How important is taking triple versus double science at GSCE?

I encouraged my kids to do triple:
A. It's a few extra modules not a whole different subject
B. Grade boundaries are lower I think
C. The kids in triple tend to be better behaved and more academic (double science is compulsory) so there is less 'behaviour' to deal with. Not important in all schools but v important in my DC's school.

Two high grades open more doors than 3 lower grades.
There is a bit of catching up for A level apparently but lots of people seem to manage it.

Long reply here which might shed some light as we've just switched Y11 DS from Triple to Double (AQA Combined)

He's in a school where 3 classes do Double and 1 class does Triple.
He's been a 6 sometimes a 7 since Y9 when they started the content but despite working at full capacity he got three 6s in his mocks which was disappointing as was aiming for 7s. His classmates got 8s & 9s

School have never pushed us to switch but have said it's always an option as he is borderline. He likes Triple because he's in with all his friends.

I asked at the post-mock parents evening just before half term what a switch would entail given he is unable to 'go up a gear' for the looming GCSEs and got a really honest & frank response from each of the 3 teachers. It would be a smooth transition after half term, he'd likely get 2 much stronger grades vs risk three 6s, he could cut down his revision content by a quarter (it's not quite a third) and there would be no impact on A level choices or stigma. DS was sold & decided on the spot to switch.

I spent half term comparing the Triple and Combined Specifications as wanted a list of what Triple content to cut - it was about a quarter but crucially it was all the really quite hard stuff.
Ds is now sitting Combined Physics papers weekly for homework and is getting 9s.
The papers are 1 hour 15 min each rather than 1 hour 45 minutes, there is less content to revise and the harder content & questions are dropped

We are both so relieved to have made the switch at this late stage. The volume of content for GCSEs is just vast and this has slightly taken the pressure off all the other areas he needs to address!
Hopefully he'll get two much stronger grades than risk 3 lower grades.

Do Triple if you are a science natural, find it easy and love it. If you have to work at it go for combined.

Who's given you these stats? Surely that's cohort dependent? A 7 is very high... if the school puts all the lower ability pupils into combined and 15% of them are getting 7s than that's pretty damn impressive!
Just because a child is not getting a 7 doesn't mean they're disengaged... can we stop this narrative it's really weird. Science GCSE is not easy by any means, just because a child didn't get a 7 doesn't mean they were disengaged wtf?

Because it isn't an option at her school.

I don't see that much in it. Triple science is harder than combined. But even then you can do A'level in at least one subject.

The actual triple science 7+ percentage is actually 60%, 60% and 67%. So the combined science with a 15% at 7+ is truly awful for the school. It’s filled with disengaged kids I would guess.

Not that unusual. DC is at a school with about 110 in triple science and 170 in combined science. About 60% of triple science class scores grade 7+. Compared to 15%. From what DC says, anyone academic is in the triple science class. It’s a non selective comprehensive. The combined is the lower set and they are taught with the same number of lessons.

So to the OP. Really depends on your school whether you should take double or triple.

Why didn't she take triple? The step up to a-levels is tough enough from triple.

My A level chemistry classes are about 1/3 double and 2/3 triple. After the first term I couldn't tell you who did what. Many go on to do medicine, vet med, engineering etc - even Natural Sciences at Cambs.

Doing double won't stop you do anything. You just have time do a bit extra at the start of year 12.

We had this dilemma at GCSE choices time. I had always assumed that DC would do triple science and indeed one of the key criteria for choosing secondary schools was making sure that they had a triple science gcse option because I always assumed the DC (who has ASD) would prefer scientific subjects.

However, as they have also chosen 2 scientific choices in the free option (computer science and design technology & engineering) and was finding the workload of a full timetable tough, we decided to ask for a drop down from triple to double to relieve the pressure.

We were assured at the time that taking double does not close any doors. Double science is still an adequate preparation for A Level sciences if that's their choice. There will be a little catching up as some topics in the Alevel syllabus will have had some initial content included in the triple science syllabus but not the double, but such catching up would not be too onerous, and there will be other students in any sixth form class who have transferred in from other schools and not covered the same topics at GCSE so the A level teachers would expect to cover such catching up as a matter of routine.

I looked into this as my DD has just had to choose her GCSE options. She might want to do Biology A level but has little interest in the other sciences so doesn't want to do triple science. I checked A-Level requirements for her school and other sixth forms in the area for Biology A Level and none required triple science.

