Do kids have to be super clever to be able to do triple science at gcse

[Lardlizard]

Can, you choose to do this as an option or can the school say well you are not quite cut out for it

With respect Red she needs to know the facts.

She is at the bottom of the bottom set in maths at a selective school with lots of support from school, home and a tutor.

My son did 3 separate GCSEs so there was the same timetabled time for each as other options. Is triple science something different then - I always thought it to mean doing all 3 separately as opposed to double which I thought was the combo.

Everyone starts triple at DD’s school and then they are dropped down to double at the end of Year 10 if they are struggling. This is a grammar though.

I would have thought if she wanted to do science A level, triple would be a good idea.

"But some schools won't let you do science a levels from double science

I’ve never come across one. Never."

My daughter's school I'll you allows you to do science A levels if you do the triple. My daughter needs to do biology A level for her chosen career, so she had to do the triple. She has found the chemistry really hard. For some reason, physics has bee. Her next grade, closely followed by biology.

Going from combined science to science A-level(s) is feasible, but it would help to spend the summer after GCSEs self-teaching the additional topics, especially if the A-level class will mostly consist of pupils with the full separate science GCSE.

This is good advice. My friend's son did double science at school as they didn't offer triple. He did very very well. They then moved house just after GCSEs and transferred to a different school for A Levels, where they do offer triple science. He is doing OK now, but he definitely struggled at first and said he had to do a lot of catching up as he felt behind compared to those who took triple science.

We have my year 9 dd's option evening this week. She is definitely taking triple science as it is her favourite subject and she came top in her year last year.
However, if it meant she couldn't take history as an option then I think she would opt for double science instead as she loves history too.
I want her to enjoy her subjects so that would be fine with me, but we have been told she can do history and triple science though.
I definitely don't think double science is for 'thick kids'. Many may be good at science but not particularly enjoy it.

It was a long time ago but I almost missed out on doing triple because I was not as good at chemistry. Went on to get a A* in biology, A in physics and B in chem so god knows why it was argued but glad we pushed.

How times change! When I was at school in the 60’s everybody did nine subjects, including three sciences, at O level, to keep their options open for science A levels.
It changed quite rapidly then because I was in secondary in 70s.
Only top stream did Olevels rest took CSE, I took 7 levels plus had to do non academic ie typing or cooking or PE etc, most did 1 science I did chemistry but biology was more popular. Think only 8 in olevel chemistry class.

Lots of Science teachers "only" have double, but still went on to get Science degrees.
How Triple is organised varies from school to school. For some you have to choose it as one of your "options". For others it is done in the same amount of time as other students do double.
In the later case they often restrict who can do it, as it will be fast paced and students need to grasp concepts quickly. At my DCs school the top 4 sets used to do triple (top 2 in each half of the year). With the changes they did change this to just 3 sets (I'm not sure how they organised this). But those with top Double grades and strong motivation can do A'level. There is a little bit of extra work for those with double, but the first term of A'level usually goes over those missing bits of the syllabus anyway.

But when it is an option, I have known bottom set science students opt for triple and do okay. (I'm not sure if it would work with the new linear syllabuses though).

My DS did triple and got A*s. He isn't a genius, and he didn't go to a stunning school.

However but he did find that some of the very good schools filmed their lessons for YouTube, and this, along with the course and revision books, helps. Also a few kids taught each other, which makes a great difference, as they remember well afterwards. This can work even if one or more teachers are not great.

Ds was put in triple - his school only choose the top set to do it - most of the kids are angry as it means they lose an option as it takes an extra option slot.

He is considering dropping geography, which is an easywalk 9 for him just so he can broaden his choices as they will not let him drop to combined. :(

@Notthebloodygym what youtube channel please? :)

I was forced to do triple science

I would have done it anyway, but I was resentful of being forced to do it

It's funny how things change, when I was at grammar school school 30 years ago double award science was the gold star qualification.
I think you need to have a really strong interest and aptitude in Science to make doing the triple award worthwhile today.

