average number of GCSEs

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Does anyone know how many GCSEs children achieve on average? I know you can see figures for percentage of 5 C and above etc but you then don't know if they have 5 or 10 (or more!).

mnistooaddictive and Milliways, that is the sort of information that I was after - thank you! Any more similar figures would be great! I am definitely thinking A* - C!

I am going to make sweeping generalisations - apologies in advance!

Students going to uni 9 A* -C
students going to Fe but not HE (i.e. GNVQ etc )6A*-C
students leaving for a job or apprenticeship
4 A*-C

Maths
Statistics
English
English Lit
Physics
Chemistry
Biology
PE
Product Design

ICT BTEC = 2 x GCSE (I'm sure it's not 4 will have to check)

RE (1/2) DS could stay for a lesson after school to make this a full GCSE....He chose not to!

DS is dyslexic so didn't choose history, geography or a MFL. One of his options is taken up with extra english work. I wish that this option had been made available to his older brother (also dyslexic). He took french which IMO was a waste of time.

Notagranny - DD didn't choose a MFL as, to be frank, she was utterly clueless and could barely read and spell in French, which I put down to her dyslexia.

She is going to have a slog having taken History and Geog, as both require a lot of reading andwriting, however she adores both subjects. Thankfully she gets 25% extra time in exams/assessments.

GetOrf....Mine have all loved history, and they were tempted to give it a go at GCSE.

Not doing french was definately the right choice for DS. There is a french teacher at his school who also has reason to be grateful! He would not have been easy to teach in a subject he didn't enjoy.

He is working hard at all of his options, and should do very well.....fingers crossed for english language!

DS struggled doing two languages since year 7, he also has SLD probelms. He has taken german because he his very academic and will probably follow a science/engineering path and realises he needed it for uni.

He announced yesterday he is actually enjoying german

He is also doing history because he really enjoys it, and in the last year his writing is finally start to catch up with his verbal abilities.

Mnistoo....you are right A*-C is important.
One of the reasons I didn't push DS4 to do MFL is because DS3 is so upset about having French grade E on his GCSE cert......It takes shine off his As, B and C(english!)

Also it does depend on the type of apprenticeship.......DS2 had 2 science A levels and an AS but still chose this route.
It was the right choice for him.

Well I happen to know that Winchester College do just 9, as do St Swithuns.

Those kids seem to do OK without taking huge numbers of GCSEs...

I wouldn't get too hung up by the actual number, though mnistooaddictive's posts are indeed helpful.

Am getting really concerned that as a society we are obsessed with qualifications. What is the point of having lots of quals if, at the end of the day, young people are not very well educated. Darling son is very bright and expect him to get 12 A*, three sciences, Latin, Greek, etc. Darling daughter is top average and will not have such an academic range. However, fully expect both to be able to construct grammatically correct sentences and to hold a good conversation where they show an interest in others. Quite unlike my darling boss who never stops telling me about her two masters degrees but continually AKS questions and chews gum!!

I go to a Comprehensive. I got 13 GCSEs. All proper GCSEs too, no 'equivalents'.
Maths
English Language
English Lit
Biology
Chemistry
Physics
Welsh Language
Welsh Literature
French
Art
Business
Religious Studies
ICT

I'd recommend taking a MFL. I don't have any natural talent at it, but found GCSE French very easy and got an A with no specific revision. I don't think they teach them to us properly though. I doubt anyone from my GCSE class would survive for long in France if they relied on the French we learnt in class.

That's very true DustDustDust :)

My DS passed French GCSE, can't speak a word of it (as exemplified on recent holiday to France....)

DS did (last year) a mixture of GCSE and IGCSE. Have to list to try to remember
english x 2
maths
french (2 years early)
arabic (taught himself)
law (in his own time)
history
ICT
business studies
chemistry
biology

Pretty sure there was something else but can't remember. Also very that DD1 has just started her GCSEs and I cannot remember how many or what she is doing. I did get an email from the school last week though asking if she could do GCSE PE at an extra as she has the ability ?

mnistooaddictive, thank you. That info is helpful and has reassured me that my son will be competitive in the further education market!

Good luck to him. Hope he gets what he wants!

so agree with pagwatch. the question was about the average no of GCSE's taken not how wonderful our individual children are !

And this thread is four years old!

The (admittedly, few) Year 10 and 11 pupils I know of are all doing between 9 and 12 GCSE's (depending on which school they go to, and occasionally their abilities), if that's of any help :)

mnistooaddictive I bet you aren't too far out, generalisation or not. I think too many are to be avoided. Most unis only take notice of your top 8/9 on a points score system.

I hadn't realised it was old!

my daughter takes
geography
history
german
english lang
english lit
maths ( done in year 9)
alevel maths
chemistry
biology
physics

Zombie - 8 year old thread!!!!!!

(wow this is old)

I imagine a lot of kids do a BTEC; that can wipe out 2 GCSE spaces at DC school. Other kids get support sessions in place of a GCSE. So net avg, probably still about 9.