I would say triple science is a good choice for those who find science interesting and are likely to do well at it but it doesn't necessarily open or close any doors.

Yeah, real strength of DC’s school, which only dies double, was real choice for all. 5 option blocks (study support in 2 blocks for high level SEN); only restrictions were no more than 2 of the 4 DT plus Art subjects offered, and not Drama, Art and Music because of the coursework loads. Could do more than 2 languages and PE plus Dance if done as twilights. Genuinely wide curriculum offer.

Yes exactly that re tiers. So if you are great at biology but not physics (clearly possible if not v likely) you could take H bio and get an 8 but F physics and get a 4- instead of (say) 6-6 in double.

Is 6-6 better than 8 and 4? I guess it depends if you wanted to do biology A level.

Yes re pathways- the school I mention has the usual maths eng x 2, science x 2 or 3, then French (the only MFL offered) l, history OR geog, the whoopdedoo ONE option. It's a bit crap I think.

Yh lots of schools have pathways where your choice is geo or his, french or Spanish and only one free choice. If you want to do triple than that's your one choice. It's sad. I got 4 free choices, it was brilliant.
Do you mean with triple you could do for eg foundation bio but higher physics? If you're doing triple and you're weak enough in one to do foundation, surely a higher grade in double would be better?

This is really interesting. I do think that offering triple as an option (not how it was done local to me, as per my previous posts) is better in many ways - those who are not so academic but enjoy science get the choice, plus there is scope for mix and match among H and F tiers if triple is taken, but not for double.

But I also agree we should not narrow down sooner than we need to. Sadly that is more and more the case - a well-rated school local to me has students who take double taking a max of eight GCSEs, with only one free choice among those eight. The only difference there for the triple students is that they take nine GCSEs - still just one choice.

I took double. Then id chem, bio, Phys and maths a level, did an astrophysics degree and am now a science teacher.

I can't speak for bio and chem teachers but in my a level physics classes I can't tell who has done double or triple at GCSE.

I get shot down in my dept. But I am actually anti triple science. I don't think students should narrow their curriculum until they absolutely have to.

I can only speak from my experience and that pattern was pretty typical in schools in my area when my dc were taking GCSEs. No twilight sessions. I did caveat with the fact that science teachers are now in short supply so schools may well be cutting their cloth differently.

Wrt disengaged students- again just what my ds who did double found. Lots of ppl who took double did really well. And there were annoying kids in the triple class. But in general a better attitude to learning prevailed among more able students- in the science classes anyway!

DC’s school had all children doing double - and as a result had 5 true GCSE options so pupils could take 2 languages, 2 humanities, 2 Arts subjects, 2 DT/ Computing subjects etc.

Very similar A level science grade profile to similar school a few miles away doing a mix of double and triple.

That's very unusual. Normally there's only one class per year or per side of year that does it, and they need twilight sessions.
At DDs current school more than the usual amount take it (1x class of 30 each side of the year so 60)
Even a third of the year.. you're saying the rest of the kids are stuck in disengaged classes cause they're not doing triple? That's a bit mean.

My DD has exactly the same fact pattern.

I should add that all my GCSE Intel on thos is 5 years old as ds2 took GCSEs in 2019. Things have changed in terms of teacher availability, for sure, and maybe triple is offered to fewer students in their school now.

Not sure how many is "very very limited number" but in my dcs' school a third of the year (approx 70) took triple.

Obviously if only 15 students take it then there's no reason to suggest the others are disengaged, no. As i said, it really would depend on the school and how it is allocated

That is, genuinely, no longer true. There was a gap in the ‘old’ (A* to G) GCSEs, but since the 9-1 ones were brought in, without a corresponding change in A level content, the gap is really small. Dd’s Physics teacher identified a single topic where there was a gap, but as that was not taught till Y13, the school re-taught it anyway.

The right reasons to do triple is if you want to pursue science at A levels or if you genuinely love it and don’t find it that hard. The wrong reasons are prestige (no employers care) or just to keep A level science open as an option.

If you do double and want to pursue A levels, you just need to do about 20% of the syllabus over the summer hols after Year 11. The only people who struggle with A levels after double probably shouldn’t have been doing the A level anyway.