Maximizing chances of GCSE grades at 8/9 is essential

My eldest head's into yr11 this time.

Predicted grades are 5-8's. As long as he gets 7+ in the ones he wants to do for A levels then that's fine.

From a teaching perspective, i find 7 is the minimum requirement really to thrive at A level. 6 they do OK but often it can be the kids who stuffed up a bit who could have got 8s on a different day, etc can cope fine too. Those who were tutored or had to graft hard for a 6 are the ones who struggle to access the A level material.

Once you get past that point nobody is bothered about GCSEs other than maths and English at 5+ unless you're applying for Oxford/Cambridge or med school!

There's definitely a strong argument to say kids need to maintain a good sensible balance, and also to remember that when it comes to revision little and often starting in September is far more effective than cramming for a few weeks. If they can attend after school revision classes and do little bits here and there for each subject it'll pay dividends come exam time in self assuredness that they know the material well.

Yes Oxford will look at gcses in the context of the school at which they were taken when considering applications. And the stats show the majority of gcse grades achieved by offer holders are 8s and 9s. However of at a poorly performing school if the applicant has better than the school performs then they may get an offer but they also look at personal statement, A level predictions and entrance test results too as well as performance at interview later.

Gone are the days of a 2 E Offer.

I have a degree and masters in a maths related field and work in that field have just been interviewing for a trainee role. The most academically able candidate (top grades in gcse and A level) was the least favoured person as they had no outside interests or part time jobs and spent a lot of time telling us about their marks in their modules . Being well rounded is much more important then high grades in the work place

Yeh sorry as others say you are not correct here. Taking A level in a subject where you achieved a 4 is not going to end well, unless there were exceptional reasons for the 4.

4x 4 is a great achievement for plenty of students for sure (would have been amazing for my ds1) but many need higher grades to continue. Lots of unis look for a 6 in English and maths; as shown on this thread, some unis or anyway some courses have higher GCSE requirements; and many sixth forms and colleges look for grades above 6 at least.

6 x 6’s for A levels anywhere here and usually a 7 or 8 in maths to do maths A level. Out school also needs a 7 in maths for economics a levld

The number of GCSEs pupils are expected to take seems bonkers to me. You only ever need 4 at grade 4 to get into college

6 at grade 5 for my local comprehensive sixth form and grade 7+ if you want to study a subject at A-level.

All this focus on high grades at GCSE level is really harmful to students who'll 'only' ever achieve grade 4-5.
Grade 4/5 students are encouraged to do qualifications like BTECs here. Level 3 BTECs can be used for uni entrance too.

The number of GCSEs pupils are expected to take seems bonkers to me.

Arguably veering towards bonkers low for a rounded education nowadays at some schools... but maybe would be better if they could do lots of subjects without having to do public exams for them all.

I'm don't think any university is interested in GCSE results... surely they're only bothered about A Level results?

The number of GCSEs pupils are expected to take seems bonkers to me. You only ever need 4 at grade 4 to get into college so all this 'must get 9s' is nonsense. And puts the mid-low academic pupils off! All this focus on high grades at GCSE level is really harmful to students who'll 'only' ever achieve grade 4-5.

If he can't get a 9 in maths gcse then realistically he's probably not going to be a Cambridge mathmo, but I'm pretty sure that's one course where it's all about the maths and they're not going to be too bothered about top gcse grades in all subjects.

If they know what A levels or next courses they want to do at college aim for high grades in the requirements for those. Also as good a grade in Maths and English as possible. Getting passes in the rest would be fine.

GCSEs are more of a stepping stone to A Levels, yes they're important, but the universities will look more at A Level grades.

Some Unis score GCSEs for medicine so you need all 8/9 to get an interview. But lots only need 7 7s. And a few happy with 2 4s. It's mostly down to UCAT these days.

It's always best to get the best grades you can, but not at the expense of hobbies or mental health.

FoI request results show that even for medicine places, lots of successful applicants have had at least one duff grade at GCSE, by duff I mean <= 6. Hard to get more competitive than medicine, so I humbly submit that all x 8/9s is not necessary for hardly any Uni course ever.

A child is heading for 7-9s. In a school where 8s/9s not v common.

Given that "very common" means >= 10% , that's like nearly all schools, yes?

Hopefully a bit clearer.

Hi OP, I have replied previously and but wanted to show you that depending on course they do take the number of 9's and 8's into account definitely at Oxford. I've put a screenshot from last year's physics admission report which says they use the information about how many 8'sand 9's a child at that school would be expected to get. They do say it is used as part of the shortlisting. With so many posters saying it doesn't matter I just wanted you to see that it does in some circs.

My daughter’s friend refused to divulge her GCSE results for weeks because they were ‘crap’. She had got nine 9s and one 8. When all their group had all got ten 9s.

It was an incredibly unhealthy mentality. When I asked my daughter, she said the pressure didn’t come from school or parents. But each other. My sons’ friendship groups have been far more healthy.

Looking back, the GCSEs were simply not that important and I just wish they had worried and worked less.

YANBU if they are up to it. DS16 is desperately waiting and hoping for 8s and 9s, especially in maths otherwise he won't be able to take Further Maths A level and then won't be able to achieve his dream of Maths degree at Cambridge. If they can do and can take the pressure,fine, but it completely depends on the student.

I'm going to go against the grain here and say you need them to focus their aspirations a bit. I don't mean that they need to know they're going to study x subject at y uni, but if they're going to change the track they're currently on (of very good if not top grades) they need to know WHY they're doing it. Blindly working away at getting 8/9s across the board is going to be hard if there isn't an end goal.

It they're on board and happy to aim for the top grades then great, but that has to come from them, not you.

And not even those necessarily. My DC is about to start 3rd year of uni. No GCSEs taken ( 2020 cohort) and didn't do A levels either did a level 3 btec at college

There are more numbers than grades and the system is very different to the CSE O Level one. A 4 is now considered grade required as an equivalent to the old GCSE grade C.
I should say that it would be a low C in GCSE terminology.

There was still a grade G when the A-star came in!

A-star was intended to acknowledge that there were higher levels than an A. An A was still an A an a B was a B.

England is very unusual worldwide in forcing children to specialise so early. It's not going to change though because it would require the Universities to change as well.

Like Ireland in Scotland people study more subjects so typically 5 at Higher in Y5 (equivalent to Y12) then can either go straight to Uni or study more Highers or do Advanced Highers in Y6 (equivalent to Y13). I studied my Highers back in the 80s and did seven different subjects at Higher. I was a big swot though.

Hm I remember at the time there was grade inflation, so an A star was the old A, A became B and so on. There used to be a G grade that vanished when A star came in.

8s and 9s are lovely but not essential for any future path. Schools put pressure on because of their progress 8 scores. A star grades, then the splitting of A into 8 and 9, were political choices. A 7 is an old school A which is very good indeed.
The absolute Wild West that is English GCSE marking means that 7/8/9 grades can be quite random there.
A levels matter more and a happy and well rounded child matters most