how many gcses do most children do ?

DD did:
Eng Lang
Eng Lit
Maths
Triple science
Geography
History
French
German
Philosphy & Ethics
Total 11 GCSE's + a compulsory ICT award.

She got 11 A*'s

Did 5 AS levels last year and down to 4 A2's now.

I think it is a lot to expect As. My DS was in a selective school and teachers and parents expected As, but I don't think this was fully communicated to the students. Reports mentioned 'top grades' rather than A*s.

My DS got 2 As, (the rest As) and when I looked up the stats, it turned out that only 3% of boys got As and 5% A/A*s for those subjects, so still pretty good.

Just read a bit further down (old style). DD came home from school every afternoon saying that the teachers have all said 'you are top set so we want A*s. I sensed her stressing so told her just to do her best.

You worry for them, dont you? being put under so much pressure.

Just worked this out with DD also in year 10. She is also gifted quite bright!

English 2
Maths 1
Triple science 3
Business studies 2 no exam though
RS Half
Drama 1
History 1
Geography 1

Think that's it so 12. Enough imo.

yes bagsforlife .my ds school also a top grammar school with 10% going oxbridge they argue quality not quantity

Resistant materials is woodwork. I don't think it will add much to his academic portfolio. Does he enjoy it?

Snorkle I'd say until a student gets to do Maths and actually probably in fact Further Maths A Level it's hard to tell how able they are. GCSE should be able to be able to get an A* with no work.

I would say that unless you want to kudos of Oxbridge, it's not necessarily worth doing a maths degree at Cambridge unless you're really one of the best. If you just scrape in to get there it can be miserable and you'd be better off being top dog somewhere else - that may be a bit biased of me though!!

Hi Piffle - just to check, is he doing Stats this year and Maths next year? You've only out one of them down. (TBH Stats is a waste of time for good mathematicians - it's there as a filler to get more high grades for the school).

For a Maths degree at Cambridge they're only going to look at A Level grades and probably STEP papers.

I did my GCSE's 6 years ago. I did 11 and failed one (German).

English (is counted as two I think; Lit and Language)
French
I.T
Science
R.E
Geography
Maths
German(failed)

Erm, cant remeber other (dunce)

He's doing more than 2 techs - he's also doing Engineering which is also a tech course. It's one that isn't relevent to professional engineering, either.

Actually Piffle, Can you tell me more about this millenium maths project? Ds has wondered about doing maths at Cambridge (very early days & I expect he may well change his mind, though maths/science is a strength of his), but I have no idea if he's bright enough or not really. How can you tell?

It does seem ever such a lot Piffle. I'd question why the school is loading the children up so much - if your ds is finding it tough just think how some of the others must be? As well as asking about the tech (is that also a fav. subject of his though?) I'd definitely be tempted to withdraw him from RE - as I recall you & he weren't great fans of the subject anyway - no university is going to care about that extra .5 of a GCSE and presumably it would give him a free lesson or two a week when he could get some other stuff done? With the extra Mandarin as well he probably really could use a bit of slack.

If Oxbridge entry is like it was in my day, they look at 'rounded' people with exceptional academic potential ideally. So obv if you get 16 A at GCSE you're going to get an interview as clearly very bright, but someone like that might struggle with the interview as they ask about all kinds of things not related to what you're studying (they're interested to hear how you think rather than how much you know was how my interviewer put it). So someone with 10 A at GCSE but lots of sports/interests/vivacity might get a lower offer than someone with the 16 A* grades but who is fearfully dull at interview.

I didn't go to Oxbridge - rejected the offer as I'd spent enough time being labelled 'g&t' and wanted to spend my time at uni drinking 'g&t's instead! My two best friends went to Cambridge & didn't enjoy it - both got * firsts. But one of them burnt out badly, and the other went on to do his PhD at, as he put it 'a nice red brick university in a town where you can get a decent curry after the pub'.

So even if his choice of GCSEs hurt an Oxbridge entry IMO 'taint no never mind. Unless he wants to be a lawyer or summit...

PS If he is seriously thinking of Cambridge, look on their website, states 'soft' subjects they do not recommend for A level, although accept them if they are mixed with other academic subjects. This may be relevant to what he is doing for GCSE.

The school my DCs went to/go to is 'top' grammar school. They do 10 GCSEs. Some do extra ones in languages in 6th form. They get lots of children doing Oxbridge, 26 got places year. It's quality not quantity they are looking for.

My DS1 has just done his GCSEs at a selective independent school. By the end of Y11, he had 10 GCSEs and 1 AS. He has now started L6 and is studying 5 AS. He should leave school with 3/4 A2s and 3/2 AS. All of his subjects are academic ones.

Piffle, several children from ds's school got Cambridge places this year; one had 11 GCSEs (like your ds she moonlighted an extra language) the others had 'just' 10. I don't think going up to 12+ is necessary even for Oxbridge.

dd did 13 12m ago.

Chacun She is doing A'level science but did the double science gcse. She didn't need seperate sciences for the A'level. Neither did my ds who also did double science 5y ago.

gcse are more like the 16+ of my day