Should I encourage DS to ‘give up’ a GCSE?

[Elisheva]

DS starts his GCSEs in a couple of weeks time and he is getting increasingly anxious. He is not a natural scholar and finds study hard.
I am wondering whether to advise him to focus his revision on key subjects and effectively ‘give up’ on the others. Obviously he will still take the exams, but he is unlikely to get a high grade on them even if he works really hard so it seems sensible to focus his remaining time on improving the subjects he is good at. Or is that a crazy idea after spending two years studying a subject?

It depends on what it is. My DS's school make them do RS as a GCSE, but as this won't help DS towards his chosen career and isn't one he would have picked, I don't particularly care if he doesn't pass it. I'd rather he spent the time on subjects that matter more to us.

I know other kids doing French or Spanish that won't pass it no matter what, they hate the subject so much. In that instance, since it's not a core subject like Maths or English, I'd let that slide too.

I think the school will want him to pass five at least, so if he's doing more maybe it wouldn't hurt to focus on the important ones and his strongest subjects?

I think it’s sensible. It’s very outdated to do lots of GCSEs. Really kids only need a handful (4-5) of core subjects to go onto the next stage. If it was my DC I’d definitely be advising this. As an aside my home educated DC will only be doing 4 or 5 at most in order to get to college/A levels.

Decent grades in Maths and English are key
After that I’d look at what he’s interested in. In the long run he will be more interested in them and work harder but also it’s these subject areas that he should carry forward. As he enjoys them.

With six weeks to go I advised DS to drop French as he was never going to pass. It was the right decision and he used the time to make sure he got a good pass in the others.

Ah. I had to have a chat with my year 11s. I can see a few of them were doing a ‘head in the sand’ about it all.

I told them from an adult perspective that the GCSEs are a pinch point after 11 years of schooling. That no one when they are 30 will care about them. That there will be mistakes and successes and that will continue throughout life. It is not a judgement. Just a starting point to make changes and decisions afterwards. And that if in doubt to imagine what IS the worst that would happen? If they fail everything (which they won’t) they can retake and/ or do something different but equally relevant in the workplace.

They told me that they found it so refreshing (I think their exact words were that I should be a motivational speaker..erm ..no)

I think the best analogy I used was between year 6 and year 7 and how worried they were about secondary school and how trivial that now seems to them.

so I would advise to speak to him about your own ‘failures’ and ‘mistakes’ and how they set you up to be the person you are now.

Then help him to set up a realistic revision programme. No more than 3-5 hours per day. Past papers I think really help. Or online quizzes.

And as a history teacher. Yes ‘drop’ a subject if necessary but go into the exam and try to answer all the questions anyway.

Ahh it is so hard. I don’t remember worrying about my GCSEs at all and I think it’s sad that they have to (too much content)

Wishing him and all 2023 candidates the best.

It’s crazy, he has 21 exams over four weeks.
It’s RE I’m thinking of ‘dropping’. He chose to do it and he has really enjoyed the course, but struggles with the exams. He is unlikely to get more than a four. He’s worried about upsetting his teacher!

It’s a shame as he enjoys it but it’s not a subject that’s specifically required for much in further education.

He doesn’t need to drop it, just not revise for it.

A four is fine, there will be plenty of others who get 1s, 2s and even ungraded, dropping a subject for those students makes sense but not just because hell get a 4. Studying a subject for interest is just as important as studying for an end grade otherwise there's no point to 'lifelong learning'. I don't think we do our young people any favours by letting them step down from something they aren't going to excel in, teaching them if you aren't hood at something it's not worth doing.

The anxiety is a separate issue and needs alg in a different way.

Instead have a conversation with his RS teacher on how to prep for that type of questioning.

My daughter 'sacrificed' one of her GCSEs for the others.

She hated it. The school kept contacting me about it to encourage her to attend extra revision sessions for it. But we ignored it. It was a subject she was forced to take, had no interest in and no aptitude for.

