GCSE 2019 support thread 6

Ds has enrolled at college to do English Language, Spanish and Government and Politics and will do an epq. He got fantastic gcse results all round and I can’t help feeling a little sad he isn’t doing maths a level. Hey ho, his choice and hopefully the 3 he has chosen will prove useful for uni (cos he has no clear idea what he wants to do yet). Any comments on his choices gratefully received.

DS is taking Further Maths with Maths, Chemistry and Economics. Already had a taster of FM with the AS level and got an A so he feels confident he can do it justice. I do remember the Maths teacher at the 6th form open evening saying there were pupils who dropped out of it every year, but as a fourth A Level neither she nor the senior 6th form leaders saw that as any great problem.
I had qualms about dropping an A level but then I remembered that I did that by failing one miserably (an ill advised subject swap after nearly a year of the course) and still had 3 to play with for offers. So if that system still stands, more or less, then that’s fine.

You will notice me popping up on all of these medic threads, because DS decided last year that was what he wanted, and i didn't have a clue.

Thanks so much cricketballs3 I think I understand that (although I'll admit to having to read it more than once! - So it's not the same as scaled marks which are where one component is weighted - is that right?

The school have given me the individual marks for the papers which must be the raw marks then.

For those interested in medicine, there have been a couple of really interesteding threads on either the Further Education or the Higher Education board.
There is this on the further education:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/further_education/3650372-Can-anyone-explain-the-complete-basics-of-applying-for-medicine-vet-med-at-Uni

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/3670407-3-A-Levels-for-medicine-when-everyone-else-is-doing-4
and
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/3649792-General-advice-for-wannabe-medics-dentists
for example

@ROZ12 I gather from that list she is doing the 1 A Level equivalent BTEC. The Extended Certificate will require her to do 4 units - 2 of which are externally assessed.
Unit 1 - Exploring Business; this is a large coursework unit and will have 3 assignments
Unit 2 - Developing a Marketing Campaign; this is assessed via a 3 hour write up (high control) using the research she will compile from a pre-release case study
Unit 3 - Finance; this is a 2 hour exam personal finance and business finance. This is a tough exam - but a lost of the learning I would describe as 'life lessons'!
The final coursework unit is an optional, however some colleges pre determine which unit to complete whilst others do give 'free range'

This is the spec but if you need even more info then PM me

Hi, my Dd also wants to study medicine. After her results she was persuaded to try 4 A levels with the option to drop one. She’s doing chemistry, biology, physics and maths. Realistically she will drop physics quite early to make it manageable. Don’t think she knows how tough A levels are!
For GCSE she got 4X9, 5 X 8 and a 7 (AQA English lit which we might get reviewed)

@JennyWreny the marks for the papers (90 marks are the raw marks) whilst the marks for the grade boundaries are UMS (uniform mark scheme) - basically the raw marks are converted into the UMS based on a formula that the exam board determines based on the difficulty of the exam p21 on the grade boundary document shows the raw marks for each grade for each paper.

@tactum - sorry been meaning to respond to this. It seems to me that at the very least you should ask to see the reading exam. Something does seem very wrong. And to be honest, with a 2 in the reading, how much lower could it go with a remark? Still, looking at it should tell you quite a lot, especially if you can look at it in conjunction with your DD's teacher. Maybe this really is the one where somebody forgot to add up a grade, or lost three pages in the middle, or something. I don't know how much it costs simply to look at the paper (and it is only one paper you are looking for, not the three others, so those 8s will stay intact), but I confess if I was in your shoes I would go for it. As you say, it simply doesn't make sense, and really does smell of cock-up somewhere.

@lightlypoached - some of the medical schools take GCSEs into account, but many don't. Those that don't tend to focus very heavily on the UCAT or BMAT.
I would warn you that while there are medical schools that are happy to take with maths, chemistry and physics - there are some that require biology as well as chemistry, so by not taking biology he is restricting his choice of medical schools still further.
We have done up a spreadsheet of all 39 medical schools in the UK that take at the undergraduate level, and have set out in the first column the requirements for how they choose (there are two aspects: minimum requirements, and then shortlisting methods, which are in many ways more important, as most people will meet the minimum requirements, at least for GCSEs and predicted A Levels. The shortlisting methods are how they score, and some do include GCSEs in the score, and some just BMAT or UCAT). We didn't include required subjects on our spreadsheet, because there is no question DS wants to take chemistry and biology and maths, and everybody is happy with that combination. The dithering for him is about whether to take physics as his fourth (with further maths as a possible alternative)

I'll be interested to know if there is any movement on the grades being remarked particularly AQA English. We won't bother as dd has what she needs for A-levels.

