Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

how many gcses do most children do ?

79 replies

Piffle · 05/09/2008 13:40

am a little anxious as ds1 -although very gifted in all subjects, seems to on the face of it have mega courseload

They are doing some this school year- maths stats, IT and ds1 is doing mandarin as twilight (after school course 1hr per week only)
But his are all academic subjects listen to this fgs
Double English lit and lang(2 gcses)
Triple science(3)
Now bumped up to dbl tech course (2gcses worth)
Geography
Half RE
Engineering
Art
Plus silver arts award extra quals
French

It seems a hefty load even for bright children?
Anyone any experience of this kind of load?

OP posts:
ChacunaSonGout · 05/09/2008 22:12

just age mercy!

Mercy · 05/09/2008 22:10

I'm also from the old days when sitting 8 O levels was normal (although my brighter brother did 11 or 12, 2 of them a year earlier iirc)

What;s the difference between O levels and GCSEs?

ChacunaSonGout · 05/09/2008 22:02

wow tissy!

i try to tell my ds that my two b's and a d were good in 1986

tissy · 05/09/2008 21:57

I did mine nearly 30 years ago. I was at a girls' grammar school. Like mb, I did 9

English Lit
English lang
Maths and One modern language were compulsory

Either geography or history was compulsory

In addition I did german and physics, chemistry, biology.

We were only allowed to do 3 A levels as well (though I did do enough pure and applied maths to get me through A level physics), but 3 B's was enough to get you into a decent medical school in those days!

ChacunaSonGout · 05/09/2008 21:50

ds school does A LOT less than most schools round us but says it prepares boys better for a level

ChacunaSonGout · 05/09/2008 21:48

my ds did 10

one a year early

eng lit
eng lang
biology
physics
chemistry

(sciences HAVE to be separate if you want to do A level)

geography
history
maths
french
german

did not work overly hard imo and got top marks for all

they are NOT like they were in our day

fizzbuzz · 05/09/2008 21:44

That is the guidance at our school as well. But the C grades often struggle

Hulababy · 05/09/2008 21:06

To go into sixth form or do A level you normally need 5 GCSEs at grade C and above. Ideally this includes English and Maths, although these can normally resat during first year.

Hulababy · 05/09/2008 21:04

I did 10 between 1987-1989

roisin · 05/09/2008 21:03

It seems like an awful lot to me Piffle, for no real benefit. 'Academic' subjects are hard work, and if he has coursework in quite a lot of them (Engineering, English, Geography, Art ...?) that will mean a heavy workload for him.

It is a good idea for a bright child not to have their options narrowed at this stage by excluding certain subjects. But other than that there is no real benefit to getting more than 9 or 10 good/excellent grades.

Original poster
Piffle · 05/09/2008 20:54

re need as well
Mandarin was offered to students in yr7
Ds fancied it no major load there sounds else than it is!
But all the others are choices per se
Able students do stats gcse yr11 lots of them
But the art load is massive as is tech and engineering

OP posts:
Original poster
Piffle · 05/09/2008 20:50

I am questioning need for him to do so many heavy subjects.
Ok he does aspire to Cambridge infact he has been told if he holds grades to a level he is invited for maths degree
BUT
FFS
He is a child making extremely massive decisions
Seems out of my hands you know sometimes
I'm immensely proud of him but equally protective
I guess.

OP posts:
fizzbuzz · 05/09/2008 20:22

And the kids at our school do 10 or 11

fizzbuzz · 05/09/2008 19:57

Why are universities only interested in academic subjetcs?

Not my experience at all. I have been teaching practical subjects for 13 years. Universities want rounded studenst with a braod ducational base, and do not discriminate between lowly practical subjects and Oh so clever written subjects

Grade A is an A in any subject

Blandmum · 05/09/2008 18:52

Most do 9 in one sitting, unless they do triple scince instead of double, in which case they do 10

In my day (when we did 'proper' O levels! ) I did 9 first time round and they did statistics in year 12

hanaflower · 05/09/2008 16:01

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

lazymumofteenagesons · 05/09/2008 15:52

DS1 at one of the most academic indpendent schools in the country. He just did 10 GCSEs of which one had to be a practical subject (art,music, drama, it). Some boys who took French in year 10 ended up with 11 GCSEs or 10 and french AS. English language IGCSE could be taken in year 10 and one maths paper. Therefore all the boys end up with 10/11 GCSEs.

Totally unnecessary to load yourself with huge amounts of course work by doing so many practical ones. I think the universities are only interested in the academic subjects.

PrimulaVeris · 05/09/2008 14:45

For able children it seems to be 9 or 10 round here in state schools (10 for those who may take maths a year early)

I don't think there's any point doing more than 10 for university entrance, unless child exceptionally able. Better to have 9 at high grade than 11 or 12 mixed grades, as I understand it.

ShrinkingViolet · 05/09/2008 14:40

she chose her subjects based on the amount of coursework though (Latin has none )

ShrinkingViolet · 05/09/2008 14:39

DD1 is doing 12 and a half, but has done 2 in Y10. There will be another maths exam in Y11 though, so she'll be doing the equivalent of 13 and a half. That's the top/accelerated set in her school though, most others will be doing 9 or 10.

Lilymaid · 05/09/2008 14:37

DS1 - clever but lazy - 2 x English, Maths (in Y10 then some other Maths award in Y11 to prepare for AS), triple Science, French, Latin, Geography, History. School did not do technology for GCSE, but continued to teach it. So that is 10 + an extra Maths award.
DS2 - middling academically - 2 x English, Maths, double Science, French, Geography, History, PE, Resistant Materials (aka Technology) - again 10.
Looks as though mini Piffle has a yen for subjects with a lot of coursework, so can see that is a hefty work load.
He doesn't need to do so many if he wants to go to a good university, it will only really be interested that he has good passes in the more academic subjects.

Ewe · 05/09/2008 14:31

I did

English x 2
Science x 3
Maths
Food technology
Sociology
Geography
History
RS
Art

So 12, that was 5 years ago in a state school.

IdrisTheDragon · 05/09/2008 14:29

I did ten 16 years ago

English Language and Literature (2 subjects)
Maths
Chemistry
Physics
History
Music
RE
French
German

shelleylou · 05/09/2008 14:27

so 13 ansd GNVQ at the pass rate is equivalent to 4 grasde C's

shelleylou · 05/09/2008 14:25

i did mine 5 years ago ands have
english lit and lang
french
maths
dbl science (had to have this before doing the others exam was taken in year 10)
chemistry
physics
biology
media studies
dt
business studies
sport studies
and GNVQ ICT