Anybody enter their kids for early GCSEs?

[JazminKennedy]

Just wondering if anybody on here has entered their children for early GCSEs and what was the earliest age?

Mine are 8 and 10 so it isn't an issue - they aren't child geniuses who do GCSEs at 10, A levels at 12 and go on to Uni at 14, thank goodness!

Having said that, if it did come up, I'd be guided by the school - I can see the DDs taking some GCSEs early because they are quite clever, and it would give them time to broaden their range, think about their options and their skills and keep their minds busy.

I come from the Dutch system where you can't really take exams early without skipping a whole year, which isn't recommended, but in my A-level equivalent year I did take some exams early on the advice of my teachers (who bent over backwards so that I could do it) and it gave me time to work harder on my weaker subjects. I think it has to be a team effort between child, parent and school.

I'm following this with interest especially regarding early language GCSEs for bilingual pupils. Mine are only aged 9 and 7 but we're starting to look at secondary schools and their policies regarding language tuition/GCSEs for bilingual (in our case German/English) children seem to vary a lot.

My daughter is only 6 but we have been advised to enter her for GCSE Maths within a couple of years. She absoultely loves the subject, multiplication, division, algebra, fractions, you name it, she dreams of it! :-o

pointythings I homeschool my kids so it isn't a prob, when my children are ready to take an exam i just enrol them and that's it. I just have to pay the fees. Both my hubby and I took early GCSEs and A-Levels. I personally feel if the children are thriving in a particular subject then they should just get the exams out of the way rather then wait till they're 16 to do them all in bulk.

mayanna123 I know 3 homeschoolers who have entered their kids for Arabic, French and Spanish this year, all under the age of 11

Just a note of caution. Whilst taking some GCSE's early makes perfect sense, a mathamatician friend of mine has urged caution regarding taking maths too early if there is any chance the dc wants to be a mathemitician. I'm not talking about a couple of years early, but GCSE's at 8 or 9 and A levels at 11 or 12. There becomes quite an acute problem of what to do next - they either have to start on degree material or stop, and stopping working at maths is the kiss of death. It's very difficult! How does a child know really what they want to do at such a young age? My ds is a very able mathamitician but at the moment is swinging wildly between being a mathamatician, musician or cooking school lunches

cubscout I do agree with you to a certain point. I did my GCSE's and A-Levels a little early. And when it came to what i wanted to be, i did everything under the sun! Tried my hand at medicine, then social work and then ended up becoming a teacher and an artist!

However, my hubby was 'gifted' at Maths, won various awards as a child. Took a long break and resumed his Masters on the subject. It really depends on the child. My daughter has taken after my hubby in the maths and music department, hubby also started playing the piano early, around age 8 i fink and was also self taught coz his parents couldn't afford piano lessons. Only diff is that my daughter started playing the piano properly at age 5 and again self taught. I've approached many tutors but they can't do anything with her coz she doesn't read music and just plays by ear.

I have no idea what my daughter will become when she's older, and will not put any pressure on her either. At the mo she wants to be a pianist because she loves music, a teacher because i am one, an astronaut because she loves astronomy and a doctor so that she can "fix" her grandad!

My 11 year old has just finished Physics IGCSE a couple of weeks ago. The LEA when they came round asked why I hadn't put her in for Maths as she is working well up to GCSE level. I said because don't want to rush her too much or put her under pressure; she's still so young. However, she absolutely loved the Physics, every minute of it, and we're set to study and take Chemistry next year, probably with maths.

She's home educated - she was in school until the age of 8. They put her in with 11 year olds to try and cope with her acadmically - she was so, so unhappy. She's loving every minute of what she's doing now. Fof those who mention astronomy, she's doing a Planet Earth astronomy course which she's very much enjoying.

Her older sister, 15, took 3 GCSEs last year and 4 this year. We're about to start A level maths and maybe one other subject for A level, she's quite excited.

The reason I like doing some early is that you get do a good number without ever having more than 2 or 3 in a year - it avoids all the stress that children have in school in Years 10 and 11.

The main problem we've hit for DD2 (my 11 year old) is other people's reactions. When she took the exams, the whole hall of 16 year olds turned round and stared at her and she didn't like it. Also, when she tells people she's done it they usually just stare at her as though they can't process the information. She missed ballet one week because she wasn't out in time. I told the teacher she'd had a GCSE and she just looked at me blankly and said she should make more effort to get there on time. Then DD1 told her that she'd had her GCSE and she was "how did it go? Was it hard? How many are you taking? I quite understand you had to miss ballet" We seem to have met this a lot.

