Confused about how many GCSEs are required - can someone explain please?

Ah, sorry, 'best 6 plus English and maths.' I misread your earlier post.[{blush]

[quote MillicentMartha]@titchy, progress 8 is actually based upon 8 GCSEs, and with maths and English double weighted, (if you do English Lan and Lit) the total score is out of 10. So most schools will require 8 GCSEs as a minimum unless there are extenuating circumstances.[/quote]
Which is exactly what I said in my post at 9.35

English and maths, then 3 Ebac subjects, then 3 other subjects which can include any extra Ebac subjects and English Lit.

@titchy, progress 8 is actually based upon 8 GCSEs, and with maths and English double weighted, (if you do English Lan and Lit) the total score is out of 10. So most schools will require 8 GCSEs as a minimum unless there are extenuating circumstances.

But Science can be single, double or triple, depending on the ability of the student. And English is split into Language and Literature.

Single Science GCSE has been discontinued for the new 9-1 qualifications. So Combined science which is equivalent to 2 GCSEs is now the minimum that can be taken in state schools.

For state school pupils the recommended number of GCSEs needed for a balanced eduation is 8.

There are plenty of home educated students who only do 5 and manage to go on to A Levels/BTEC/uni. Also young people who’ve been ill during their GCSE years.

Which is exactly why I said 'in the absence of specific circumstances'....

@crazycrofter I agree 100%. Schools have a duty to provide min 25hrs of learning a week over 39 weeks. They are also effected by progress 8.
Home-schooled kids normally have very busy academic lives in the areas they find enjoyable so they make a lot of academic progress that way naturally. They normally just do the exams they absolutely need for the next step. This is no reflection of their intelligence or ability which is why a lot of them still excel at A Levels and beyond.
However, I think if a child that attends school 25hrs a week struggles so much that they were asked to do 5 GCSE's, than A Levels are probably not for them. Again, this does not discount Uni.
Teachers are only required to have Maths, Eng and (for primary) Science GCSE.
Homeschooled families have to be very well researched in the UK education system and I think this gives those kids the benefit of excellent careers education. Unlike the ones in mainstream school.

My own son took 8 but only passed 5. However the subject he is hoping to study at university he got an 8 in and he has now started a btec in that subject where he is surpassing all expectations.

So he is likely to have a wide range of good universitities he can apply to.

@titchy it’s true that most schools wouldn’t allow you to do 5 but that’s not the same as saying you won’t be able to enter uni with only 5. There are plenty of home educated students who only do 5 and manage to go on to A Levels/BTEC/uni. Also young people who’ve been ill during their GCSE years.

Obviously schools do at least 8 as they have to fill a full timetable! But it’s important not to perpetuate the myth that unis require 8. In fact my friend’s daughter just completed sixth form very successfully and has a deferred place for next year. I think she has five GCSEs at grades B/C (taken over two years) although she may only have 4. It wasn’t an issue.

Home educated students also don’t seem to struggle with the intensity of A Levels despite not having done 10 GCSEs in one go at age 16 so I think that argument is overrated. Unfortunately we have an education system that overloads our 14-16 year olds and leaves them little room for anything else. I wish there was more balance personally!

The standard number that everyone is expected to do is 8. Schools are judged on the progress of their pupils in their best 8 GCSE's. However most schools would offer at least 9 subjects as this gives a bit of leeway if something goes badly wrong in one subject and to give extra depth/chance to study the arts or triple science etc.

High ability students may be offered the chance to study a 10th subject at some schools. It used to be very common for certain schools to offer 11/12 but that was totally unecessary, is not sustainable with the increased content of the new GCSE's and it appeared to value quantity over quality.

Universities tend to favour high grades in less subjects than low grades in more subjects.

Most colleges tend to ask for 5 subjects with the more selective requiring 6-8. Some of hte top universities have a scoring system where they give points for grades for your best 6-8 subjects. But that is usually only for ultra competitive subjects such as Medicine or for Oxbridge. At most other universities they are happy with 5 good grades and look more at your A levels.

Apologies if I'm outdated, I thought it would be relevant as I entered the workforce in 2017 and these were the only GCSE related requirements for my grad role.

@RedskyAtnight it was 2011 so just before the new scheme. Included triple science and mandatory sport, citizenship, humanities and a language plus early maths GCSE.

