Would you let your kids give up on some of their GCSEs?

[ElsaLing]

DS (15) has GCSE mocks coming up. He's really struggling in one of his optional subjects, so DH and I basically said he could let that one slide to focus on his other subjects. A few weeks ago he decided to essentially give up on one of his other options as well, and today he told me he's also not going to revise for a third option because he's better off spending his time on more important subjects. And he means for the actual GCSE exams, not just the mocks.

Even if he fails those three subjects, he should still be able to get the marks he needs to do the A Levels he's chosen. DH has no problem with DSs plan to prepare to fail all 3 subjects because none are essential and none are required for the next step of his education (he only needs 5 5s to do A Levels). I want DS to try to pass at least one of these subjects (and would prefer he not give up on any, but prepared to be pragmatic). It's particularly frustrating as he's predicted a 6/7 in at least one of the subjects he wants to give up.

There's no SEN, no MH issues, doesn't seem stressed/overwhelmed.

So, I'm wondering, how relaxed would you be if your DC wanted to basically give up on 3 of their GCSEs?

YABU: It's no big deal, as long as they pass the basics it's fine!
YANBU: I would not 'allow' my teen to prepare to fail 3 GCSE subjects (I appreciate 'allow' is a relative term with teens!)

Yanbu at all because of the circumstances of your child.
dropping one GCSE is no issue at all for anyone and for weaker students, who are struggling and need a few GCSEs to get on vocational or practical sixth form courses, dropping more or focusing on only some makes sense.
For your perfectly capable son it seems far more like laziness and will not be seen as impressive either by his sixth form or at university stage which can be very competitive.
I also agreee that it sends a bad message that he can give up whenever somethings hard. He picked these GCSEs (at least some of them) and is now giving up. He can’t do that with his A levels.

Dropping subjects is usually something a school would decide not a parent or child. If he is going to be going to the lessons anyway he may as well try his best.

This. Preparing to fail is just letting him think that it's ok to do that. What if he does screw up one of the others. And what else in life will he be prepared to fail at?

I'd definitely let my dc do this and would rather they got an impressive clutch than mediocre ones.
He can get everything he wants.

I would just ensure he will get good results in the one he wants to do.

The one he's predicted a 7 in he may well do well in anyway

*be carful not to crush his spirit if he wants to do well in some I'd roll with that.

Dc don't choose these gcse at all they are forced to sit subject they don't likd

Is he planning on going to university?

as a university course leader I screen ucas applications and actually one of my biggest (but unofficial) ways of screening is looking at gcse results. If I saw someone with 3x fails they wouldn’t be progressing to an offer. Regardless of A level predictions. My course is massively over subscribed and I have to have some way of sorting stronger applications from weaker ones.

dd dropped German with my blessing late in year 10, but properly dropped it.

Surely he can just spend less time on those subjects, rather than drop them completely. He doesn't need to revise hard for them, but do spend some time going over the work just to re-familiarise himself.

It's silly to limit your options - if he's capable of a decent grade he should aim for that, just with less vigour than for the really important ones.

But these are the subjects the DC has chosen. No one is forced to take business or CS. RS maybe is a compulsory tbf. But he chose these subjects and IMO it’s no bad thing to give them a decent go.

Exactly this.

I would just double check the college entry requirements, at our College we ask for grade 5’s but it has to be in five different subjects. English Lang and Lit counts as one, as does triple science. They want a range. Worth checking.

I think it is short sighted to unofficially drop 3 leaving only 7 when he is clearly capable of more.
As others have said, they will gave to appear on UCAS form, and you don't know when else in the future.
Drop one, officially if possible. Let one other slide if he really must, but dropping below 8 is potentially dangerous.

