http://www.itv.com/news/2013-06-11/what-are-the-new-gcses/

http://www.itv.com/news/story/2013-06-11/gcse-exam-system-changes/#teachers-concern-that-gcse-overhaul-has-been-rushed_215582

http://www.itv.com/news/update/2013-06-11/ofqual-publish-new-gcse-plans/

The above links should tell you everything you need, I think the government is messing up a system which is failing just because the amount of people getting A's and A*'s are increasing, they have changed the grading which will make it hard for employers to compare the two, also the way the testing is done makes it a test of memory more than anything else and lets face it who can remember two years of work perfectly. Another think I hate about it is that we already have to study entire Shakespeare plays analyse the historical and political context of them, but in the test we are given an extract, the current plan would lead to the entire text been given in the test or at least most of it, this will make it very hard to work through.

I could go on and on forever but I will let you form your own opinion, if a lot of people agree I will send a letter to the local mp and try to make a change to it.

I don't know enough about your current education system to completely understand this, but I think I get the gist of what they are trying to do, anyways.  So.... am I reading that right... they want to get rid of most coursework in place of tests?!

Also, a grading system from 8 to 1 is very .... strange, to say the least.  lol

I don't know much about this but I read the things and it sure is strange. It seems like it would be more difficult.

Woah! This subject right here looks very interesting.. But to be honest, it looks a lot more difficult, actually, but very interesting and I will stay tooned probably.

 - Black Bot