Combined Science

tbf @OhCrumbsWhereNow when you talk about "ridiculously low" grade boundaries - remember you are looking at the higher paper, where the lowest possible grade is a 3 - so a 5 (while obviously a strong pass and a great grade) is effectively only two grades up from a U. So clearly 60% cannot be asked for for a 5 or there would be nowhere to go for grades 6/7/8/9.

Getting a 5 in the higher paper is tough tbh. I am no expert on science, but in my subject, MFL, it's a lot easier to achieve a 5 in the F paper than the H. Many of the questions in the H paper are aimed at students who will score 7 and above.

I understand that you are concerned about the F paper if your DC does no work for their weaker science - which will then pull down their 5 in the stronger science. That's why I would still push for single sciences and just 2 of the three. It's not about IGCSE - my friend's DD took regular GCSEs.

Which is the subject your DC dislikes - and which are they good at? I do think foundation 5s in the strong one(s) and then not taking the weaker might be better. There may be an SEN/hub type option for the dropped lessons? One of my DC took one fewer GCSE and had timetabled time in the SEN dept instead.

I had a very very non science focussed child and after a big fight the school agreed they could do the single science they were actually good at - is that a possibility for your DC given you are thinking they could get 7s in one science but struggle to pass the others? Whilst I agree its great to offer an opportunity for a broad base in science there will always be DC who will not be doing a minute more than they absolutely have to and it might be better to play to their strengths.

How on earth do they finish the course by the end of y10?
Anyway, sounds like FT might be a better bet, and also even as a state school they can ( especially for kids with sen) only enter them for 1 or 2 sciences, eg in the past we have had kids with autism who could not cope with all the body bits in biology, but we entered them for ft physics and they secured a 4, so left school with a science pass. They might not want to do that ( cos progress 8 and buckets and stuff) but if you think it is in your dcs best interests and most likely to give a pass or 2 then push for it.

Depends on the paper, grade boundaries only apply to a specific paper

It would have been an easier revision load. The things DD struggled most with understanding/learning were the things not in Foundation.
However due to covid and other things DD ended up missing y11, so for her the whole things ended up moot.

Decisions about foundation and higher usually aren't made until year 11.

At my school we would let students who we weren't sure about/parents weren't sure about sit both as mocks so we could literally see which one they did better on.

The GCSE certificates don't say which tier of entry. No point doing Higher tier unless reasonably aiming for a 6.

There are 'crossover' questions so the hardest questions on the Foundation paper are the easiest on the Higher.
Most schools make the decision on tier of entry after the course is at least half taught. The Foundation tier has the same topics/units but omits the more complicated information. (DD dropped tiers so I did a comparison of the revision guides.)
It normally is something you just follow the advice from the school on.

Grade boundaries do depend on weather they sit higher or foundation. If they are really disinterested then maybe doing foundation would be better. They can only get a lower top make but it is easier to get a 5-5 on the foundation then a 5-5 on the higher.

This is the problem with inventing grade 9s which are frankly unnecessary.

Deleted. I misunderstood.

Yes, so if you got 70% on both papers for Physics (higher) you could get 0% for the other two and come out with a 4-4.

Risky though, I imagine if not achieving 4s for the other two the school are likely to enter for foundation, which would shed need to score ok on the others as well.

Every mark is equally important. 59/60 on one paper and 1/60 on another is the same as 30/60 and 30/60.

All the marks are added together and then the grade boundaries are applied.

They have to sit all higher or all foundation papers so it's not actually possible to get 7-7 on one and 2-2 on the other, as Foundation papers are capped at 5-5 and Higher only go down to 4-3 (I think, could be 4-4 now), below that it's a U.

So, taking AQA as an example, total is 420. On higher papers a total of 200 would be a 7-7 (ish) and on foundation a total of 200 would be a 4-4 (ish).

If it's edexcel, each paper is 60 marks and they add all six together so total is out of 360. the grade boundaries for 2023 are shown here, so for example 279/360 (if taking the higher papers) was awarded 9 and 9.

Actually I think doing all three sciences, and offering this in a reduced form, is a great idea – I only did two (a hundred years ago), not being a sciency type, and really regret my lack of physics knowledge tbh. Combined would have been excellent for me.

I do hear you on someone with SEN as you describe tho. In fact it is possible to take just some of the single sciences – a friend’s DD just took chemistry (no SEN so I was a bit :O) but that was at a private school. What year is your DC? If year 10 is there any way of switching and dropping one, pleading the issue you outline here? If year 11 tho then it’s a bit late.

Well the second set of figures adds up to more so would presumably be a higher grade. But there are actual grade boundaries so it’s not that simple.

Try to get the 2 up to a 4 is the badger surely?