Worried - DS is taking a very cavalier attitude to IGCSE's!

Agree about not revising in feb half term though. We don't. They need a break after jan mocks i feel. Then get going again after.

glaurung - you name a school who doesn't send the coursework home. They all do it. It seems to be an unspoken thing, but it happens everywhere. So the child is doing the work at home in their own time, taking as long as they wish. And getting it corrected as they go along.

IGCSE maths contains elements of calculus. gcse doesn't. You would not touch it before A level. So maths, yes much harder.

Science also more in depth subjects in IGCSE.

Of course if you are at a school where the teachers follow the rules and don't cheat by marking coursework and returning it for a redraft then 100% examination is going to be easier (and fairer). If you are a child that is better at exams than coursework you will probably find iGCSEs easier too.

Not all iGCSEs are harder, some are and some aren't.

Dd's friends (mostly taking mix of GCSE/iGCSE for what it's worth) are treating this break as the last proper holiday before revision starts.

2 of mine have done mixtures of gcse and igcse. They say the coursework element of gcse is a joke. Teacher gives the work back each time for it to be re-done until a very high standard, then just about write a few lines on the actual exam day and it is'pretty much ín the bag'.

IGCSE they had to have all the knowledge on the exam day. No back of of up to 50% coursework.

I am from the old ó'level days, showing my age now! So I can only take their and their friends words for it. Plus the schoool has said the same.

I don't think it is a fact Laughing Gas; a lot of seasoned teachers think it's a myth. (Of course you might be a seasoned teacher with an alternative view :)). In a case where no early modules are taken, there's very little difference in terms of standard or quantity of work required to get equivalent grades, that's my understanding.

Five of mine have so far taken ordinary GCSEs OP, all eleven (or in one case twelve) in one go and with no early modules. None did any revision at all during the Feb half-term, they started earlyish on in the Easter holidays. Perhaps a little earlier if Easter was particularly late. They were all pretty much ready to take them by May; I think starting earlier might have led to revision fatigue.

igcse's are MUCH tougher than gcse's. Fact.

My last post was meant a bit tongue-in-cheek :).
If he's motivated, then doesn't he know how well he has mastery of the material? Don't you just revise & revise until you know you've got it down pat?

I think it is naive to think the minimum grades at GCSE is all you need. Yes, it's all you need now, in theory, to move on but what about....

1. Something happens during your A level years and all you are left with is GCSE results
2. You are going to a competitive Uni and they look at GCSEs too
3. You are applying for a job and the employer decides he wants to take account of GCSE results too
4. A level entry requires a higher than minimum pass (Maths, Chemistry etc)
5. You want to apply to a sixth form where minimum grades are not enough
6. You actually want to work hard, do your best and - in so doing - gain one of lifes most valuable lessons.
7. You want to start to learn how to apply yourself because, by gum, you'll need it at A level.
8. You want to learn and cover the whole GCSE syllabus in detail so as to give yourself the best base knowledge possible to move on to A levels with.

....anyway.....most children I know start revision now and build up to a lot of work from Easter. Easter holidays being the major holiday for revison. Obviously it depends on how many subjects the student is taking that need revision.

Well, according to my home-edding friends the iGCSE exams are completely Micky Mouse, almost useless, only need one or 2 right answers to get a pass which is good enough, only useful as a ticket to go to college & have the chance to do A-levels there. So if I believed them there is no point whatsoever in making more than minimal effort.

Sorry no help. I think I said elsewhere that you're damned if you do & damned if you don't (get closely involved in trying to get them revise, or anything with teens, really).

There seems so many modules etc as they have gone along, my daughter hasn't actually got that many subjects to revise for at the moment.

However, she does have a lot of lines in her Drama production and is working on her target grade in English, so has spent a lot of time this week doing that.

I think this half term and Easter will see a ramping up of work.