What you wish you knew about GSCEs

I will go against the majority and say nothing at 16! My dd left high school with 3. A local boys school took a chance on her for level 3 btecs and resists. She's now at uni thriving and has more GCSEs and fab level 3 results.
It's a memory test and some are better than others at 16

I'm also HE-ing the GSCEs.

Good tip on the gel pens, thank you!

Can I ask how many subjects your child/ren took? We're in the Netherlands and most universities here consider 3 GCSEs and 3 A-Levels to be the equivalent of the local high-school diploma for entry applications.

Three subjects in a year is a very comfortable pace but it feels strange, as if the workload is too light or something. Not sure if doing another 3 next year would be overkill.

I'm assuming you're in the UK so entrance requirements would be a bit different, just curious how you approached it?

Start revising early. It’s a long slog, they’re very tired by the end so early work counts for a lot.

Check the timetable that you get from school against the exam board website. Mistakes do happen.

plenty of pens. Clear pencil case

Make sure they understand what they need to do for each paper - how many questions they need to answer etc. It can vary a lot between subjects and papers. Attending any extra sessions offered by school is always a good idea.

Past papers are a great way of identifying any parts of the curriculum that they don’t fully understand.

drum into them to make sure their phone doesn’t go into the exam room with them - you’d be surprised how many forget despite reminders.

Go easy on them during their exams. As long as they’ve not iffy revision to the last minute they’ll be fine. Encourage them to carry on with out of school activities to give them a break.

GCSEs absolutely do matter, especially English and Maths. If you can get 10 GCSEs including English and maths in whatever subjects you like, you are pretty much set.

It doesn't necessarily matter what subjects you study, you aren't expected to have your life mapped out at that age. Exception is if you want to do medicine or something similar which would require at least biology and chemistry.

In theory you need certain GCSEs to be accepted onto A level courses, but there is usually a way around it if you show an interest. Example - I took a language at A level that I hadn't studied at gcse because the GCSE wasn't offered by my school.

Your A level choices are more important for university. However, you can change your mind about the direction you want to take even after A levels as most universities offer a foundation year for those who do not meet the criteria either because they have just missed out on grades or not taken key subjects at A level.

I got 9 A*s 4As at GCSE and 2 As at AS level in year 11. I also got 100% in my science GCSEs and a couple of others. My advice to anyone would be get hold of every mark scheme and learn them. Just learn the whole thing. Do every practice paper you can find.

Do some work in graduate recruitment.

Yes GCSEs matter. Some A Level courses you will struggle if you don't get Grade 8s and 9s (Maths and Physics).

Former Home Educator. My children have all attained high grades at GCSE.

Past papers and working on timings is huge, split them into shorter sections.
Teach your child how to mark past papers to the mark scheme.
Key words, especially in sciences.
English lang/lit, how the writer intends to make the audience feel, some kids just don’t get it.

History, PEEL paragraphs, really important.
Controversial, but for me, in maths solidify the predicted grade before spending lots of time on very high grade work, unless your child is at that level.
Don’ get caught up in the all 9 grade hype, expect mixed grades.
Be flexible, don’t fixate on one plan, talk openly about changing the plan if the grades don’t materialise.

Do not use gel pens in exams, certain gel pens disappear when the exam papers are scanned, some don’t check.

Pens, get a good stock of them.
Have a backup calculator.
Good Luck.

I wish that young people today knew how much of a character reference GCSE grades can be, and how much more competition there is nowadays compared to the times their uncle got a job without any GCSEs. The grades and the variety of courses are all part of that in a market which is open almost world-wide.

That's more for people who wish to go into apprenticeships or straight into work without further qualifications more than those who gain A-levels or degrees thereafter, of course.

I still have to put my GCSE grades into every application I write, but I am now old and experienced enough that I'm sure they have little bearing these days.

GCSE grades are important but only really for getting to the next stage (A levels) and possibly the one after (university) depending on competitiveness of the course and the university. Beyond university, A level and university grades carry much more weight.

However, I'm a great believer in keeping as many options open for as long as possible, in which case I'd always advise doing as well as you can in all subjects. I've heard many a students say on results day "I wish I'd worked a bit harder in xxx subject as I think I could have done better", but in 35 years of teaching, I've never heard a single student say "I wish I hadn't worked so hard in xxx subject"!

are GSCE grades counted towards UCAS? No but most courses have minimum gcse grades in English and maths which must be met.

is UCAS still a thing?! Yes.

do you put your GSCE grades on your Uni application form? Yes

how important are GSCE grades beyond getting into A-level courses? Depends on the course. Selective universities and courses will put quite a bit of weight on gcse results.

It probably depends what your child wants to do. One of mine studied art at a local uni and they were more interested in his portfolio than any grades. The other wants to study medicine in a top uni which is really competitive so gcse grades are very important (or so we’ve been told).

If he doesn’t know what he wants to do when he’s older then my advice would be to do really well in all of his GCSE’s as he’ll never know what he will need for his future career.

If he does know what he wants to do then focus on the GCSE’s that matter. I knew exactly what I wanted to do when I left school and the only grades that mattered where English, Maths and Science. I did well in other subjects but those were the ones my job cared about.