She still attended the lessons and still sat the exam but it meant she did well in the others and just didn't have to worry about it at all because she knew it was ok.

GCSEs are, after all, only the key to the door to the next level of education/training. Nowhere requires 9+ GCSEs at a grade 9 🤷🏻‍♀️

Because your own ds is only doing 4 or 5 you are trying to convince us that it normal and OK?
If i was looking at the cv of someone like that for anything vaguely requiring any brains , I would bin it.
If he can't manage more than 4 orb5 gcses, how do you think he is going to cope with 3 a levels?

Nowhere requires 9+ GCSEs at a grade 9 🤷🏻‍♀️

Absolutely. It's madness now, there's so much competitiveness to pass them all with 9*'s. 5 or 6 at a decent grade is more than enough.

My son gave up on German, school wouldn't let him drop it, so h he did no work and he didn't even go to the exam so the subject doesn't even appear on his certificate rather than getting a poor grade. He passed everything else and got his Maths which was my main concern.

Contemplating Dd giving up French as its just not going well and her teacher I'd pretty unfair on her. I've said she can stop or not do any revision

The 'you only need 4 or 5' isn't correct, depending on what they want to do in the future they may need 7 at level 7 and above (medicine).

@Elisheva hi op, I'm an RS teacher. If he has enjoyed the subject he may well be able to get a decent grade in the ethical aspects just with his accumulated knowledge. I agree with others , let him focus on the core subjects and not be overwhelmed. I suspect I'll be having a similar conversation with my own son when it's his turn.

the problem is, every single GCSE grade has to be entered on applications in the future, and leaving out fails, resits and poor grades is considered fraud.

RS is compulsory in most schools, and it is a relatively easy subject, so a poor grade in that doesn't put you in a good light.

It depends on what level your son or daughter is at really. If they are thinking of BTEC level 2, or vocational training, then concentrating on the core subjects might be the right thing to do. If they are thinking of A levels and university, be very careful about moving forward with the abandoned subjects showing on their CV as weak grades.

I think this sounds way too limiting, personally. It certainly wouldn't have been enough to get into most sixth forms around here, and it wouldn't give the child much flexibility at all around subject choices at all. Sorry, but unless your child really struggles with academic study and actually can't manage any more than 4/5 subjects, I think you're doing them a massive disservice. Certainly not good advice for anyone else to follow!!

Letting one subject slide is fine, I think, OP, given that he doesn't find the work easy.

The questions might just go the right way for him on the day, so I’d ask that he does the exams, but not revise for them.

It depends on what your DS plans are post GCSE. At this stage, if he just needs say 5 passes then I think your approach to focus on that is sensible.

Surely it's worth putting the effort in to make sure he gets that 4 and a gcse pass

A 4 is still a Pass so I wouldn't personally give up on a subject I could pass with a bit of revision.

Though I did give up on a couple of subjects myself back in the day that I knew I wasn't going to pass, and concentrated on getting good grades in the others.

Hmm the “GCSE grades don’t matter” thing rather depends where you are heading. Dd1 plans on doing a competitive academic degree so yes they do matter.

Has the pp doing 5 taken advice on that? Arent they limiting their future choices?

He will still attend the revision sessions in school and sit the exam, I’m just thinking about our revision time at home and how we make the best out of that.
He is currently predicted an 8 for music, 5/6 for Science, 5/6 for English, 5 for PE, 4 for Maths, 4 for RS and 3 for Geography. For his college course he needs 5 GCSEs at grade 4 including English and Maths.
I think we could get him a definite 6 in Science and English if we focus on that at home. He has a tutor for maths as he was really struggling.

I wouId say it really depends on what he wants to do next, what other GCSEs he's taking and what the grades are likely to be in those. If he's looking at 7 or 8 other GCSEs with high grades then probably not much to be lost by giving up on a 4. But, if he's looking at 5 or 6 other GCSEs with grades of around 5 then he may as well take the exam; he might be lucky and get questions he knows.

Sorry, I think I must have been typing when you updated us