when i sat my GCSE's a few years ago ( 10 years ago to be precise) they where remarkably different to what they are now!
i sat 19 GCSE's in total, whereas now they are now allowed to sit anymore then 12 in total.
when i sat mine the grading used to be
A,B, C, D, E, F, and Ungraded.
they where alot harder take for instance my French & German GCSE exams used to consist of Verbal where i had to have a full conversation on French/German with my examiner with an invigilator in the room and to even warrant anything above a D i had to complete at least 65% of the checklisted words/sentances.
the written exams used to be full written exams, not this multiple choice option like it is now.
but yet when my sister sat hers just 5 years ago.... completely different all over again, everything multiple choice, alot of it dumbed down and even by not completing an exam she somehow still passed with a C which if that had happend when i sat mine then it would have been classed as ungraded!
the exam boards have had to dumb them down basically to conform with things like Ofstead Reports etc as it was recognised a few years ago that exam results where declining and they needed a way to improve these scores, hence why most schools have banners after the release of results saying Best GSCE Results ever etc!