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Original poster

GCSE grades

30 replies

wellmadecake · 13/11/2019 16:59

DD2 has been predicted these grades for her GCSEs, her siblings I'd have to admit were not as bright. She is hoping to go to a good RG university, and we do not know what subjects she should take at A-level, and what grades at GCSE are suited to that level university.
Her subjects:
German: 9 Music:7 History:9 Geography:8 Maths:8 Biology:9 Chemistry:8 Physics:7 English Lang: 8 Lit: 9

She knows she wants to do History for A-Level and potentially University. DS1 did classical civilisation A-level and recommended it but DD2 didn't want to do that. She hates maths and physics, so those options are not viable.

For a levels, would history, chemistry and German be good options? That was what I think she enjoys but she is bad at decisions and doesn't want to pick wrong.

She really enjoys German and History, the other subjects are just mediocre for her. I have never been in this territory before (super clever kids) and any advice would be helpful Smile

OP posts:
Trewser · 13/11/2019 19:08

I will say though - predicting 9s is a bit silly. Our school (top indie) doesn't do it ever.

Trewser · 13/11/2019 19:07

They're a standard set of strong GCSEs for an able student

If the OPs dd ended up with these grades it would be very strong, very impressive and not in the least bit standard.

She needs to think about what she wants to study at uni and work back from there.

EvaHarknessRose · 13/11/2019 19:04

My dad had careers advice today about options - can she access any? Also sixth form open days and interviews are helpful. There's a very friendly Which University website which lets you play around inputting different A level choices to see what degree they might lead to.

clary · 13/11/2019 18:55

If she gets those grades that's a great set if results. She's got to get them tho... German 9 is a high prediction.

German, history and chemistry - good a levels for what? A maths degree, well no. German degree, great!

Chemistry is a bit of an outlier, fine to do it as long as she is not thinking of a science degree, as you often need a second science or maths (the list often includes geography or geology tho).

She should pick what she enjoys unless she has a very strong idea of a future degree. She will be able to change come results day. Dd was totally stuck on Music, maybe even post 18, and ended up not doing it at A level. Ds2 was all about maths and FM and now wants to do a biology degree (luckily he switched the FM to biology A level after he got his results).

LolaSmiles · 13/11/2019 17:04

They're a standard set of strong GCSEs for an able student, but they're not set in stone.

I think you're worrying far too much. If she works hard in class, puts the effort into her homework and revises appropriately then she'll reach her potential.

There's no point making A level decisions based on GCSE predictions, let alone university.

If she is considering History at university then then she will need history, same if she is considering a languages degree. Beyond that it doesn't really matter unless she has a burning desire to do Chemistry as many top science courses will want 2 sciences and/or maths.

She'll change her mind throughout a level as she looks through university information so for now the only real big question is whether she is more inclined to do humanities/social sciences or sciences.