Forgive me for correcting you, but in the days of O-levels there were 6 pass grades at O-level which were labelled A to F by some boards and 1-6 by others. Only CSE Grade 1 was equivalent to an O-level pass.
Actually, before 1975 different examination boards had their own grading systems for 'O' Level which could be in the range A-H or even 1-9.
After standardisation in 1975 the pass grades were set at A, B and C (classed as "performance better than or equivalent to the previous pass level" i.e. pre-1975)
with other grades being
D - "a lower level of attainment"
E - "lowest level of attainment judged to be of sufficient standard to be recorded"
F - "fail"
U - "unclassified"
(Grades D and E covered approximately the same range of performance as the pre-1951 School Certificate pass grade)
CSE Grade 1 was equivalent to 'O' Level Grades A, B or C and therefore a pass.
i was under the impression from my own cse,s that if you got grade 1 then it would be classed as an o level grade c, but then again i took mine in the 70,s so my memory could be wrong, hope you find out right answer.
Thank you for your answers. My friend had to pay �32 for her CSE results and they were all grade 3 to 5 which has proved worthless as not equivalent to a pass at O level.