Combined Science or Triple Science GCSE

[ThumpersMum]

My son started in Year 8 at a local grammar school and is very capable but simply not interested in Science. He has received a mixture of results for his Yr 7 end of topic Science assessments and I'm wondering if the school will take into account his Yr 7 performance when considering whether to put him forward for Combined or Triple Science GCSE. I know only a small minority of students have done Combined Science in his school. Am I worrying unnecessarily that he will be set apart from his peers? When do schools generally make these decisions re GCSEs? Is Yr 8 too early to start worrying? Thanks in advance for any replies!

If he starts GCSEs at year 9 they'll be interested in his end of year 8 exams. Year 7 exams are just for show.

Only the school can tell you how it assesses students wrt science. Is triple done by one group in the same time as another does combined – so the triple group is accelerated? I assume from what you say that it is not offered as an option (tho plenty of schools do that).

Schools will decide about triple/combined when all other options are decided, not usually before that IME tho it's possible I guess that some start work on the triple content earlier. Do students pick options in year 9?

Overall I wouldn't worry too much – if he is not keen on science, combined will be totally fine. Gives him time to focus on other subjects he does enjoy. And in any case it is more than possible to take A level from combined science GCSE.

The number of lessons is the same, the number of exams is the same the difference being that triple has 2/3 extra topics that means teaching goes on longer rather than revising and the exams are longer

It's too early to be stressing about this.
Much more a question for end of Year 8 or Year 9
Your son may or may not show more aptitude or interest over the next year.
Triple science does not suit everyone as it is quite intense.
Triple science is useful if you want to go onto more than one science at A level, but many students do one science at A level with Combined GCSE grades 6+ and some even do 2!
Some schools start all the brighter KS4 students on triple and move them onto combined if they struggle or they need to concentrate more time on a GCSE subject linked more to there future interests. ( Combined is still worth 2 GCSES rather than 3 but 1/3 less content to learn. You can still score up to Level 9 on Combined.)
It's important to also look at whether doing Triple science uses an option choice for KS4 as this might be counterproductive if your son develops other interests. This varies from school to school.

It is too early to say, especially with curriculum changes coming soon.

My ds did double science as that's all the school offered at the time.

He went on to do Engineering at Oxford.

I wouldn't worry.

No one can say how your school does it. My DD (at Comprehensive), Triple is an Invitation Only subject, you can be moved down at any point, and they are doing 3 GCSEs in 6 hrs of lessons a week. So it's intense. But being a Comprehensive, this class is the top 25% with predicted grades 6-9.

But in a Grammar, the whole school will be at least top 25% if not higher. So "struggling" is a completely different definition. If only a few do Combined, they are probably dropping down late in Yrar 11

At my DC's school they don't make the decision until after the start of year 10 (as the syllabus for both is the same at the start). So I wouldn't worry about this yet.

Thank you so much for all the replies everyone! Much appreciated! 😊

You still have to study all three. It simply moves faster in triple science as they fit the larger amount of content into the same timetable space.

At my dd school the final decision about triple science was taken end of year 9.

Also my dd said that at her school the top set (triple science) are given more practicals - they do more dissections, more experiments. She finds that interesting and is happy that she landed a spot in triple award science (it’s a comprehensive so only two sets out of 8 do the triple). Weirdly it was going along to lunchtime science club with a science-mad friend that really switched her on to the subject, as well as an unholy amount of time watching YouTube videos about space and science.

My son is in year 11 & doing triple. At his school (comprehensive) only the top set do it & it’s not optional. They do 3 hours of extra lessons per week than combined in order to cover the extra content. It’s intense, there’s a lot to learn & he is not enjoying it at all. I feel he’d have been much better doing combined plus a subject he enjoys.

It simply moves faster in triple science as they fit the larger amount of content into the same timetable space.

@KneelyTherethat’s true at your DCs’ school (mine too) but some schools do offer triple as an option, so there is more time to cover the content. I guess that means it’s open to all, tho obvs you do lose a GCSE option.

Agree it sounds as tho the op’s school doesn’t do that tho.

Thanks for the info 🙏😊

@ThumpersMum are you worried he will be dropped down because of his grades? DD was at Grammar and only 2 got permission to do combined science (and they pushed for it) so it is a very different way of working (DS is Year 8 non grammar so I can see the differences) and it will be timetabled for triple

does he not like it or can’t do it

Hi Tiswa. He got a really bad end of topic test mark at the end of year 7, but he's also had good ones. He says he's just not interested in Science. I've said to him it might be a good idea to put more effort in to show them what he's capable of. The school say only a small number of students do Combined Science and I was worried about how far back they would look when deciding who to put forward for what! Maybe if DS pulled his socks up a bit... He started year 8 in September and I was worried he'd be in a small minority from his peers.

At DD's old school, combined science had 10hrs per fortnight, triple had 14.
The impression I have is that fewer schools do fast paced triple now under the reformed GCSEs due to the vast content.

Depends on the school. Our school has triple science as on of their options so they get a whole
sunjecys worth of extra lessons.

I think that depends as well on the what the Standard number of GCSEs/equivalent at the school is. The standard at DDs school is 8, with the Triple science sets doing 9, with them all having 6hrs a week of lessons (2hrs each of biology Chemistry and Physics). Its 3hrs a week for an Options subject.

@ThumpersMum Is it a case of being dispirited with one poor mark? You say he’s ok on other test scores. Has he, or you, analysed what went wrong? Did he understand the topic? Did he revise appropriately? Does he like the teachers? Does he feel stupid? Even though he isn’t stupid, has he decided he is at science? He’s quite young to have got to this decision but I’d be wondering what the real issue is as there are 3 distinct sciences.

Also, not everyone is a scientist! Even at a grammar school.

My Y12 is at Grammar. They all got put in for triple science, and about halfway through Y11 I approached the Head of Science and said that I/she wanted to put her through for the combined exam. On average, the grades on combined tend to be one mark higher, and DD didn’t want to take any science topics at A Level. There were a handful of pupils who sat the combined exam with my DD at her school.

We knew she wasn’t going to take the subjects in Y12 and wanted to take some of the pressure off/free up some of her time to focus on the subjects that she was going to carry on with. There was no re-jigging of the timetable, as they don’t do combined science as a lesson at the school.

Really interesting points raised!🙏