Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

DD wants to drop a GCSE subject

40 replies

BlueBrightFuture · 24/09/2015 13:25

DD is sitting her GCSEs next summer. She has decided she wants to drop a subject. She finds it hard work and says that she would prefer the concentrate on her other subjects instead. (she will still be taking 11)

The subject teacher said that DD is doing very well and tells DD that she should not drop this GCSE.

Now the teacher is telling DD that I should make the decision as to whether she drops the subject or not.
There was almost no parental involvement when the subjects were chosen so why do I now have to decide if she carries on with a GCSE that she no longer wants to do… Ideally I would like the school to decide together with DD if she will continue …

What if she drops out and regrets in later or decides to carry on and does badly in the exam?

Shall I suggest she carries on until half term and see if she still feels the same? DD is asking me to speak to the teacher but I’m not sure what to say tbh. Anyone has any similar experiences please?

OP posts:
TeenAndTween · 24/09/2015 14:34

I think it depends on

  • what the subject is (eg Food tech v German)
  • what her predicted grade is (e.g. D v B) compared with other predictions
  • what she wants to do later
  • why she is doing so many anyway

DD dropped a subject Feb of y11 but there were very clear unusual reasons behind it. It isn't something the school would normally permit.

Twitterqueen · 24/09/2015 14:39

This should your DD's decision, made with your input. The teacher will not want a pupil who is doing well to leave their class so s/he is biased.

I think only your daughter can know if it's a positive thing to do and as pp says, what subject? Obviously she can't drop English or Maths. I dropped German because I was useless at it and knew I wouldn't get any better (or more engaged).

Personally, I think 11 GCSEs is more than enough! (my DD has got 11).

bigTillyMint · 24/09/2015 14:43

How many subjects is she doing in total and is the subject an important one?

Leeds2 · 24/09/2015 14:56

What would DD be doing during the lessons for the dropped subject?

Has she already accrued some marks for this GCSE, e.g. through controlled assessments?

Original poster
BlueBrightFuture · 24/09/2015 15:43

It is Latin, predicted an A.

Trouble is that they have been given the vocab list earlier this year which has 450+ words on it that should have been learned and tested last year but for some reason it is the first time she has seen it. She thinks it is too much of a mountain to climb. This is addition to the new words they need to learn this year. The teacher apparently told her that it is not a mountain to climb just a hill?? She is saying that others are dropping out for the same reason but I don't know those DC nor do I know what their predicted grades were.

OP posts:
TeenAndTween · 24/09/2015 16:25

Is this a properly timetabled subject or after school?

Yellowpansies · 24/09/2015 16:36

My DS is the same age and has just dropped French - at the end of Y10. This was a long thought through decision after regretting the GCSE choice early into Y10, and several meetings with his various French teachers (the string of different French teachers being one of the causes of his difficulties). He was on track for a C/D - way below all his other grades. I tried hard to pursuade him to stick at it, but eventually supported his right to make that decision for himself. The school were reluctant to let him drop it (affects their EBac stats) but did evetuanlly condeed when I supported his decision He was kind of threatening to make no effort if they made him stay, with me implying I wouldn't be doing anything further to force him to study French. I think he really appreciated that I trusted him over that, and his effort and general maturity of approach to his other subjects has improved noticibly since he made that decision.

On the one hand, it sounds like your DD is maybe being a bit rash, if she's predicted an A and is just having a wobble at the list of vocab - could you split it into small lists of 20 words in a list, to see if that helps?

On the other hand 12 GCSEs is a lot. Unless she's considering going on with Latin (or maybe classics) post GCSE it's very unlikely to make any difference to her whether she has a Latin GCSE or not. She'd have a bit more time to revise other subjects without it, and the Latin that she has learned already won't actully be wasted - she still knows it whether or not she has a qualification to prove it.

Millymollymama · 24/09/2015 16:47

This highlights the problem of doing 12 GCSEs. Problems become mountains. It would seem less of a problem if she was doing 10. No-one needs 12! Unless she is a linguist or potential ancient historian and, probably, she is not, I would say drop it.

bigTillyMint · 24/09/2015 17:59

450 words does sound like a hill, not a mountain. But if she is thinking it is too much, then let her drop it. As millymolly says.

DD dropped one of hers at the end of Y10. She still got 13 GCSEs (because that's what they do at the school) She requested and got extra maths lessons instead.

roguedad · 24/09/2015 19:43

450 words is nothing and could be dealt with in a few hours. Not a reason to drop a solid, serious subject. Tell to grow up and learn the list with a bit of work. The fact that she thinks it is too much is not a reason to give in to her. Kids never achieve anything if parents let then get away with dumping things the moment it gets tough. Just tell her, "No, learn the vocab and stick at it for a bit". She does have some room to lose a subject if she is doing 12, but a temporary whinge over a vocab list is not a good reason to do it in a hurry. Maybe later in the year when some genuine information has emerged about what she truly hates or turns out to be no good at.