DD2 has found it quite hard talking about it because she just seems to hit a brick wall. I don't know if people think she is lying or if they think it's not appropriate for her to take it, or if they are just too taken aback to speak. But she's had no recognition or interest from outsiders at all even when she is with DD1 who took exactly the same exam at the same time - and everyone chats to about it. Maybe they think DD2 is telling a lie to look like her big sister, I don't know. But that's the only thing about it she hasn't enjoyed.

Interesting thread ... DS is only wee so not an issue yet!

DP took maths GCSE at 10 and A-levels maths/further maths at 15. He went to an average comp and stayed in the right academic year for his age, though he was advanced at most subjects. He has grown up into a sociable, well-balanced adult. He still loves maths however. Odd.

If twere DS, I'd do the same. No skipping years, but he can sit as many exams as his heart desires

Our dd1 is in year 6 and has travelled to the local granmmar school since year 3 to have tuition. She would love to take her GCSE at the same time as her cousin next year but as Cubscout says her math teacher at the Grammar says although she could take everything very early, she will hit the problem that if you aren't doing maths, you fall out of the thought flow so to speak. he is going to do a full assessment when she goes to the grammar full time in september. Luckily there are at least 3 different maths A-levels to keep her busy. the only advantage I could see is that if she has the maths out of the way she'll have more time for other subjects.

I don't see the point, and it is not something dcs' school do other than in MFL where they fasttrack those they are sure they will get an A/A*, despite the trend in many school to start gcses early.
From what I have heard Universities want to see a child managing a large portfolio of work and getting the results in one go not in dribs and drabs.

I think a high proportion of children could pass a gcse early if that is all they were concentrating on just one or two subjects at a time.

Took the words right out of my mouth bruffin - the Universities want to see their future students being able to handle the pressure of studying for all examinations at the same rather than the easier option of splitting them.

I also was given to understand that the Universities prefer the students to get the expected grades in one sitting rather than retaking any of the subjects they may have done earlier an not achieved the required grade.

extend the children by all means but why does that mean taking exams early?

Agree with bruffin. What is the point. One GCSE even very early is not difficult. There was a primary school in Wales where all the primary children in a class took GCSE maths.

I freely admit I found A levels easier than GCSEs as fewer subjects.

I think I would be tempted to let dd take the occasional exam early but think that doing a full set at the normal age in something else would be the way to go for me. having said that ... that is only theory as as yet we don't know how clever she is...

there was a wide range of exams that you could take at one stage, not sure what is available now and what will be available when it is time for her to do exams. I know aI would have liked to take more exams at different times, just for the fun of the challenge, and I am noticing that there are enormous holes in my education as when I was at school I could not take all 3 sciences and both humanities and would have liked to.

"doing a full set at the normal age in something else would be the way to go for me" .....good idea BES! My sister did some A-levels early and all the results were discounted as Cambridge wanted the exams sat at the same time.

Who has suggested she takes it early? Seems ridiculous to me and exam focused rather than educating a child to learn.

DS is 11 and took iGCSE German last week. We decided to take the exam to maintain his German as we used to live in Austria. He will take maths 2 years early as the school moved him up two years, but everything else at the same time.

What shall I do if my children reached GCSE A+ level at much younger age without me promoting it?
Any options there?

I am sure my children are doing completely different thing out of school time.

I mean 1 or 2 subject, not all.

Get an A'level book but they don't need to sit the exam.

I can see it's almost pointless to do it ealier on purpose.But what's the point for not doing it purposely even when you are well capable?Please enlighten me up.

You set them up for a lonely road. Often there isn't a thought out plan for what to do after, but if there is then it's one of self study and independent learning - not bad in themselves, but not ideal in your main subject and teenagers tend to thrive better in a group. So, eg. maths - you do GCSE, then alone you do A level maths then f. maths. Then you are still too young for university, so you do additional further maths (which is regarded as a filler rather than anything properly challenging for a child of that sort of ability) or else do another subject that you may have little interest in and not really want to do. All done alone as no-one else has chosen that path and you probably get limited supervision too. By this time, chances are you're either fed up with maths or very rusty at it, so you do something else at university.

Or else you do the GCSE and then wait to do A level at the usual time. Then you start A level not having done maths for a year or more which isn't ideal either.

Or you wait before doing GCSE, but extend yourself in lessons with nRich problems and do cipher challenges and UKMT olympiads and hopefully get invited to their summer schools. At A-level you continue with the olympiad stuff and add STEP preparation and your interest in the subject is more likely to persist.

If there's a small group of children doing early entry together and a feasible plan for what to do afterwards (right to the end of yr 13 if there's any chance they might want to do the subject at university) then it can work OK, but the chances of finding a like-minded group of able children in one school is slim (not impossible) and beware of being drawn into such a group if you are not quite able enough to get the top grades (better to sit later then).