Single science GCSEs at private school

[NicknameUsed]

Talking to a friend today whose DC are privately educated and she told me that the school doesn't offer double and triple science, but single GCSEs in each subject. One of the children is doing biology and physics, but no chemistry.

They have been looking at 6th form colleges and some of them won't let him do A level biology because he isn't doing any form of chemistry at GCSE.

Would this also affect his options for university applications?

IGCSE as taken by the private schools that fed into the local college does not have a non calculator paper it therefore did not cover some topics that came up in the AS

at DCs comp (and many others) the IGCSE was used as a way to massage middling kids over the D/C boundary.
All of the top set kids did GCSE Maths and then Further or Stats (or in a few cases both)

the college has over 1000 students studying Maths A level so its a pretty good sample set.

I believe that as IGCSE no longer counts towards league tables, state schools will stop using it again

Triple science GCSE seems to be taken by the top 15% in most of the comps that feed into the college

TalkinPeace DD did iGCSE maths this year, and it was considered more academically rigorous than the GCSE - both Edexel board.

She goes to a state comprehensive.

I don't understand why most posters on here are saying that iGCSE maths is considered more difficult than GCSE and you aren't. Only the top set at DD's school were allowed to take iGCSE. Plus, the tutor I sent her to get her grade up to A* (Kip McGrath) also recognised that iGCSE was harder.

Different schools do different things
I speak from observation and prior chewing over of the matter
IGCSE will get dropped from now on anyway

These links from tutor websites seem to sum up the differences between IGCSE/GCSE maths quite well:
proctertutor.co.uk/?page_id=116
www.oxfordhomeschooling.co.uk/blog/are-igcses-tougher-exams/

Top flight schools such as St Paul's Boys School (currently entering pupils for Edexcel IGCSE maths) will be reviewing their choice;
www.stpaulsschool.org.uk/st-pauls/academic/mathematics
I think Edexcel and Cambridge are reforming their IGCSEs anyway.

I did double science AND two separate science GCSEs. No chemistry but I did A Level Biology.

"For example, the Edexcel Higher iGCSE omits quite a lot of the easier, newer bits of the GCSE and adds in some harder algebra such as Set Theory and Calculus which don’t appear in the GCSE.

Maths iGCSEs are, on balance, more difficult than old A*-G GCSEs and as a result were better thought of."

Interesting.

Incidentally, DD is doing A levels in biology and chemistry and has found that a knowledge of chemistry really helps (She did triple science at GCSE, and although she gained A* in all of them she is finding the A levels really hard going)

A levels in the sciences are very difficult. I struggled- it's such a step up from GCSE.

clavinova
Do you have a date for that blog post from the tutoring company ?
Just that its description of the GCSE syllabus is at least 3 years out of date

Nickname
Both of my kids did comp GCSEs
one did science A levels and is now at Uni
the other is now doing science A levels

your initial point was very valid, its silly of schools to not use the breadth that the system allows

The beauty of the independent sector is that they don't have to follow the National Curriculum. If they want to do a single science, and that is in the best interests of the student, then fine! I haven't actually heard of any school in the last 20 years not offering a combined Biology/Chemistry/Physics course though.

It has always been traditional in a balanced curriculum for most students to get two awards in the sciences, whether it was Physics & Chemistry or Chemistey & Biology at O-Level or GCSE "Double Science" or, latterly, Core and Additional.

Exceptions were made for weak students (who could only "manage" one science and had their timetable filled with typing, etc ;) or very accomplished students (who couldn't make their minds up as to which language to drop, as well as keep up with Art and Music).

Triple Science is a relatively recent trend - tail end of last Labour government where they were trying to make a point about what they were doing for education.

With the current GCSE reforms, single Science has gone. It's now a two year course culminating in two GCSEs. At independent schools, which typically follow the IGCSE specification, there are still three separate science awards.

I think schools still offer double and triple science don't they?

I can't keep up TBH.

Nickname
State schools will still do GCSEs
GCSE Science is still based on
"core" module 1 of each for the non ebacc kids
"additional" modules 1 and 2 of each for the bulk of kids
"triple" modules 1, 2 and 3 for those planning to carry on with science

IGCSE is a distraction as its taken by less than 10% of students
the other >90% will do the standard feed into colleges
like the one that DS is at
it has over 2000 students per year group so covers a lot of options

I'm 41 and only did chemistry and physics gcses. I think the year below did dual science though.

