Science gcse

[MichCarl]

My son got 3.5 in combined science, can someone help in telling us what this means? Is it a pass or not?

Do you mean a 4-3?
I have seen discussion on the secondary board before and it seems to vary whether it is taken as 1 pass &1 fail, or averaged to 2 fails.
(Fail as in not a level 2 pass. Obviously is at least a level 1 pass).

No on his paper it says 3.5 under grade

I don't think that is a 'proper' grade for combined science. Suggest you repost in secondary?

An actual GCSE exam result from yesterday or he is not year 11 and this is a mock/end of year paper of sorts for year 9 or 10? Combined science is usually 2 grades for all 3 sciences averaged out, but it can only be the same grade or one below ie 7,7 or 7,6 it cannot be 7,4.

I have never come across 3.5. If it has come from school I would ask them directly.

It's so frustrating! We'll have to wait until school opens again, thanks

I think you get 2 grades for combined science so it will be a grade 3 and a grade 5. I’ve seen them written together on results slips so it is confusing.

It can't be that as the two grades have to be the same or only 1 apart. Ie 43 44 54 55.

@MichCarl If I had to guess I would say he is half way between a 3 and a 4 and whether that fits in line with where you think he could be at the end of year 11. What year is he and why is only receiving grades now?

@MrsGalloway you cannot have those two numbers they have to be the same or one grade below as per my explanation above. So again dropping down the grades, 5,5 then, 5,4 then 4,4 then 4,3 then 3,3, etc

I think that equates to a 4-3
Please contact the school on Tuesday to clarify. The exams officer will be working dealing with queries and review of marking request etc.

My DC got a 43 a few years ago. I checked with the school's exams officer (and also recall seeing the exam board explanation online) who confirmed that it is seen as one combined science pass and one science 'fail' so he has one GCSE. For the purpose of my DS getting into college on 5 passes they counted the grade 4.

These are his gcse grades!

What exam board is it?

I don't know how schools collate the information to print them on the sheet of paper the students get given but it feels like an error because the .gov website confirms the format of same or 1 grade apart so 3.5 or 3,5 is not correct. You will have to wait until Tuesday to contact the school and the exam officer.

It's a double science award so he got a grade 5 in one and a grade 3 in the other. Grade 5 being a strong pass and grade 3 - a pass - but not the expected standard of grade 4. However, he has passed Science because he has a grade 5. Therefore, has a Science GCSE.

It's confusing because the papers are a combination of Chemistry, Biology and Physics, and because of the large syllabus it's divided into two exams.

His grade 5 will be viewed the same as a 5 in English, Maths etc.

Back in the day when I did it, the double award I got a C and a D. The C was accepted for me to get onto my PGCE course until uni x

@Poppalina37 Sorry but you are wrong.

'Back in the day' thete were 2 distinct GCSEs so you could get a D in one and a B in the other. These days they are a combined dual award and the grades are either the same or 1 apart, so 43, 44, 54, 55.