In message , Harry Davis
writes
Hmmm, when I did O level maths in 1961, we didn't do any calculus.
However, I did my O-level maths a year early, and then did the
Additional Maths O-level a year later. That had a lot of calculus in
it.

My uncle did calculus for his maths O Level in 1957.

It was only very elementary, just powers of x if I recall correctly. I
don't know which board he did.

Apparently the JMB maths O Level had syllabuses A for grammar schools and
B for secondary moderns. Presumably the latter was followed only by a
small percentage of pupils at secondary moderns, this being before CSEs,
when most would have left without any academic qualifications.

There was no calculus in the 1959 Cambridge O level maths. (Mind it was
reckoned to be easier than the Oxford version).

I vaguely recall sitting the *B* paper which the site below says did not
include calculus.

Here is a B paper from 1968 with questions requiring both differentiation
and integration:

http://www.burtongrammar.co.uk/categ...ol-exams/1968-
maths-o

I think O Levels may have changed significantly even in the early period,
because when they were first introduced in 1951 they were meant just for
the 'top 20%', and then later a figure of 40% was used.

Did you get percentages or had grades come in by 1961?

I got a C in 1959

--
Tim Lamb