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Original poster

Triple/Double Science

54 replies

user1498121176 · 22/06/2017 09:57

Hello! Sorry about username - I'm ever so new.
My daughter's school has just announced that it will no longer be offering the triple science GCSE. She's about to enter year 10 and had thought she would be doing the triple.
The school says that it's to make sure that they get good grades and that 6th forms don't ask for triple and universities don't look at GCSE's. I'm not convinced by this at all. If a university is looking at offering a place to a student surely the one who has done the individual sciences will look better than those just doing a combined science. And I know that they do look at GCSEs as my bosses daughter couldn't do medicine because she didn't get an A* for chemistry GCSE.
However I'm well aware that education changes rapidly these days so my information may be outdated. So I guess does I would like to know your thoughts. Does it matter if they only do the double? Would it be harder to do the science A-Levels if they only do the double at GCSE? Do universities now not care about GCSEs?
Thank you so much!

OP posts:
Original poster
user1498121176 · 23/06/2017 11:57

Thank you so much! That's helpful x

OP posts:
cantkeepawayforever · 22/06/2017 11:18

Some years ago i looked into this. It will be a little out of date because of the new 9-1 system. However, at that point I found that:

  • Doing double science at GCSE didn't seem to affect A-level results at the same school if they only offered double, because they taught from the starting point of the double science syllabus. Comparing A-level science take up and results from schools with similar cohorts who offered double / triple science respectively showed no significant difference. this will probably be even more so for the new science GCSEs because the double has more content than it did.
  • Transferring from a school that did only double to a school or college where the majority of A-level science students had done triple was a disadvantage, though from taking to A-level science teachers at different schools, not an insuperable one for reasonably able students.
  • Very selective universities (I contacted my old Oxbridge college) didn't care about double vs triple at GCSE if only double was offered. So they treated double from a double-only school as equivalent to the same grades in triple from a triple-offering school, but might look a little less favourably on someone who did double at a triple-offering school.
Original poster
user1498121176 · 22/06/2017 10:46

Thanks for replying. I think all the change is confusing and schools and FE don't really seem to know what's going on. I feel bad for these transitional students.
I will talk to the 6th forms, that's a good point. Her current school doesn't have a 6th form. And I suspect that the universities aren't thinking that far ahead. I might try calling a couple up though. You never know!

OP posts:
ifonly4 · 22/06/2017 10:39

My DD reluctantly did triple science (it wasn't her thing two years back) but is glad she did as she's had the opportunity to gain more knowledge and had chance to realise she enjoys biology.

A year or two ago, most subjects you'd just need a B in order to do an A level. My DD is changing schools for Sixth Form and they require an A in their chosen A levels subjects, I also know of another school with this requirement. Her present school have changed that to an A in languages and maths this year (obviously it'll be the new number grades in time).

I wonder if she'd done double if they'd be looking at even A* as they'd have had to put less work into their science subjects and therefore had more time to understand.

I'm not sure how universities will feel about this. It might be worth talking to her present school about their requirements for Sixth Form and even another couple of local ones she could consider to ensure she'd get in with double.