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Abstract
A preliminary study was undertaken of cognitive style and performance in General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), the British public examination for pupils at 16 years. The positions of 182 pupils on two fundamental cognitive styles dimensions (Wholist‐Analytic and Verbal‐Imagery) were assessed by means of the Cognitive Styles Analysis (CSA). The pupils were from two comprehensive secondary schools and all took Mathematics, English Language and French in the GCSE administered by the Midland Examining Group (MEG) in 1991. Comparison of cognitive style and GCSE performance indicated that, for overall performance across the subjects, the pattern was a modified dome shape with the candidates who were intermediate on both dimensions of cognitive style doing best. There was a significant interaction between the styles of the candidates and the GCSE subjects in their effect on performance. The results were discussed in terms of the implications for GCSE and for further research.