Single science GCSEs at private school

I just did Biology GCSE, there was no pressure to do more than 1. At my DC school, very high performing comp, top and middle set are offered triple science but nobody has to do it, everyone else does double but if you want to do science a levels it's preferred that you have triple. DS has no interest in science so will do double despite being offered triple

I'm 42 and went to a highly selective private school, in the top 5 in the country, and I j

I'm 41 and went to a state school. I did separate Physics, Chemistry and Biology GCSEs

If iGCSE maths is so much easier and such poor prep for A level why do so many of the top schools choose it.
Child 4s school do the iGCSE, at A level last year more than 80% of their Maths grades were A or A*, at further Maths 90%.

I'm 41 and only did chemistry and physics gcses. I think the year below did dual science though.

Doing biology and physics does seem an unusual combination.

Nickname
State schools will still do GCSEs
GCSE Science is still based on
"core" module 1 of each for the non ebacc kids
"additional" modules 1 and 2 of each for the bulk of kids
"triple" modules 1, 2 and 3 for those planning to carry on with science

IGCSE is a distraction as its taken by less than 10% of students
the other >90% will do the standard feed into colleges
like the one that DS is at
it has over 2000 students per year group so covers a lot of options

The beauty of the independent sector is that they don't have to follow the National Curriculum. If they want to do a single science, and that is in the best interests of the student, then fine! I haven't actually heard of any school in the last 20 years not offering a combined Biology/Chemistry/Physics course though.

It has always been traditional in a balanced curriculum for most students to get two awards in the sciences, whether it was Physics & Chemistry or Chemistey & Biology at O-Level or GCSE "Double Science" or, latterly, Core and Additional.

Exceptions were made for weak students (who could only "manage" one science and had their timetable filled with typing, etc ;) or very accomplished students (who couldn't make their minds up as to which language to drop, as well as keep up with Art and Music).

Triple Science is a relatively recent trend - tail end of last Labour government where they were trying to make a point about what they were doing for education.

With the current GCSE reforms, single Science has gone. It's now a two year course culminating in two GCSEs. At independent schools, which typically follow the IGCSE specification, there are still three separate science awards.

clavinova
Do you have a date for that blog post from the tutoring company ?
Just that its description of the GCSE syllabus is at least 3 years out of date

Nickname
Both of my kids did comp GCSEs
one did science A levels and is now at Uni
the other is now doing science A levels

your initial point was very valid, its silly of schools to not use the breadth that the system allows

A levels in the sciences are very difficult. I struggled- it's such a step up from GCSE.

I did double science AND two separate science GCSEs. No chemistry but I did A Level Biology.

These links from tutor websites seem to sum up the differences between IGCSE/GCSE maths quite well:
proctertutor.co.uk/?page_id=116
www.oxfordhomeschooling.co.uk/blog/are-igcses-tougher-exams/

Top flight schools such as St Paul's Boys School (currently entering pupils for Edexcel IGCSE maths) will be reviewing their choice;
www.stpaulsschool.org.uk/st-pauls/academic/mathematics
I think Edexcel and Cambridge are reforming their IGCSEs anyway.

Different schools do different things
I speak from observation and prior chewing over of the matter
IGCSE will get dropped from now on anyway

IGCSE as taken by the private schools that fed into the local college does not have a non calculator paper it therefore did not cover some topics that came up in the AS

at DCs comp (and many others) the IGCSE was used as a way to massage middling kids over the D/C boundary.
All of the top set kids did GCSE Maths and then Further or Stats (or in a few cases both)

the college has over 1000 students studying Maths A level so its a pretty good sample set.

I believe that as IGCSE no longer counts towards league tables, state schools will stop using it again

Triple science GCSE seems to be taken by the top 15% in most of the comps that feed into the college

Is that right catslife? My DSD was doing igcses in sciences and her exams definitely weren't P1, P,2, etc, so I don't see how it could have been co-teachable with a double science option
Yes it's correct and the "core" is definitely co-teachable with the 3 single subjects as it's the same content. The only difference is that for the separate subjects pupils also do the harder "extension" material.
It may vary for different iGCSE exam boards but for the specificastion that I am aware of (Edexcel) iGCSE is 2 theory papers (2 exams) for Physics, Chemistry and Biology. The first paper is the double award equivalent and the second the additional material for the single subject iGCSE.

I know a state school where all the students do either two separate science GCSEs (eg chemistry and biology) or all three separately but not double award- it does still happen and I think it's ridiculous!

DS goes to an igcse school & double science is definately an option though not many take it (DS will)

His school felt that igcse maths & science were better preparation for A Level than the old GCSE but they continue to review the new GCSE's. (I have a feeling they may swop)

Dd is at a different school & I think the new GCSE's have more content & the difference between them & igcse is not that much any more.

Coping with triple sciences means CCC though. So most selective schools I know still offer both dual and triple award, because the higher grades at double would be better than the lower grades at triple.

the school in question only does IGCSE which made life pretty hard for their girls at maths AS but that is another story.

If maths IGCSE is such a lousy preparation for maths AS and maths A level, can you explain why so many private schools have terrific results at maths AS/A2 and why they dominate BMO etc? It's an urban myth that there is a terrific difference between GCSE and IGCSE maths.

IMO that system only works if you're a very selective school teaching only sciency kids that can cope with the three separate ones.

Those who got level 5 at KS, i.e. the top 30%, can cope with triple science so you don't need to be a very selective school to offer only triple science. This is fine in pretty much any grammar school and any selective private school, not just super-selectives.

My school did this (I'm 43). I didn't do chemistry, which meant I had to do Chemistry GCSE when I was 17, in order to do Biology A level. I ended up spreading Chem GCSE my A-levels (Biology, physics and chemistry) and AS maths over 3 years. It was rubbish. I had a different timetable to most of my friends and had to stay an extra year and every time I apply for a job I think it looks odd that I got my A levels in different years.
Lots of people in my school only did one science and the was a bit of a snobby 'only the state schools do combined science' as if it was a bit rubbish.

Is that right catslife? My DSD was doing igcses in sciences and her exams definitely weren't P1, P,2, etc, so I don't see how it could have been co-teachable with a double science option certainly. DSD hated science and lost the plot with the harder content in Y11 - she'd have got better grades if she could have dropped down to the double but that was never put to us as an option, which was why I didn't think it was.