Drop a GCSE or get a low grade?

[Suzii]

Hallo, long-time lurker but just created an account!

DD1 is in year 10 and they have just had a "practice week" (past papers in every GCSE subject). She received 5A, 4A & 1B, plus an E in biology. She already has an A in Religious Studies & an A in German (her first language).

She has had various problems with biology (she's had 4 different teachers so far this year!) but it also seems to be the subject that she just doesn't "get" or enjoy. The school are allowing students to drop 1 subject if they got below a D in it - the idea being that they can progress 1 grade by next year and get a C from a D - but Isa (DD) & I are unsure if this is the best option.

So (sorry for the length!) is it better to get a D/E in Biology or to drop it (she would still be doing the other 2 sciences)

Broadly speaking I would go for drop.

But as these days pupils don't tend to do Physics and Chemistry without also doing Biology, would it look a bit obviously dropped and therefore open to questions?
Maybe doesn't matter unless intending to apply for a very competitive university or course which might look unfavourably at it?
But maybe a poor grade would still look worse amongst that sea of As.

I'd let her drop it, no doubt.
She'll probably have 11 A/A* next year, but unlikely to get even a C in biology. Won't look good. She's got 2 sciences, that's ok.

I've got a DD in year 10 and she's also already got an A* in German whereabouts in the country are you?

It is entirely possible for a bright student such as your daughter to go from an E to an A or higher in a subject that they've possibly been slacking off from because they don't like it, and because they haven't been taught it well. If she's already achieving A*s in other subjects, she can certainly afford the time to let up on those and work through a few revision guides on biology.

I would really hesitate to suggest that any DC, but especially a bright one, drop sciences unnecessarily.

At DD's school, they have to do double science (all three sciences combined), or triple science with separate grades in Physics, Chemistry and Biology.

I am not sure it would be possible to give up biology altogether.

She should drop it, as long as she is getting a reasonable number of GCSEs, her average grade actually matters more than her number of passes.

But don't forget the RE and German GCSEs won't count, as taken early

AElfgifu - they count for the student, its the school's league table that they won't count

Can you just drop it?!

cricketballs, it is the other way around, they count for the school league table, but not for the student. When the student applies for A levels or university courses, they may well be disregarded.

I might be getting this wrong but if she is in Y10 then she presumably won't have covered a good chunk of the syllabus yet and will only have been tested on the part they have covered.In that case her grade might go down as she will have to spread her self thinner over the whole syllabus.I would say drop it like a hot brick !!

Only the qualifications taken end of year 11 are now included in league tables...no matter when someone takes an exam, the result is the student's result that they carry with them

The school will probably get her to drop down to dual award science rather than just losing the biology. They probably don't have a timetable option for just not doing biology.

AElfgifu, that's not quite right.

www.gov.uk/government/news/changes-to-early-entry-at-gcse

For schools, only the first grade received is now counted. Pupils can still take a whole year early, if they wish but if they retake, the first grade is counted for the school. Pupils can no longer take an exam for the first time in November, that is now for resits only.

Suzii, is your DD taking triple science? At least core science, one GCSE covering all 3 sciences (or BTEC) is part of the national curriculum. She won't be able to drop just biology, it's not like one of the optional subjects.

I would talk tithe school. Have lots of her peers had a poor result in Biology? There isn't anything intrinsically different about Biology, it has lots of skills that overlap with other subjects. I would expect her to get a decent grade in it and look to her and the school to meet that expectation.

Maybe the way league tables are calculated has changed. If so, it doesn't count for the league table then, but it still doesn't count for the child, as the GCSE score depends on the GCSEs taken together in year 11. We do use some GCSEs taken earlier when considering applications, but we don't have to, and many people don't.

According to government audits, biology is the hardest science, although there is not much in it between biology and chemistry. Physics is largely logic and maths, and much easier. This does mean that biology is given greater weight in some calculations and formula used to assess applications, though.

It does count for the student! For example when applying for UCAS you just put the date as the year you did it, so your GCSE section would be
2013 German A*
2014 Chemistry A
2014 Math A etc.

Yes, then some universities will just automatically discard the earlier ones. Some won't do it automatically, but in the final analysis when choosing between similar candidates, they will do so then.

It also makes a big difference when applying for sixth forms. I am one of the staff responsible for enrolment in my sixth form, and certainly would not accept anyone who took an early GCSE in a subject they wished to study at A level, and would also not count early GCSEs when considering whether a student is qualified overall for a level 3 course.

Anyone can get 10 A* easily if they start in year 8! The only way to use GCSEs to measure a students true potential is by looking at what they achieve with exams taken in the same session.

That's not true in our local sixth forms, including the super selective grammar school. DS1 took maths early, got his A* and is about to take additional maths. This hasn't been a problem for him at sixth form at all. He's hot an offer from his own sixth form and from the grammar to do Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Computing. In fact, they said he may struggle if he hadn't done the additional maths.

Additional maths is great. that is not the same as taking a subject early then dropping it, he hasn't dropped it, he has gone further in it.

A completely different situation from what I face when a child who hasn't opened a music book in two years tells me they want to do music A level, and can because they have a A* GCSE in music ( or French.. or maths, or biology, etc) yes, you have a GCSE in that subject, but if you did it on its own, or just with one or two other subjects, it is no indicator of your true ability, and if you haven't touched the subject for over a year, you are not going to be able to jump into A level.

We reject students who apply with this sort of staggered GCSE portfolio.

I take your point, AElf.