Another person with a science PhD and only a double award GCSE here. I really like science so I’d probably do the triple but it wasn’t an option at my school. If I didn’t like all 3 sciences I wouldn’t bother though, it’s a lot of content and hard work. I don’t even know which of my university peers did double or triple, I’m not sure it matters as for most STEM subjects they only care about your A level portfolio

DS did triple science and got all A grades, he went to the sort of school, that many Mnetters would worry about sending their dc to, it was pretty rough. He is quite clever, his Father can teach Physics and chemistry to behind A level, he is a University lecturer in a science subject and I’m pretty ok with biology. So we did tutor a bit at home. We both did O levels which apparently only top 20% of children took. DH laughs and says O levels are like the first year at University now, he is sort of joking.

our school phrased it (to parents) as "triple is only for the science geeks who want to do lots more science" and have combined as standard. In DC3s year 52 started triple, but only 12 sat the exams. Although the fact that the "extra" stuff was taught lecture style in an afterschool session each week, might have been a factor in that . Definitely only aimed at potential med degree applicants and the very dedicated.

Back in my day, I was allowed to drop all science after Y9 equivalent, so I did no science exams whatsoever, which is absolutely shocking to everyone I tell

There's quite a bit of independent study involved from what ds school said. Schools usually decide who can and can't take it and obviously some that can may choose not to.

My ds was able enough to take it but has LD and would have struggled with independent learning. He's just done his science mock and got a 9! He probably wouldn't have got 9 in independent sciences.

I was predicted A in science so got put in for triple science, but I found it too hard and kept asking to do the double paper, I took the double for mocks and got A and they pressured me to do the triple, despite me finding it very difficult. I eventually agreed to do triple, and came out with a C 😔 wish I'd stuck to my guns. That triple paper was harddd (I failed one mock of it, and got a C on the other), whereas I found the double easy to get an A on (I took 4 different mock papers and got A for all) I think they pushed me as they didn't have enough in the school taking it, but it was obvious I wasn't cut out for it. I would have much preferred to have an A at the double paper than a C, as on your CV they just look at the grade A or C. Which looks better!?

I don't know how long ago you were at school, but triple science means having lessons and exams for all three sciences; there is no triple science paper, so you get three grades -one for each subject.

In dh's school the students can choose.
In my children's school most do triple but some do double - however they're taught in the same number of lessons so doing double doesn't allow you to choose an extra GCSE (they just do 9 instead of 10).
Teachers might be able to comment on whether this is a fallacy but my understanding is that doing double you have to get the same or similar grades in both papers whereas in triple the grades are unrelated. So for example if a child really can't understand physics but is ok at chemistry and biology they might get 6, 6, 3 at triple but 4,3 or 3, 3 in double because their physics will pull their overall score down. I'm not a teacher though so I apologise if I'm wrong.

One of the difficulties we faced was that the top sets do triple and the bottom sets do double. My DD was in the top sets but didn't want to do triple science so she was put in different classes to her friends and she found this hard. She just didn't want to do that much science - funnily enough she's now a food scientist!

I would just look at the balance of work with other subjects and the peer setting before making a decision.

@NotYourTypicalNerd I'll have to check with him (he's at uni) but you could try these:

www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5038888

My dd is excellent at science and gets some of the highest marks in the class. However at our parents evening in November they recommended her to only do double even though I would have liked her to do triple but they said as she isn't going to be doing science based a levels she should keep the pressure lower and take the double so she can do other courses. They also did say the same as previous posters. It's better to get 2 higher grades in the double than 3 lower grades in the triple.

You dont have to be super clever, but committed to putting the hard work and revision in. The same goes for most exams, children who aren't naturally gifted can still acquire top Mark's if they are willing to really graft and work hard and spend lots of time revising and as such get good Mark's

My DD's school doesn't offer triple at all

But they still have a good number go on to do A level (my dd included)