If the 5 5's to do A levels is the requirement to do actual A levels rather than an alternative I would say it's a sixth form not worth being in. Very very few children will come out with successful A levels grades from 5 level 5 GCSE's. Good grief I hope they don't allow anyone with a 5 in Maths to take A Level maths, that would be wrong on so many levels. (I'm definitely not all about A levels, 2 DC have 1.33 alternative qualifications between them)

Qualifications are a stepping stone and many people say it doesn't matter what you get as long as you get enough for the next stage but issues can hit at anytime, many don't complete the next stage so what they have is the grades in hand.

The school are not going to support dropping any subjects when there are seemingly no issues. They will sanction lack of participation in class, no homework etc. school could become a very negative experience all round once the teachers are continually on DC and your back.

Sixth form places are not guaranteed so they may decide they don't want to offer a place even with 5 5's and any GCSE's taken have to be listed on UCAS so low grades will reflect badly and if by some miracle he actually gets to drop the subjects having 7 subjects might flag somewhere in the system as different from the school norm.

I am not keen on the idea of dropping subjects mid-way. Overcoming difficulties is a good lesson for life.

What I think should be a policy is a maximum number of exams you can sit in any one year. I also want to see the return of at least one modern foreign language being required to GCSE.

Unless it’s a private school they won’t let him anyway.

In our state you need 6 gcses at 6 to get into sixth form

I’m letting my daughter do the same.

She goes to a grammar school and they do far too many GCSEs as standard in my opinion.

I would rather she got 6 great grades than 12 poor ones. Cutting the number down will allow her to really concentrate on the 6.

I would be stressing they need to work on all subjects, GCSEs are not that hard, a bit of revision for mocks, a break then knuckle down at Easter for 6 weeks

Yes and I did with my kids.

We prioritised revising for maths, English, and their a level subjects.

They were still revising in school for the other ones anyway and they did ok.

It's sensible to prioritise the ones they will be continuing with.

Is he planning to drop them or just not revise for them? I think it's unlikely he'll fail if it's the latter and he's still attending classes and I think there's merit to focussing on the subjects he'll take at A-level.

@kitchenhelprequired 5 at grade 5 is a standard entry requirement at many Hants 6th forms iirc. Then there are subject specific requirements on top, eg a 7 to do maths.

I allowed my daughter to effectively drop one.

Her school required everyone to do a MFL at GCSE. She has absolutely no aptitude for languages and wasn't interested but had no choice. She was failing the GCSE (unsurprisingly), and they were asking her to attend additional revision/support sessions which reduced the time she had to spend on subjects subjects was good at.

It was upsetting her so much that she was beginning to stress about her other subjects and disengage from school so I told her to take her foot off the gas for that one. No extra sessions, minimal preparation for the exams and to focus on the subjects she was good at. The school wouldn't allow her to officially drop it.

She stil sat the GCSE and got a 3 in it but she did really well in the rest of them, got her A Levels.and is now in her first year at her first choice university doing the subject she loves.

Sacrificing one GCSE was worth it for her MH and the bigger picture.

I wouldn't have allowed her to drop three but maybe give him the option of doing similar with one?

It is hard being a teenager - get the 7, try and get PRE.

Very few next steps require 10 GCSEs.

Many schools only offer 8 anyway.

We are supporting our DD in focusing less on one particular subject when it comes to revision but I would never tell her it’s okay to deliberate fail and I certainly wouldn’t tell her it’s okay to fail three of them. He might come to regret it on results day when he knows he could’ve passed.

Be wary of predicted grades - they don’t always pan out that way! My twins took their GCSE’s last year and, although predicted 9’s from their mocks in several subjects, actually got 6/7’s. They were a little bit cocky about those predictions so may not have put in as much effort as they could have. Thankfully it didn’t affect their choices for next steps in education but I don’t think they’ll make the same mistake twice - there’s a lot more revision going on for college exams!

I was going to say that it may stick out on his CV but I think 7 GCSEs is OK. He should still focus on getting good A-levels and degree from a good university, or he may be overlooked for graduate jobs, or filtered out the selection process for 'white-collar' positions.

How many exams you took and the marks you got for them will also demonstrate how you work under pressure, your mental capacity and your drive.