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Original poster

Are year 10 children going to lose out more because of new spec GCSEs?

36 replies

Sostenueto · 03/05/2017 12:33

Year 10 children have to sit all their exams with the new system of 9-1. Will they lose out as officially guinea-pigs for all subjects?

OP posts:
CrazedZombie · 03/05/2017 14:14

Not all A levels and degrees require a subject to be studied at GCSE level so 10 is ample in my opinion.

Original poster
Sostenueto · 03/05/2017 14:09

Yes crazedzombie I see that happening now...less options and extra lessons on timetables for core subjects. The GCSE music students have to stay on after school to do their lessons. Most year 10 doing 10 GCSEs but a few doing 12 which include pe and music. My gdd doing 10.

OP posts:
CrazedZombie · 03/05/2017 13:56

Our school does ks3 over 2 years then teaches GCSE over 3 years. The kids taking the new GCSEs will leave with a fewer GCSEs than the kids who took old style. (Each GCSE will have more time spent on it)

Ds (year 11) will end up with 13 GCSEs, dd (year 9) will end up with 10 GCSEs.

BizzyFizzy · 03/05/2017 13:53

3 of my children have been in guinea pig years. Specifications change every few years to keep them relevant. It's life.

Original poster
Sostenueto · 03/05/2017 13:50

Apparently there was a meeting g for year 7 parents at gdds school saying that due to new specs in exams that they should view a GCSE as a 5 year course rather than a 2 year course. Are other schools thinking like this?

OP posts:
Original poster
Sostenueto · 03/05/2017 13:43

My gdds exams will all be the new system. Has anyone's else's dcs the same?

OP posts:
Seeline · 03/05/2017 13:02

My Ds is Y10 ATM and he will only sit maths and English under the new grading. The rest, due to the options he has picked ( and possibly some being iGSCEs) will still be the old letter system.

AlexanderHamilton · 03/05/2017 12:59

Dd feels she is losing out because the syllabus is so rushed

CrazedZombie · 03/05/2017 12:57

I think that the only way that they may lose out is with inaccurate predictions for grades.

There's a y11 GCSE maths thread where everyone is comparing notes on how schools are marking new spec GCSE mocks.

PossumInAPearTree · 03/05/2017 12:39

Not all subjects. Dd is in year 11 and it's the new system for maths and English this year.

I don't think Dd will do as well as she would have done last year. The teachers are unsure of what's needed, no previous papers, no grade boundaries, curriculum from a level now in gcse.

I keep telling Dd that at least everyone in her year is in the same boat.

Allthebestnamesareused · 03/05/2017 12:39

No because the marking will be done on a bell curve with the top percentage getting 9s, the next group getting 8s and so on with the highest proportion getting 6s-4s. So going forward the mark scheme will be the same.

It may mean that fewer people get the very top mark because actually an 8 is an A* anyway. So to get a 9 you would have to score within the top 3% (although the percentages are different depending on the subjects). It has be designed to split the groupings so that you can differentiate between the grades as too many were achieving the highest grades.

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