Can anyone talk to me about Core Science GCSE as opposed to Triple Science please ?

DS1 is OCR Gateway, and is definitely triple with 6 exams. No idea how it is split into units though.

The double sets in his school did the Core last year and Additional this year.

Very interested in this discussion.

DD1's school changed to offering double only for her school year just as they received their options. Sciences were by far her favourite subject and she went on to get A / A and moved to a grammar to take science A levels. She struggled for first term to keep up in Chemistry with the rest of the class who had taken triple as they had a head start on some of the content but the school were excellent and offered lunch time catch-up sessions just for her. She went on to get A's at A level and studied Chemistry at a RG university.

DD2 now at same original school who have since moved back to offering triple which she has taken (year 11 now) but she was borderline at the time and because of experience with DD1 she wanted to keep options open for A level. With hindsight this was probably not the right decision.

If she had opted for double, she would have taken 3 exams in year 10 and just had the 3 to take this year but instead due to the change to linear model she is in the middle of 9 exams this summer on top of everything else, and revision has probably been at around 75% on the sciences alone, potentially to the detriment of other subjects.

She has no interest now in taking sciences further and is predicted B's which will be great if she does achieve this. My worry is that she may slip to C's or even drop a grade in subjects she is taking to A level. We will never know for sure what would have happened if we made a different decision in year 9 but fingers crossed for results in August!

DD is doing triple (AQA IGCSEs) and has all exams now (end of year 11). 2 exams in each. So it is possible to be doing triple and only have 6 exams.

It depends which board you are doing. Last year dd1 did 9 in AQA which is 3 units for each science (although the 2 and 3 papers were right after each other). This year, dd2 is doing 6 with OCR which have 6 units for each paper and split them 1-3, 4-6. Both doing triple.

Although talkinpeace they can still do core in year 10, then additional and further additional in year 11. They'll be examined on the exact same modules, but won't get 3 gcses naming the individual science, rather 3 gcses, one of which is core science, the second of which is additional science and the third further additional science.

Triple science is - from this year onwards - 9 exams at the end
whatever went before has ceased
if its less than 9 exams, its not triple science
the curriculum changed for the current year 11 onwards
no modules
no exams part way through

6 exams isn't triple science - it's double. Triple is 9 exams, although they're only an hour each.

It is possible to just do Physics 1, phys 2 and phys 3 (and an isa - the practical bit) to get a Physics gcse, but state schools very unlikely to offer this.

DS1 currrently doing GCSE has only 6 exams, 2 for each, so clearly different boards do different things.

I forget how lucky we are, all subjects in DCs school are treated separately so DC are in the appropriate sets. Also they don't lose an option, but they do start GCSE for science and Maths in Y9 so can take 3 years over science.

Our Sixth form will still take students for Alevels from the Double courses as long as the results are good enough by the way.

Just out of interest is it possible to do a single science gcse? Say physics? So the L1,2,3 parts of the triple science ones but only the physics modules? Or does everyone have to do all 3 now?

Some independent schools notably Radley only offer double science (examined with the much easier IGCSE ). Despite that they get a high take up of sciences in sixth form and excellent science A level results.
It is therefore at least theoretically possible to not do triple science but be sufficiently extended to then do well at A level. You could argue that understanding important concepts well in double science is more important than spending lots of time learning extra facts in triple science for those who want to do further science but might struggle for various reasons with accelerated learning / exam heavy timetable.

DS has just opted for Double as opposed to Triple so I am interested in this thread. I also have mixed feelings as he was a comfortable Level 7 in Science but he is happy with his choices and doing the Triple would have meant losing an option. He's also doing Computer Science which counts as a Science. Another Mum told me that she hadn't realised just how science heavy her son's timetable would be when he opted for the Triple.

Not sure if I am 100% correct on this but I think that another benefit of doing the Double would be that they do 3 exams at the end of Year 10 and then a further Additional 3 at the end of Year 11 whereas the Triple students will be doing all 9 at the end of Year 11, along with all the other Year 11 exams.

DS also has dyslexia so fewer exams at the end of Year 11 could be a good thing and free up some time to concentrate on all the others.

Mmm, well DS was a 7A in Year 9 but school didn't offer triple science as an option to anyone. I had the discussion with the school who said it didn't really matter, there is such a jump from GCSE to A level anyway, it makes no difference whether they do triple or award or not. As it happens Ds has now turned out to be dyslexic (that explains why he has been running out of time for years!) and now he has started doing papers in timed conditions he can't finish them anyway. (School refusing extra time, against JCQ guidance and specialist assessor, but that's another story). so it is probably just as well he didn't end up doing triple award but still.. There were a good few in his class who were level 7s and all told that school doesn't offer triple so tough luck! I though it was common but it doesn't sound to be the case judging from your comments.

Our school does triple in a double slot and only 30 in the year are being invited to do it - they're starting their GCSE course in Yr9 so have already done options in Yr8. DD1 is a 7c and predicted a 7b by the end of the year, all of those being invited to do triple are at this level. I think schools are getting pickier because they know the exams are being made tougher and they don't want to look bad in the league tables. It's a pity this leaves a lot of enthusiastic sciency kids without the choices they should have.

HercShipwright I'm really glad your school saw sense.

Choice is the crux of the matter. It seems a very large number of schools aren't offering any choice.

Because ours shoe horns triple into two time table slots, it's purely offered to DCs they think have the maths and English skills to work at that speed.

Certainly this year it doesn't seem to have worked very well as DD says they have been staying after school a lot to keep up.

My DS was originally allocated double science because the school's time tabling meant that to get extra support in English (he's dyslexic) he was automatically out in the top double science group, regardless of his level. He's a 6A. More worryingly, being in double science, even the top group, meant that he couldn't (for time tabling reasons) be in the top maths set. He's currently 7A in maths (and makes no effort whatsoever). We questioned this and the maths and science teachers made a fuss (we were not sure whether to make a fuss, hence we started with just a query). He wanted to do triple. The school relented and found a way to allow him to access the extra support in English while still doing triple and being in the appropriate maths set (he prob won't want to do chem or biol at A level but he will likely want to do physics. And maths). Now they have realised how little effort he has expended on maths so far they are pushing him there too. I worry hugely about his English but I feel that the school did the right thing reallocating him to triple. I'm not a 'science is everything' person, I was not happy that Dd1 (different school) was forced to do triple and that Dd2 will be too, since they are arty and would prefer/have preferred subjects relevant to their interests and ambitions. But for DS it's the right choice.

I would have thought set 2 of 8 would still have contained very able students AF, with regard to your concern of the other students in it.

How many in year group? DCs school has 9 or 10 sets for 240 children, but there are 96 in the top 3 sets doing triple.

Hello OP
You have been given lots of good advice.
What can't be second guessed is the numbers of pupils wanting to take triple science as an option and what their grades are compared to your sons.

As a department we have been pushing for 2 sets of triple science, but we do not have the number of staff to cover this (despite triple not having extra time over double) so have a finite number of places and over double the number of pupils wanting to take the subject (well I guess we must be doing something right). I have pupils working at 6a/7c boarder who I don't think are going to get in.

Another consideration that has played a part this year is the changes in GCSE, where pupils now have to sit all of the exam papers at the end of year 11. That means that triple candidates will be sitting 9 papers in science alone (previously they took 3 in yr9, 3 in yr10 and 3 in yr11). That's a lot of pressure for some kids and I am of the opinion that as they will not be disadvantaged by taking "double science" I would rather take the pressure off and let them enjoy the subject at a pace that stretches them, but does not make life miserable and stressful for them.

I hope a chat with the head of science clarifies things for you.