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Secondary education

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GCSE maths early? (sorry, old hat I know)

26 replies

Sadik · 14/01/2017 11:00

As of next week, yr 10 dd's maths sets are being re-organised, with 12 A / borderline A pupils split off into a separate set.

So far so good - I suspect it's a mix of trying to figure out how to deal with the new 3 tier GCSE papers (we're in Wales, so still have letter grades, but maths split into two GCSEs, each with lower/intermediate/higher tier) and some interschool politics (look! we may have a dodgy intake, but we cater for high achievers!).

But, they've been told they'll be sitting the maths GCSEs early, either this summer, or next November, depending on when the teacher feels they're ready. After sitting the exam, they'll move on to studying the AS curriculum.

I can see this would be helpful for school (gives them a bit of early feedback on the new exams), but I'm a bit twitchy as I know there's a lot of negative views on exams being sat early.

They're already taking English language and Welsh language GCSEs this year - but we're stuck with that, it's longstanding school policy that they do language in yr 10 and literature in yr 11 (though a bit rubbish for dd as languages definitely her weakest point, and she's improving year on year).

So I'd just be interested in any views, suspect there's not much can be done, but I guess we can express our opinions at parent teacher meetings at least. (FWIW I suspect dd will go on to take A level maths and potentially further maths, but at 6th form college as school 6th form being abolished from her year.)

OP posts:
Bensyster · 15/01/2017 20:28

Dh did his A levels a year early, it was a bit of an experiment, he was a summer baby - so sat them while he was still 16. He still managed to do very well and go to Oxbridge - but the other very able pupils who took part in the experiment didn't do so well. Dh wasn't ready for University at 17 and not really old enough for a proper Gap year, so it was all a bit too much too soon.

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