment expertise with Cambridge.

1858

The first exams

In December 1858, 370 school students in the UK sat end of school examinations for the first time, set by Cambridge.

In 1864, the first international examinations were held for overseas candidates in Trinidad where six candidates took the Cambridge Senior Examinations.

In 1913, three candidates in the UK took the first ever 'C2 Proficiency' English exam, which at the time was known as the Certificate of Proficiency in English.

All our UK and international exams were originally delivered by the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES). It was at the forefront of introducing public examinations for schools to raise education standards.

Some of the innovations in 1858 included:

Offering the first exams held local to candidates' homes

Being the first to introduce end of school exams (before schooling was universal or compulsory), setting a benchmark for school leavers

Making use of modern transport such as ships and the railway to transport exam papers

Offering a range of subjects including many foreign languages

In many ways, the exam questions for students up to the age of 16 in 1858 seem worlds away from current practice. Here are some of the interesting things we found from our visit to the archives:

Subjects

There were only 14 subjects for 15-year-olds to choose from compared to over 40 at GCSE today.

Subjects ranged from ones recognisable in modern exams such as Mathematics, French and Chemistry, to the more unusual such as ‘Botany' and 'Zoology’, and ‘Writing from Dictation’.

Memorising

Students were expected to learn large amounts of information by heart in 1858. They had to draw from memory maps of a specified country’s rivers, coastline and mountain ranges in Geography, or list the names of kings and queens and recount the significant events from periods of English history.

Cities

The first Cambridge Local Exams were taken in Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, Grantham, Liverpool, London and Norwich. Locked boxes provided secure transport for question papers and completed papers (which were escorted by 'presiding examiners' by train.)

Mathematics

There was greater emphasis on arithmetic and geometry in mathematics compared to modern papers.

Shakespeare

Shakespeare is a common thread throughout our exam history - with questions on the Bard appearing in the very first English exam, right up to today.

Music

In Music, candidates were expected to write a few bars of a well-known melody from memory, and to name some composers and summarise their works without any warning in the syllabus.

Did you know? Most of the examiners before 1900 were fellows at Cambridge colleges and clergymen.

Did you know? Announcing exam results in August is familiar to us now, but it wasn’t always so. Our earliest exams, from 1858 up to 1906, took place in December, and results were published the following February.

The first year of Cambridge's summer examinations was not until 1907. The tradition of exams later in the year, to meet student needs, continues for our International Education team today.

1924

Exams 100 years ago

By 1924, the School Certificate was the national examination taken by secondary school leavers in the UK. Our international students generally continued to take the Cambridge Junior Exams.

The 1924 exam papers revealed some interesting insights into the time. There was a paper on the History of the British Empire, plus a range of practical subjects such as Bookkeeping and Shorthand, and a focus on the natural world with subjects such as Botany and the Natural History of Animals.

Many foreign language exams were available for older students - Latin, Greek, French, German, Spanish, Dutch and Italian. Chinese, Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian and Urdu language exams were also available in our international exams.

_{Click on an image from our archives below to expand}

Collection of 1924 exam papers
Collection of 1924 exam papers

1988

The first GCSEs

In 1988, the first GCSEs were introduced as single qualifications to replace O Level and CSEs for UK candidates. We offered the first IGCSE in 1988, which is now the world's most popular international qualification for 14 to 16 year olds.

A wider range of subjects was offered in the first UK GCSEs compared to the subjects we see today. Some of these included Accounting, Vehicle Design and Engineering, Building Studies and Typewriting.

Environmental studies included ‘Environment’, ‘Environmental Science’ and ‘Rural Science’, showing a continuing theme of nature-related subjects. Notably some of the 1988 questions focused on an awareness of plastics and carbon dioxide.

In the ‘Commerce’ exam papers, there were questions on lending money, financial terminology and abbreviations, calculating interest to pay on borrowing and explaining terms such as ‘endowment mortgage’.

Some ‘Computer Studies’ exam questions asked candidates about coding and the impact of technology – themes that are still relevant today.

List of UK GCSE examinations available in summer 1988
List of UK GCSE examinations available in summer 1988

2024

Today, millions of candidates in over 170 countries take qualifications provided by Cambridge University Press & Assessment through its three exam boards: OCR, Cambridge International Education and Cambridge English.

Teenage Students Sitting Examination With Teacher Invigilating

"Our assessment ambitions to support teaching, focus student efforts, and reward achievements to help students reach their potential, have remained constant over the past 160 years.

"As digital and cultural advances continue, our assessments will remain dynamic, inclusive, and reflective of the world. Our assessments equip learners with the knowledge, skills, and understanding they need to achieve their life goals."

Sylke Scheiner
^{Director of Assessment, OCR}

Sylke Scheiner

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