Millymollymama · 24/09/2015 21:41

Honestly roguedad, 10 GCSEs with some A* grades is way better than 12 or 13 at A and B. Why schools still insist on large numbers of GCSEs is beyond me. Latin is a strong acedemic subject, but the other subjects might also be serious and show breadth of learning. If the Latin is a sensible fit with a university subject, it makes sense to continue. I cannot say I like the idea of children giving up either, but if they are poorly advised it becomes more likely. No-one remotely cares if a child has 10 GCSEs or 12. They just need to be the core subjects plus several other sensible broad choices plus an arts one if possible. The high grades is what is required, not large numbers of subjects.

yeOldeTrout · 24/09/2015 21:52

how did you have no parent involvement in what GCSEs she chose?

I think she should continue, btw, but if she were mine, no way I could force her to continue.

balletgirlmum · 24/09/2015 21:57

12 GCSES is a ridiculous amount. I'd let her drop one.

knittingwithnettles · 24/09/2015 22:09

The thing is, even if she drops it, she will still know Latin.

And if the worst came to the worst and she desperately needed Latin for some reason for uni (say she wanted to do Ancient History) she could still pick it up to a high standard. It doesn't just disappear because you didn't take the actual exam.

Definitely drop it. You won't forgive yourself if she gets a B in something else AND a B in the Latin, if she is tipped for so many A's.

(disclaimer: I did Latin A level: it was brilliant, so I'm not anti Latin at all)

Original poster
BlueBrightFuture · 25/09/2015 07:26

Thanks all. I also think it is a shame that she wants to drop it but if it is having an effect on the other subjects (which is what I worry about most) it may be sensible to let it go. Will approach the school, see what happens.

OP posts:
Spidertracker · 25/09/2015 07:43

Way back when, I took 12 GCSEs ( I got Bs and Cs 20ish years ago) I had to do two subjects in afterschool classes as there was not room for 12 on the timetable.

If your DD is taking 12 within school hours then I would think that is too much and she should drop whichever non core subject she enjoys least.
If as I did she I taking extra then she should only have the option to drop the extra subject

taxguru · 25/09/2015 08:29

450 words is a hill not a mountain. She will probably already know over half these words as they'll have already been in past work - I really can't see it being a list of new words they've not seen before! The problem is that the list looks huge and impossible, so break it down into manageable chunks.

My son got a list of a couple of hundred Latin vocab words as revision to learn a couple of weeks before his end of year 8 end of year exam and went straight into panic mode, but I took it away, scanned it and converted into an excel document which I then split down into 10 lists of 20 words. Gave him one list (20 words) per evening to learn in bed and then tested him the following day, he knew most of the words on each list, so I edited the excel document and created a couple of lists of only words he didn't know, which he then learned in bed for the final 2/3 nights before the test.

In the big scheme of things, this is a minor hurdle, especially as she clearly has an aptitude for Latin if she is aiming for an A grade. Grab the bull by the horns and work through the list with her. She's already done a lot of the groundwork in the past few years so it would be a great shame to waste it now.

Abraid2 · 25/09/2015 08:33

Get her onto Memrise. Both mine learned their Latin and French vocabulary quickly and easily that way. In fact, the youngest's school were so impressed with the tool when she showed them the language teachers have pushed it out to everyone.

BertrandRussell · 25/09/2015 08:34

12 GCSEs is utterly ridiculous. Why do schools do this?

Cherryburn · 25/09/2015 08:46

Agree with Bertrand, 12 GCSEs is ridiculous.

My DD did Latin GCSE. If your DD is with AQA it's not just the vocab you have to take into consideration (agree that the list is not insurmountable). She will also have to learn the passages for the Literature paper (which are long) and any part of which she will have to be able to understand and translate accurately in the exam. And she'll have 11 other subjects to revise for.

Unless she loves the subject and/or it is helpful for her A Level choices I'd be inclined let her drop it.

Abraid2 · 25/09/2015 08:59

The literature passages are long. But actually it's not a really, really hard exam, by and large, if you can just memorize stuff. And it seems to have fairly stable marking and boundaries over the years, which is reassuring: people seem to get the gradesthey expect, if they put the work in.

Are there other GCSEs she could give up?

SheGotAllDaMoves · 25/09/2015 09:20

12 GCSEs are utterly unnecessary.

PunkrockerGirl · 25/09/2015 09:27

I agree. 12 GCSE's is ridiculous. And who decides whether a subject is 'important' or not - the child, the teacher, the parent? Everyone will have a different perspective. I'd let her drop it, in a few years time it won't seem important.

HocusUcas · 25/09/2015 11:12

Another one saying (as were the place settings in Sleepless in Seattle) 12 is too many. An A sounds like a nice prediction but if she she is struggling she needs to think about whether the time she needs to spend on it to get that A will have a knock on effect on her other grades. I think you are right to worry about it.

Autumnsky · 25/09/2015 11:43

Is it correct that from this year 10 children, the GCSE exams have to be taken in the Year 11 together, you can't take some subjects earlier? If this is true, I think 12 GCSE is too much. It's not about the 450 vocabulary, but about the overall work for all the subjects. I would suggest OP to review all her DD's subjects together to decide to drop which one.

My DS1 only take 10, he didn't choose Latin , despite he is very good at it. He always get very high marks , as he said it is a very logic language. He get it very easily.However, as he is going to go down science/engineer route, the curent latin knowledge is already sufficient for him. So we dicided that he drop it.