My son has GCSEs this summer. He is currently taking 10 subjects although there is not a hope he will pass physics and he quiet quit it earlier in year 11, doing lessons and homework but no revision.
His mocks were mixed, we have a maths tutor to help him with that as his mock was a 3 and obviously he needs to pass that. he's look at getting 6s and maybe a 7 or two for the subjects he actually likes and has an aptitude for, maybe a 4/5 in biology.
Other than physics, there are a further two which he is not confident of passing and his mock results would indicate that he's weak there, predicted a 3 and a 4.
He does study hard, he revised pretty much every day for autumn term right up to the mocks. he even did an hour a day during the summer so his work ethic is fine. I predict he will pass 7 subjects, getting probably 7,6,6,6,5,5,4. Is this enough, or should we be trying to get further support in one of the other subjects to bring that up to 8 passes, even if that just means getting another 4?
he wants to do 3 A levels and his school require 5 passes. For the subjects he wants to do there are no minimum requirements for grades, but he's interested in the ones he's more likely to get 6s for anyway.
I guess I am thinking that a. he is a smart kid and other that being made to study subjects he's not good at, he ought to be doing better and b. will only having 7 GCSEs affect things like Uni?