Doing a language GCSE early - pros and cons?

I wouldn’t do it early if he was borderline 8/9. It would be better to get the top grade in year 11.

I did a language degree and it pissed me off no end that there was a proper native speaker on one of my courses. She did actually only get a 2:2 though because while she aced the language elements she was rubbish at the content modules so I felt like it was poetic justice. We all felt like she had a massive advantage and it was really unfair. Your son isn’t in that camp at all. There were plenty of people that had a year or two living somewhere relevant. That is very different to growing up in the country and having native parental speakers.

DS did Spanish gcse in y8 ( dad is Spanish, but ds is not bilingual).
School prepared him by letting him sit in with y11 in run up to the exam. He got A*.

When he got to y12 he chose A level Spanish, no problem!

For uni applications, they will be far more focused on A Levels, and will know thdt hd isnot snativd speaker.
For 6th form admissions, some schools which require minimum grades/points score might only take into account exams sat in Y11, but that still works for you. Taking German early will allow more time to focus on other subjects in Y11. Tutor has given good advice, take it in Y10

I work in a selective school. We have a number of students who take various languages such as Italian, Mandarin and Japanese as extra curricular clubs who take their gcse in year 9 or year 10. This is because they are doing the regular number of gcses eg. 10 or 11 in year 11 too (including another mfl).

I would recommend that your son do take it. I would then suggest that he keep up lessons perhaps during year 11 and in the event any 6th form would want him to do German A level because his "German" is a year old then he can demonstrate he has done this and maybe he might want to take a TestDAF or similar.

If he doesn't want to take a German A level it will still count as a gcse if he were to apply to Oxbridge. If he wanted to apply to UCL it will still satisfy his language gcse requirement (they just want one and it won't matter when taken, and indeed may take you without a language gcse but you have to study language alongside your degree).

MIne did some exams early. The benefits weren’t immediately obvious but there’s were several.

They felt academically interested and there was a confidence boost going into their exam year,!knowing what taking public exams felt like
.
They could take more exams - not something universities were particularly interested in at GCSE, but employers have always commented positively ad they are perceived as very bright/hardworking.

They did French as an additional subject exam in year 10- no lessons at all but fluent speakers/writers. Seemed silly not to. One did languages at university, but not French. It means she is fluent in four languages, not two and that is definitely advantageous for employment in her field.

They also did RE/theology early to allow an early start to A level theology. They took the AS level in year 10 with the GCSE and then A2 in year 11. No real university advantage except the medical school accepted it as one of the required grade As and this took significant pressure off in year 13, knowing she only needed two more As and could slip a grade without losing her place.

The school did computer science in year 9 for half the pupils too, but I have no idea why. I guess to support learning in other subjects. It did set an expectation and recognition of achievement as the norm.

I did French a year early and then did a level work for 3 years. I’d do it if he’s predicted to get the top grade. My niece did music very early at 13 but only got E, I’m not sure why she was pushed to do it! At my dc’s school they all do 1 or 2 a year early and have more hours in that subject eg 5 hours English lit y10 then 5 hours Lang in y11. Doesn’t affect a level choices or uni applications at all.

Totally agree about exam preparation.

For GCSE DD's language skills were easily good enough so we (she and I) went through lots of old papers, the mark scheme and the examiner's report. We used those to pick out where marks could be dropped, common mistakes etc.

For A level DD needed a tutor but the person who tutored her wasn't a teacher. The tutor was a native speaker with a passion for sharing her language. Again lots of past papers and the tutor was an incredibly strict marker, probably more strict than the examiner!

The tutor was actually a scientist and across two years got DD interested in her subject and DD is now a scientist in the same field. Funny how things turn out!

Just learning how to do exams is a useful skill in itself. For A level, learning the commitment required to get a good grade is also useful.

@clary Very true; have come across so many poorly prepared native speakers in my time as teacher and examiner who don't use formal enough language, find spelling tricky or whose schools very unreasonably and unfairly think they can just waltz into the exam with no prep.

It's not that the exams are so hard that even native speakers can't do them; it's more that they are often unprepared or overconfident and therefore attention to detail slips.

GCSE is slightly different, but even there, there can be issues around accuracy and inclusion of important elements in writing for example, so exam technique is still important.

He won't be regarded as a native speaker at all, and even native speakers don't necessarily always get the highest grades, in my experience.

German teacher here of GCSE and A-Level.

Yes to doing it in Yr 10 especially if he's also doing other MFLs in Yr 11. Unis will love it regardless when it's done. School won't be able to count it unless it's in Yr 11 but that's their problem.

If he wants to do A-Level then he'll have to start early so as not to experience the potential drop in skills in the intervening year. Even though there are fewer schools offering A-Level there are some online German A-Level tutors who will be able to assist.

Some schools will also enter him for A-Level as an external/private candidate provided they or you can source someone appropriate to do the oral exam. It's worth asking his current school or ringing round a few local ones to see if they'd be able to help.

As a matter of interest how recently did your DD do her GCSEs?

I had to think about that . 6/7 years ago. I should repeat here that I don't think it is a good system splitting GCSEs across 2 years, I am merely trying to provide a bit of reassurance to people, and a counter-balance to those who are saying GCSEs in Y10 will be discounted by all schools at sixth form and by universities, as experience has shown me that isn't necessarily the case.

thing47 As a matter of interest how recently did your DD do her GCSEs? It seemed to be popular a few years back but fell out of favour with Ofsted iirc.

I'm sure it does vary from school to school and will probably depend on how oversubscribed the school is or isnt for 6th form. Plus, I dont think any school is going to subtract 'marks' for a student having taken a single GCSE early and then taken the rest at the normal time.

When DD took her GCSE & A level MFL early it was only ever seen as a positive.

It wasnt a language her school offered but they were very helpful in arranging for her to sit the exams. The only tricky bit was arranging for someone to do the oral part of the GCSE. We eventually found someone who would do this.

By the time she got to her proper GCSEs DD was well versed in exam technique and exam hall etiquette which was excellent for calming pre-exam nerves.

I can't speak for doing a GCSE in Y9, but all the schools around us (grammars, comprehensives, secondary moderns and privates) offered DD a sixth form place based on her Y10 GCSE results and Y11 GCSE predicted grades (subject to her achieving those of course). Not one queried the fact that she had done half in each year, or even mentioned that there was an issue that she hadn't sat 8 in one go.

Obviously from what people are saying, it varies from school to school, so probably the best advice is to check the requirements at any school which you are considering for sixth form, OP.

I teach MFL & we enter students early if they want to. I agree he would not count as native speaker. However there is no extra or different exam for native speakers.

I wonder if he could take it end of year 9?

It would definitely look good as an extra skill. Is he taking another language as well?

So few people do A level German now which is a great shame. It would go well with lots of courses if he had the skill - engineering, business, law, science.

Our local grammar the children who do early GCSEs in languages do them in year 9 to reduce pressure in the later years. I am guessing he can resit later if he is not happy with the grade he achieves but I would also view it as a good opportunity to practise.

DD went to a secondary modern where they did half their GCSEs in Y10 and half in Y11. That was the way the school was structured. Personally I don't think it is a good idea, particularly around the issue of studying A levels in subjects which you haven't studied for the whole of Y11.

However, I can reassure posters that it didn't seem to be an issue for university admissions officers, including at Russell Group ones if that is an important consideration for you.

I think it is a fairly recent thing, that universities, apprenticeships, etc have asked for ALL grades to be declared. Sometimes it doesn't matter, sometimes it does.

As an adult, I have also noticed this on some job applications recently too.