So they were split between year 9 and 11. Might not be as much as now but god it was a slog.

[quote crazycrofter]@titchy, universities don't ask for eight or even five GCSEs, just Cs in Maths and English (and sometimes Science depending on the course).[/quote]
I'm very familiar with what universities ask for.

A kid that only does 5 GCSEs is only studying about half the expected load. Apart from being effectively part time, their curriculum is incredibly narrow, and the leap to A level study will be much much bigger than it would have been if they were used to the intensity required to take the standard number of GCSEs.

Unis (mostly, not all) won't care, and neither will sixth forms, but in the absence of specific circumstances that make taking more than 5 difficult, it does the student no favours whatsoever to limit them to five.

@clary I suppose that is one advantage of ds having to do 10/11! They allow three options which are pretty much free choices out of the humanities, art, music, PE, DT, languages, business etc. They also have RS and Computing as compulsory subjects. My ds is really enjoying his three options of History, Business and Music and these are the subjects he'd probably consider for A Level, along with maybe RS.

How long ago did you take GCSEs @CorianderLord?

The amount of content has changed a lot in the last few years, and they are harder now.

I did 13 it just depends on the school.

I'm guessing this was not since the 9-1 GCSEs were brought in? They have a lot more content than the old style ones. I doubt anyone does 13 these days.

I did 13 it just depends on the school. Doesn't really matter so long as they get Maths and English above a C and at least 5 Pass grades.

My son did 10 (middle of the road comp), he had the option of doing 11 (adding further maths) and lots of students did 9 (combined science which counts as 2 GCSE’s rather than 3 separate sciences). When I did mine (a long long time ago) I did 8. Between 8-10 is probably the average.

Dd is at a high achieving independent and she's doing 8. She's working at about a 6 or 7 in everything at the moment. She'll stay there for 6th form and do 3 A levels.

I do agree that too many subjects (= many exams) is not helpful.

DS2 did GCSEs last year and wow! exams are packed in. One fellow student had 10 exams in the first week, due to combination of subjects.

SO at my DCs' school, you do 9, or 10 if you do triple science (more able students). Some schools have triple as an option so the number won't vary there.

DD and DS2 both did 10; DS1 did double and also dropped an option so he has 8 GCSEs, which was certainly plenty of work for him.

But I agree, the issue can be too early narrowing, especially if your interests do not lie in the direction of compulsory subjects. A local and well regarded school offers 8 (9 with triple) and insists that most students take French (the only MFL) and either history or geography. In practice this leaves many with only one choice. What if you enjoyed PE, drama, DT, catering, art, music, computing, RE...tricky to do any of those at A level without doing the GCSE (well, RE maybe, but certainly not the others). At least the DCs' school gives two options so you have a bit more scope. Luckily mine enjoyed a) English and geography b) biology and maths! But I feel for those who would like to do A levels in music, art and DT - really not possible.

8 is a standard number that is expected (not just GCSEs, GCSE equivalents such as BTEC would also be ok). Most schools do 9 or 10. DS studied 11, which was far too many and meant 25 individual exams. (though it does mean he can quietly ignore the subject he failed as he still has 10 passes!)

@titchy this is really not true at all. The only reason you'd need those extra 3 is to get onto a levels in those subjects. There are plenty of other routes into university that are not a levels.
I think the biggest let down in this country is it's careers education. It fails so many kids a year and has done so for a very long time.

@titchy, universities don't ask for eight or even five GCSEs, just Cs in Maths and English (and sometimes Science depending on the course).

@GU24Mum it does feel like the system favours the scientists! For ds and dd we knew by year 9 that they were humanities-focused and weren't likely to do sciences or Maths for A Level (although ds is only year 10 so could surprise us). I wanted them to have enough options for A Level - so for example, dd took both History and Geography as they were her favourite subjects and possible A Level options, which would have been ruled out if she'd not done the GCSEs.

Dd started with 10 and was able to drop one at the beginning of year 11. That was definitely enough for her; she's a slow thorough worker who has a tendency to feel overwhelmed. At ds' school they still do 11 if they're in the triple science sets and 10 otherwise. I think it's too many. We've already made noises that we want him to do double science (with his consent of course) because he's unlikely to do Science A Levels and 11 subjects is just too many to revise - and too many exams.