Doing biology and physics does seem an unusual combination.

If iGCSE maths is so much easier and such poor prep for A level why do so many of the top schools choose it.
Child 4s school do the iGCSE, at A level last year more than 80% of their Maths grades were A or A*, at further Maths 90%.

I'm 41 and went to a state school. I did separate Physics, Chemistry and Biology GCSEs

I'm 42 and went to a highly selective private school, in the top 5 in the country, and I j

I just did Biology GCSE, there was no pressure to do more than 1. At my DC school, very high performing comp, top and middle set are offered triple science but nobody has to do it, everyone else does double but if you want to do science a levels it's preferred that you have triple. DS has no interest in science so will do double despite being offered triple

The crux of the OP is, if I not mistaken, that the boy wants to do A level biology, but can't because he doesn't have Chemistry at GCSE level.

It seems very parochial of the school not to have advised about this, or not to be aware of how certain subjects are dependent on each other.

What any of us did, and where it led is irrelevant in the contemporary context.

"What any of us did, and where it led is irrelevant in the contemporary context."

Exactly.

I think he can do biology if he stays at school. He can't do it at the 6th form college without chemistry at GCSE.

I suspect the school doesn't want to lose the fees if he leaves, as many students who go to private schools in the area go to this particular 6th form college because of its outstanding reputation.

My initial point was that I thought it odd that the school allows students to study single science GCSEs and not do the double/triple science that all other schools that I know of do, because many of them only opt for one or two science subjects.

The cynic in me agrees with your take on the school's motive.

DDs school (girls GS) does the separate sciences - they all do 3 but one or two were allowed to drop one if they were struggling with it. It would be pupils who weren't going to be doing A level sciences anyway.

If a school is going to have pupils doing 2 from the outset then they should be given clear guidance - if you've any likelihood of wanting to do biology or medicine then its ill-advised not to do chemistry. But you keep more doors open by doing all 3 or otherwise the double award.

I would be interested to know how igcse is seen compared to gcse, out of interest . My Ds went to a school which did igcse. However, of the compulsory subjects , at his school, they had to take all three sciences and maths (counted as four subjects) . No option to pick fewer science subjects. It's a selective school and many of his (more talented at maths etc than he ) peers have gone on to do degrees at good universities in Maths, Sciences, Engineering and the like. So is the point that igcse prepares less well for 6th form study per se or that the double award / triple award gcse covers all the sciences and is better vs the school that allows a pupil only to take one / two discrete science subjects ?

Basil The sixth form my DS goes to is large and popular with kids from private schools, quite a few of whom have done Igcses. The sixth form states clearly that it counts Igcses and GCSEs as equivalent. They do prefer them to do the three separate sciences for continuing with science at Alevel but also accept kids whose schools only offer double. That would be unusual round here though - most schools do offer double or triple. Taking just one or two discrete sciences is unusual too though I think most sixth forms would accept students as long as they have the science they want to go on with (though clearly not all, as the OP illustrates)

NickName: the cynic in me also wonders if they allow / push kids to do only the subjects that they will get the best grades in, rather than the mix that works best, even if you get (shock horror) a B.

There is a much feted independent school where I know for a fact that students are managed out from (optional) subjects where they will not get an A, as far as possible.

Basilisk- DD's school did the normal gcse for the physics and biology (aqa) but the edexcel igcse chemistry. This was reckoned to be better preparation for A-level but harder - it was in fact the one that a couple of pupils dropped. I didn't look at the syllabuses myself but DH did and he reckoned it was good content but rather dry. I'm not sure why the school did this combination, it made it impossible for anyone to do the dual award if they'd been weak across the board rather than particularly in one subject.

I'm 44 and I only did Chemistry. I was the first year to do GCSE.

My husband is older than I am, so did O levels and did two sciences.

I don't really get the combined science thing, I didn't think it was good enough if you wanted to do science A levels anyway and that you needed the separate sciences. So why not just let people choose one science if that's they want to do (and are good at). I dare say a lot of kids would get better grades if they say just did biology than in the combined science option.

I know the government wants us all to be scientists and coders, but that is not realistic. Lots of us simply don't have a scientific bent.

However, if there is a chance that someone wants to do A level sciences they need to be properly advised. I knew very early on that there was no way I would be doing science A levels or a degree with a science component.