IGCSEs Sciences

[IAmcuriousyellow]

Hi all
We are considering HE for our DC3, currently year 9, and are wondering - how is lab work done in a home ed context? What do you do about the practical elements of coursework?

IGCSE's don't have course-work, there is an extra exam based on lab work but done on paper if that makes sense. Most experiments can be done at home, chemicals can be ordered in small amounts from the Internet etc. We used Paradigm Shift who could supply stuff like Sodium hydroxide, potassium permanganate, capillary tubing, that kind of thing. It was s few years ago though, I don't know if they're still going.

Have dug a bit and discovered Paradigm Shift stopped trading in 2013. Perhaps someone else will come up with a suggestion.

There is no coursework for iGCSEs at all. That is why they are very populsr with home ed students.
For the new GCSEs there is no coursework either, but there are set practicals that will appear as questions on the exam paper, so probably still better to take iGCSEs.

Thanks so much for replies, that's really helpful to know.

Edexcel IGCSEs involve no practical work - you just do the 2 papers a 2 hour and a 1 hour for each science. DS2 did Chemistry and Physics last year and while he'd done quite a lot of lab work for Chemistry he did very little for Physics and still did fine in the exam.

You can view the set practicals for the new GCSEs on YouTube.

Ah thank you! All seems much more straightforward than I'd thought.

IGCSE science exams are structured like the new 9-1 GCSEs - as explained above, there are 'alternative to practical' questions in the papers.There are two IGCSE options - Edexcel or CIE - and both take this approach. Unfortunately, we can't take the new GCSEs even though there is no practical exam, because the head of the exam centre has to sign saying that all candidates have been offered the opportunity to carry out the core practicals at the school, and they won't do that for external candidates. However, many of us do carry out just as many practicals as schools do, if not more. Lots of info about how we go about it on the HE Exams Wiki at www.home-education-exams.org.uk ; click on 'Science' on the front page for more detail.

Thanks very much for that link Cornucopia