Double or Triple Science?

[JufusMum]

DD year 10 is fairly good at Chemistry and Physics, but beyond awful at Biology.

Because Biology test was so bad teachers are recommending she takes double science next year but am I right in thinking it's a combined score so her bad results in Biology will drag her average down?

Would she be better to take Triple Sciene eg each subject seperately so she can flunk Biology but have a chance of passing Chemistry and Physics?
Thanks in advance for any advice x

Double Science. It could pull down her score but she might not have been taught the extra for the triple science.

Is she likely to pick Science A-levels? You don't need triple to do A-level but I'd want my child to have that advantage if they were.
My dd is academic but definitely wouldn't pick Science A-levels so has gone for double to get a higher grade. She'll still have 10 GCSEs which is plenty imo.

imo Biology is more about factual learning than the other 2. So is she really awful at biology or just didn't put in effective revision for her tests?

You are right that with double the biology can pull the grade down, but conversely you could view it as the Physics and Chemistry pulling the biology grade up.

For uni entrance she will I think have to list all her GCSE grades, so she won't be able to 'ignore' the biology one, and it will appear on her certificate.

Which do you view is better - CC for double or BBE for triple? However
it could actually be BB for double v CCE for triple as the time and speed and content for triple could be counter productive at exam time...

My gut feel is drop to double and spend the extra time unpicking the issues with biology learning and sort it out.

I thought the highest grade you could get on double was a CC? or a 4/4 5/5 whatever a C actually is these days!

Absolutely not! You are confusing double (ie 2 GCSEs) with foundation (easier question papers).

Double means you do 2 papers per subject P1,C1,B1 and P2,C2,B2

Triple means 3 per subject P1,P2,P3 and C1,C2,C3 and B1,B2,B3

You can do foundation tier papers in whichever you fancy (or you could 2 years ago) so he could do Higher tier Phys and Chem, but foundation tier Biology. You'd need to take guidance from the school in how that would impact possible grades.

At DD's school who have to sit a test to do triple science and only the top 25% are offered it. At the time she felt she wasnt a natural and was fairly sure she was the weakest of those 25% and not particularly good at any particular science, she almost didn't do it.

She's now at the end of Year 11 and physics is her weakest subject (trying for A might get a B) but she's around A/A* for the other subjects. She wants to continue with biology at A level which I never thought would happen. She says she glad she's done the extra work involved as she's already got that knowledge and understanding before moving onto A level.

So for her I'm glad she kept her options open, even in a short space of time you don't know how their choices will change. Also, she'll have the benefit of leaving school with 11 GCSEs, one Sixth Form she applied to thought it was admirable to leave with the extra subject. If you're worried about workload/homework DD has said it's no worse that any other subject (they have 5 lessons a week). I'd say she spent more time on her Art and Maths homework each week than all three science subjects.

This is what's so silly about having to do all 3 sciences (whether double or triple). At my school the sciences were taught separately and you could choose, 1, 2 or all 3 (you had to do one at least). But that meant you could drop the science(s) you didn't like or were not very good at.

The current system does mean that your marks are dragged down by the science you can't do very well.

At my sons' school you only do 8 GCSEs and do 9 if you do triple. They obviously think 8 is plenty under the new system. I only did 8 too, and I went to a grammar school, although I think 9 was more common. It didn't hold me back though. But I knew from early on that I did not want to do a scientific/medical/engineering/technical career.

Well, I think it is sensible doing a bit of all 3 sciences.

I had to choose between Phys&Chem OR Biology when I was at school.
As a result I did no biology past the age of 13.

Whereas when DD did double science 2 years ago I thought the syllabus for all 3 was pretty good.

School is (at least partly) about education (ie not just high grades) and I think a GCSE level understanding of all 3 sciences is pretty useful background to general life. It helps understanding some of the big issues of our age such as fracking, GM, etc.

Both DH and I dropped biology at yea 9 but went on to do science degrees
that lack was a failing that the current system gets round.
As Teen rightly says
Core Science = P1 B1 C1
Double science addis in P2 C2 B2
Triple Science adds in P3 B3 C3
very, very few state schools let you do it in other formats as that is the one that leaves the most options open

DD did Biology A level with a lass from a well known boarding school who had dropped Chemistry at year 9 and she really struggled

As Teen rightly says
Core Science = P1 B1 C1
Double science addis in P2 C2 B2
Triple Science adds in P3 B3 C3
very, very few state schools let you do it in other formats as that is the one that leaves the most options open
The above system is true for current year 11s but not for Y10s who are doing the new 9-1 specification.
The new system is that core science no longer exists and students taking the new Double award take 2 papers in each science subject at the end of Y11. The content of these papers is slightly different to those taken by Triple Science students who also take 2 papers per subject but papers are longer and there is extra content.
The fact that there is less overlap between the content means that it is harder to swap over i.e. change from triple down to double part way through the course.

catslife
what happens to the kids who just did core ?
At DCs school there are about 40 a year
making them do double is just cruel

Thanks for the correction cats I was concerned my info might be out of date. Are there still Foundation papers in science? I know they have gone for English.

Can you afford a tutor for biology? Often students do badly because they don't answer the questions in a way that scores marks. It could make a huge difference.

There are still Foundation and Higher tiers for the new 9-1 Sciences. So if the OPs dc could take Foundation Biology if taking separate Science4s with Higher Chemistry and Physics, but you can't mix the tiers with the new double science.
There is also a new Certificate in Science that is at a lower level than double award Science. I think this is aimed at the pupils who used to take just Core Science.