How many GCSEs is 'enough'

My ds1 is doing 14.5
But doing 3.5 this year
All hefty academic
He's happy and wanted to do double engineering
I said no.
The school say as he is sitting some a year early he's ok.
He is aiming for Oxbridge

Very sensible. Having no hobbies or interests because you are doing 15 GCSEs will look terrible on your UCAS form and make you a veyr stressed and boring teenager.

At my dd's school they are only allowed to take 10 - a lot take 9 - because they are also expected to do Duke of Edinburgh, music exams, do old lady's shopping, be Sports leaders, volunteer for things and generally make a nuisance of themselves in the local community at the same time.

I find that bright Y10s and Y11s grasp their GCSE material very quickly and are ready to move onwards and upwards. They would not be served well by just doing more of the same.

When I was at uni, there was a guy on my course who had 9 or 10 GCSEs and 6 or 7 A levels - he'd done 3 of them when he was 16 (rather than extra GCSEs), and it meant he got an unconditional uni offer (because he already had those results). Not sure how practical it would be for most people, but the idea of doing extra study at a higher level (rather than just more subjects at GCSE) seemed very sensible to me.

No, you don't have to list your GCSEs in grade order on the UCAS application!!!

But there is nothing to stop you if you want to...

Message from our DS grammar school is that 10 is plenty - quality not quantity - and that it's important to take them in one sitting. Only one set is allowed to take maths early and they have to be solid A* to do that. More important that they are old fashioned academic subjects. Someone told me that you list your GCSEs in grade order on UCAS form and that they didn't look beyond first six.Is that right?
So much pressure on our DC it's ridiculous....

my son who is so far predicted to get A at maths gcse is doing the btec it and business course. shall i tell him it's a waste of his time then?

I think that is an excellent choice of GCSEs leaving your DS plenty of options as to A Level choices and beyond. There is no need to take any more subjects which will only cut into his remaining leisure time. DS2 did similar subjects and though not tremendously academic, has got 5 UCAS offers from reasonably universities.

DD did 11 (in one sitting) but that did include Triple Science which was an extra one to the standard 10.

10 is common, 9 is plenty, especially if all sat in same exam period.

UCAS points are all from A/AS levels, but Cambridge have a points sytems for GCSE's (see Appendix C here )

5 gcses in ICT is (apparently) the equivelent of an A level education so taking it would mean you could go through to Uni with an ICT A level equivelent and spend your actual A level time on something more suited to your course.

Or so I was told.

I thought it was hogwash, so did DD and her Dad so she is not doing it!

Some of these courses that are worth 2, 3 or even 5 GCSEs (eg CIDA and DIDA in ICT or COPE or NCS) are simply not equivalent to rigorous study of 'academic' subjects.

To the people that matter these sort of subjects and mega-qualifications are worth little or nothing depending on the context.

Now, if you tell me you've got a As in History and French, for example, then we know what you're talking about. Those qualifications demonstrate a certain commitment on your part to serious study and hard work, and prove that you've achieved a certain level of competence.

[NCS is a useful qualification, but it's "equivalent value" in terms of GCSEs is just nonsense.]

i would have thought to gain a good pass in English, maths, a couple of sciences, a language would be all a university or colege or employer would be looking at more than 20 gcse which include several passes on the one subject.

5 ICT? Crazy - not worth the paper they are printed on. One is fine... but five?

I think 10 is probably about enough for a bright child to prove themselves.

The key is to be broad and balanced.

People my age (v.v.old) used to do 9. Then it got ridiculous and pupils starting doing 14/15, some in daft subjects. Now it's gone back to 10 as the norm. Quality not quantity counts.

Very old grammar school girl here and we did 8 O levels plus one in lower sixth plus another one in upper sixth plus S level (harder A level). I thought that was hard but it sound wimpy compared to the numbers now!

I have 9 which was great the year I did them - it was more than most because music was split in two.

How on earth people do more in the same school day with coursework...

I would say that if you are doing A levels you need to do enough to cover those, plus the maths and english you will need. The extra time would be better spent playing sport, reading a book through choice rather than only doing the syllabus, playing a musical instrument and having a life outside school.

Our system is different and I would be happy for ds to get the minimum points and be a rounded individual with lots of other interests.

I read in the paper about one very bright boy who had enough points to go to uni a year and a half early so he went to live in Germany for a year, because he wanted to do German at Uni. Technically he was still enrolled at his very flexible school. in the wrong school (for him) they would have had him getting a million pointless credits.

It wasn't until I had a family that I realised that if I was going to continue to study I had to accept that merely being good would allow me time to enjoy ds and dh, whereas being excellent would have taken all my time.

, of course I meant to say "(unless GCSEs have got a lot easier than when I was at school!)

dd is doing

Maths, English Lit, English Lang, Spanish, History, Triple Science, Drama, Business Studies.

She has German and ICT short course and PE short course (equivalent points value to half a GCSE each). She's also doing German Asset Level 3 (whatever that is)and Critical Thinking AS. I think its quite a lot

DD just put in her options, I worked out that the most they could do was;

3 x Science
2 x English
5 x ICT (they will do 1 this year so 4 in the GCSE years)
1 x Geography
1 x History
1 x Maths
1 x RE
2 x Other (options - including languages, technology etc)

So, if they wanted to, they could come out with 16 GCSEs, seems a bit much IMO (unless GCSEs have got a lot harder than when I was at school!)

DD decided she would only take 12 which seems a sensible idea to me!

We only did 8 when I was at shchool.

I thought I was ace for having done an extra GCSE at the same time as A levels,