GCSEs or iGCSEs - and which ones?

[blueskies79]

Hi

I have a dd10 and a ds8 who I started to homeed in January.
So far I've learned a lot, and it's getting easier!
I'm not yet 100% if dd10 will go to secondary school next Sep or not.

I was thinking about getting my daughter to do 1 or 2 GCSEs this year and wanted some advice.

I want it to be on the easy side to start with, so was thinking to do Biology. I have also read that iGCSE is easier so was considering iGCSE. I don't know much about exam boards, so if anyone can recommend an easier one that would help me.

Any advice/thoughts/comments would be very much appreciated thank you!

Do you mean your daughter is now in Y10? (I assume she isn't ten years old and planning to do exams five years early!) It seems unlikely that school could accommodate her next year. State schools are so rigid about ages and the curriculum that they would likely say she must go into Y11, despite having missed a year of the GCSE curriculum, and she would really struggle. A better option might be college. Colleges can accept under 16s either onto dedicated 14-16 courses or alongside older learners. They won't offer the full range of GCSEs which schools would. She could perhaps do a few exams at college and cover other subjects independently. If they accept her, the funding is automatic.

If you are looking for your daughter to do a few subjects this year while being home educated, it will have to be IGCSEs. GCSE coursework has to be validated, and arranging for someone to do this is a big problem for home ed teens. (I think maths GCSE is an exception as it involves no coursework.) IGCSEs are entirely exam-based and so do away with that problem.

Here is some more info to get you started: he-exams.wikia.com/wiki/HE_Exams_Wiki

Sorry, maybe I wasn't clear.

She is 10 years old and I'm thinking if we just focused an hour a day on a GCSE then she could do it this year.

We'd do other things also.

I've heard some people do it this way, i.e. do a couple of GCSEs a year rather then cramming 10 into one year.

People do often spread exams out over several years, but I think a child would have to be prodigiously bright to get decent results at the age of eleven. For a child who is quite bright and has an academic bent, age 13 or 14 is a more common age to sit their first IGCSE exam.

Let her be a ten year old.

OK understand.

Which exams are "easier" at an early age?
Sounds like it would have to be iGCSE due to coursework.

I would think we 10y is a little young for a GCSE at the moment. Unless she is gifted in a particular area and it would be a Halle he they themselves were choosing. But it just to do little and often, and when trying to decide on the easiest options.

I also wouldn't do it this year either as for most of the exams, except English and Maths, it's their first year of the new 9-1 syllabus so many are a bit of an unknown quantity as yet. IGCSEs are not all changing to 9-1 yet so they'd be more of an option but fewer centres do them so you'd need to look around a bit more.
Also bear in mind that if she wished to join a school later in maybe for sixth form then many ask for x number of GCSEs which have been sat at the same time.

Oh and Dd is sitting Igcse Dual Science. No coursework in hers and content and sample papers appear to be very little difference to her friend doing the GCSE option. So not easier in our experience

I've heard some people do it this way, i.e. do a couple of GCSEs a year rather then cramming 10 into one year.

Yes it's a great idea as long as you are certain your child won't want to go into further or higher education.

If you're thinking of university at some point it is probably the single most stupid idea you could possibly come up with.

I suppose you get the bragging rights of saying your 10 yo is doing a GCSE though.... I guess that's more important.

A mediocre grade at 10 isn't going to them any favours. Sciences are one of those currently changing format with the first 1-9 grades for next summer's sitting, so you might want to hold off until the dust settles.

"Yes it's a great idea as long as you are certain your child won't want to go into further or higher education.

If you're thinking of university at some point it is probably the single most stupid idea you could possibly come up with."

What do you mean? Nearly all of the many HE kids I've known who have gone to uni have spread their IGCSEs over more than one year. Obviously it's a bad idea to start too young, if there's a risk that that would give them worse results than they'd get when older.

Very few kids are going to get excellent results at 11. However, many are ready to start at 15, and some at 13 or 14, especially if it is just one or two exams in their strongest subjects.

Spreading over two years maybe ok (doesn't demonstrate child is capable of a 'normal' workload though). OP is suggesting one or two a year for five or six year which is an issue. Not to mention the ridiculousness of starting age 11 Difficult to see how this benefits the child at all.

Oh, okay. Yes, I agree, titchy. I thought you meant that exams should always be done all at once.

ok understand thank you.

Basically yes my child is really really bright.

She's currently getting close to 100%s in 11+ test papers that she's doing, and finishing the papers within the allotted time.

I'm thinking she can do the more black and white exams (like Biology, Geography) as opposed to more discursive exams.

Thank you for your comments and advice - much appreciated!

In my experience spreading out exams works well if done over two or three years but it has a huge impact on the rest of your children because that year becomes all about the exams. You can't just go out on a whim or plan a mini holiday. After Easter break it's all about revision up until the exams. I think it's best to delay it until your daughter is at least 12. Doing 4 a year is manageable with a bright child, there really is no rush. Enjoy the early years because it will all just be about exams soon if that's the path you've chosen.

If you're HEing because your child is super bright why on earth would you want to follow such a narrow curriculum as GCSEs anyway? I thought the point of a child centred education would be to follow a much wider curriculum

Not sure how you will do the required practical parts of a science gcse? As far as I'm aware the exam board would need to approve the way your doing them. Biology is NOT an easy option!

Thanks for all the thoughts everyone!

Many collages won't consider GCSEs sat so far in advance as counting unless you follow up. I know people who sat maths at 12 to get it out of the way and had to resit for college admissions. We will stagger but by that it will be a couple of easier tasters in yr 9 to get used to exam system, and then bulk split between yrs 10 and 11.

If you want something to give a bit of focus and an external certification why not look at the Art Awards or Crest Science?

Are you expecting that she's going to be getting 9s when she sits them at 12? If she's as bright as you say she is it would be ashamed to close doors for her in a few years time because she has lower grades than she might have got otherwise.

Some other things you might want to consider:

1. Some subjects will build on content and understanding from KS3. Are you planning on working in enough time to teach that content as well?
2. sciences might be more black and white but there is crossover between the science and maths syllabi. If you start with biology you might also end up having to add in bits of maths and chemistry as well.
3. Some universities do insist on gcse's being taken in one sitting. Or at worst over 2years. They need to know students can deal with the workload.
4. A-levels. What does she think she wants to study there? If it's something she sat in yr7, will she have a gap of 4 years or will you start studying in yr 8?
5. breadth. 1 or 2 subjects is fine if you like those two subject, perhaps not if the two you are studying for the next year you don't really like. Will she be studying other stuff as well as the GCSEs?

Getting 100% in the 11+ does not equate with her getting top grade GCSEs at 11.
Plus who knows what exam system will be in place in 5 years!
As I said earlier allow your daughter to be ten years old.

Strongly agree with previous posters - let your daughter be 10! If she's very able, then ask HER what she wants to pursue - art? playing an instrument? playing football? riding? gaming? And spend time getting great at that. Only please don't become one of those mums, whose child HAS to be an international super star at everything she does.

If she's so bright that she'll find academic study a doddle, then she may as well enjoy her childhood first - life is most emphatically not a race!