Anyone else's dcs doing 12 GCSEs?

irises

I am not letting dd take the full quotient of gcses

ds did 10 and had a deep understanding

dd is set to 50% more than that..and i just do not agree with

dd like your ds can be lazy and i just think she will get a bunch of mediocre grades in an awful lot of subjects

its all league table related imo

DD1 did two GCSEs last year, and is doing another 11 this year, plus an extra Maths qualification. However, one is a short course (so half a GCSE apparently), plus IT is two whole GCSEs, one of which is coursework only, and the other has a timed practical instead of an exam. Standard numbers for top sets at her school, but I believe more than the grammars in the next county.

i think the amount young people do depends on what the teachers think they are able to do (not that this is always right).

mY DH1 TOOK 13 gsce'S last year and this year dh2 is taking 5 GCSE's. Both at same school but have different capabilities

roisin your post tells all there is to tell about modern Edu - speak. Totally ridiculous to weight subjects in this way.

mine does latin, agree with you neverwasswedish

2 sciences
englang
englit
french
maths
as maths
hist
geog
french
re
art
it

Yes, seems dd does 12 too. Wish she did Latin - think it's key to language development.

Totally agree with you Roisin (sadly).

Apparently last year only 51% was needed to get a Bin higher level maths . I read an article about how GCSEs were to beome easier in The Times today, I'm sure

How much do GCSEs cost each? and what about AS levels and A2s? I'm having a mild sense of panic at thought of big bills forthcoming...

We get a separate bill for examination fees - in advance.

At our place now lots of courses are 'worth' 2 GCSEs or even more.

The more 'academic', respected, and traditional the course, the fewer GCSEs it seems to be worth
History, French, or German are only worth 1 each.
But the new Media Studies course is worth 2
COPE (Certificate of Personal Effectiveness) is worth 2 and is virtually impossible to fail
...?!

the costs are included in our fees, but then everything is paid for in indep sector.

thankfully dd school doesn't do league tables, sat or any of that crap

Will someone please explain to me why they are collecting these ridiculous GCSEs. I've never heard of 1/2 a GCSE.I'm all for learning cooking and how to book a holiday or run a hotel, but why do you need to do an exam in it?
Also at independent schools you have to pay for the exams yourself, I reckon this is why they stick to 9/10 - I'm not forking out money for a GCSE in bloody travel and tourism.

I think that the dreaded League Tables could be a factor here.
(Glad you think Technology's a soft option )

I think my ds is taing more than 12 with the double awards.....hes also done 2 alan tests that equate to a half gcse each as well...its a lot of pressure i think,

My Ds is at grammar school.The maximum they are allowed to do is 10 (or 11 if you choose to do Latin after school)

my dd at leading indep school is only allowed 10 max, no more permitted.

DS is taking what amounts to 12 but I don't think it counts, 3 of the subjects apparently are "double awards" which each count as 2 gcses, seems odd to me (combined science, ict and leisure and tourism) and then he does 2 short courses, each counts as half gcse each.

The times they are a-changing...

Gosh. I'm shocked that it's normal to take 12 GCSEs.

I took 12 GCSEs, but in 1988 and, then, only by request.

I took:
Eng Lit
Eng Lang
Maths
History
Geography
French
Biology
Chemistry
Physics
RE
Computer studies
General studies (literally taken in lunch breaks!!)

My DS is also at a grammar school and has just selected his options (12 gcses). They could only choose four, but weren't restricted in their choice.
But didn't you know this before you put him in for the 11+?

At my DD's comp she will do Yr9-11 English,Lit, Maths,Triple Science if she stays in the top set, RE -full GSCE, Short course in ICT and PE and one of her options. In yr9 - Statistics if in the top Maths set, Media or Film studies and one of her options. Yr10 one of her options. All options are done in a year with the same amount of teaching time if they were to do them over two years so I've been told when I queried the merits of a 13 year old doing 3 GSCE's in a year. If she's chosen to do both Geog and History GSCE she can sit some kind of Humanities GSCE as well. I suspect she's going to be very busy age 13 to 16!

My DS' school (selective independent) and my school (non-selective independent) both do 10 GCSEs. If they have the capacity to do more, they are more likely to opt to do an AS level rather than adding on GCSEs. Perhaps an exception would be if someone had a fluent foreign language, where they could basically just turn up for the exam and not need any lessons.

DD did 11 full GCSE's plus the ICT half course (mandatory for anyone not taking the DIDA GCSE)

Most did 10 GCSE's unless taking triple science which gave you the extra.

DS is at a good selective grammar. 10 GCSEs as standard, he's doing an extra "1/2" GCSE in PE. 12 seems like a lot as standard, tho can understand 12 as optional.

My DCs grammar school does 10, although some pupils take extra ones, most only do 10. Quality v quantity I think.

That sounds a lot

What irises said - better have 9 or 10 really good ones that 12 not so good