General Certificate of Secondary Education

In spite of his ordeal throughout 2013, the school achieved its best General Certificate of Secondary Education grades ever — roughly equivalent to the high school diploma in America.

On Thursday, thousands of English 16-year-olds got their results for a different exam, called the General Certificate of Secondary Education.

Her mistake, if you can call it that, was to take an exam, the General Certificate of Secondary Education, required of all British students when they are around 15.