Another one doing 4 - French, English lit, Psychology and Maths. Dd s 6 form , still does As levels. They were told to choose 4 and then drop one if it's too much after 1 term but to try and keep them going as long as possible. She also wants to do an EPQ.

Hi all

Thought I’ll join the results thread, I did post earlier about the those who got all 9s and A* were invited earlier for press opportunities . It’s a private school! My dd although super proud achieved a mixture of grades and passed everything. But they do rub it in those who got all 9s. There is a little part of me who wishes that was my dd but I’ll never tell her that.

My main question is I’m moving her to w state sixth form and she will doing 2 A levels biology and psychology and BTEC business . As biology is context heavy I’m hoping the BTEC is more coursework based and will finish early compared to the final a level exams. Anyone have experience of any of this? Dd isn’t the academic type.

Also as my dd did a mixture of igcse and GCSEs will this be recognised when applying to uni?

@DeRigueurMortis my brain well and truly dead too after both As and GCSEs

@DeRigueurMortis
Thanks so much for your response, I think there’s a bit of confusion x posting but hopefully your reply will help @SolitudeAtAltitude
My DS has just taken his A’s, he’s off to Oxford to do E&B.
@SolitudeAtAltitude was asking about further maths, further maths, physics and 3v4 A levels!
Sorry if I confused everyone

FM is more important than Computer science for pretty much anything, and whether it's more important than physics or chemistry or economics depends on the degree subject and/or the university - they are generally all very clear about their preferred qualifications.

Fwiw, my ds is about to go to Manchester for computer science, having declined an offer from Cambridge (same grades as his Manchester offer), for maths, FM and computer science A levels. He started doing physics as well but dropped it at about Easter of y12 - and got some dodgy advice from college about it, but fortunately I've been on mumsnet long enough and knew better!

Can I join in the conversation re 4 A levels please ? DS has just enrolled to do 4. I think it's unnecessary but he seems determined. Wants to do medicine but given his gcse grades (3x7,4x6, 3x5 with 1 5 to be remarked.) i can't see that as likely as they look for higher GCSEs than that in most medical schools I think?

He's basically clever but didn't apply himself and has learned his lesson - so he tells me

Wants to do chemistry, physics, maths and psychology. I believe there is a big cross over in maths & physics but that stilll looks like a very heavy workload. Does anyone have any thoughts, esp the the medicine angle ?

Whatever happens, he's enrolled now and we are going on a mum/son shopping expedition tomorrow to get laptop, clothes and a £40 calculator (!) Really looking forward to that bit

@SolitudeAtAltitude

My son has just completed 4 A levels in Maths, Further Maths, Chemistry and Physics. The conditional offer that he received from Imperial College was based on 4 subjects (where he's going incidentally) . The insurance offer he received from Manchester was based on 3 A levels but there was an equivalent lower offer based on 4 A levels (A*AA vs AAAA) so the college is not strictly correct. It will depend on the course obviously. Studying Further Maths does make it more likely that he will receive a higher grade in normal maths due to the exposure to certain topics studied. Can he start with the 4 subjects and see how it goes ?

Maydayredalert Thanks for looking. I thought it was a typo at first but the individual grade scores for the papers don't add up either IYKWIM.

@JennyWreny I just had a look too, I see what you mean. How weird. Even the specification says each exam is 90 marks so a total of 180.

@SolitudeAtAltitude
My DS has just taken Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Economics my experience is that Further Maths is different to Maths but if your DS enjoys maths then it isn’t anymore difficult, just tackles different components which feeds into the Physics. DS didn’t find further maths increased his workload, as he only had 1 essay subject. All his conditional Uni offers were made on 3 subjects. I think making an application with 4 subjects may give you an advantage. At his school they are told they can drop a 4th at the Christmas after uni applications have been submitted which you may consider if your DS finds 4 a stretch.
DS was going to study Economics which required further maths but eventually changed to Economics and Business.

*My DS is also interested in Mathys, further Maths, Physics and Computing but his college advises him to take only 3 of those 4 subjects.

They say that all Uni's (including the top ones) are happy with 3 A levels. And adding a 4th is unnecessary, and it's better to fully focus on 3.*

My DD has just finished A levels - Maths, Further Maths, Computer Science and Chemistry

She would have been delighted to drop Chemistry to concentrate on the other three because all of the Uni courses she looked at (to study Maths) only took three A level grades into account and with the EPQ that was compulsory for her college and three Uni entrance exams for maths she ended up with a lot of work/exams.