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Secondary education

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Original poster

Is 12 GCSEs in one sitting madness?

82 replies

montenana · 22/01/2018 09:44

DD is setting herself to be sitting 12 GCSEs plus a higher level Maths qualification all to be sat in one sitting.

I don't think the school have quite realised...
DD is "up for it" and laughs when i say it's going to be too much. She is bright and hard working and certainly is taking it all in her stride at the moment.

Those of you who have been there - should I put a stop to it before she starts?

OP posts:
Original poster
montenana · 23/01/2018 16:11

No, there's no option to take any early.

The only slight possibility (and i'm only assuming this would be allowed) is that she "drops out" of Mandarin in yr11 and comes back to it in yr12.

OP posts:
goodbyestranger · 23/01/2018 16:14

The European driving licence thing is an absolute cheat on the part of the school - it's a notorious scam.

Witchend · 23/01/2018 18:10

The European driving licence thing is an absolute cheat on the part of the school - it's a notorious scam
They only tried it in her year and they're stopping doing it, but I know she came out with a distinction** with very little work, which was why I didn't count it in the 11/12 GCSEs.

Dh was on a very early prototype of it as a student, so he was interested to see what had changed.

goodbyestranger · 23/01/2018 18:41

Schools do it, or did it, purely to ratchet their position up in league tables. Possibly the most scandalous example of cynical manoeuvring by schools to look good while adding nothing to their pupils' education.

goodbyestranger · 23/01/2018 18:50

Witchend now that I've managed to get my head round what your DDs' school does, I have to say it looks like an absolute pig's ear of a curriculum offer. I'd be very against it and I bet that as the SLT see what the new GCSE grades are like for the early entries they'll pull then back to Y11 and reduce the number of GCSEs taken. Some more timid schools are hanging on to old habits, probably ill-advisedly. Unfortunately it's the DC who suffer with poor grades hanging around them like a millstone for their UCAS forms. The same sort of schools did this with ASs, insisting that Y12s in 2016 sat them in reformed as well as unreformed subjects while the bolder (better led) schools ditched them as not co-teachable and of little value. The only conceivable benefit of your school's programme is that the DC have a light load in Y11, but that's also a double edged sword.

ZandathePanda · 23/01/2018 21:18

Agree with the previous poster about AS Levels! Nightmare if the schools want to continue with them!

Witchend · 23/01/2018 23:08

goodbye yes, I'm not expecting them to keep it up. I hope by the time ds gets to do it then it'll be down to a reasonable 10 (or lower).
Unfortunately it's probably going to be too late for dd2.

Dh is a governor and they do look at it, and consult regularly with parents and teachers and it does come out popular. He's been surprised.
And they get better results than the other local secondary schools with similar demographics (in fact their value added is the best)

I would choose to cut it down a lot.

LoniceraJaponica · 23/01/2018 23:14

goodbyestranger DD's school did AS levels last year. Why are they considered not co-teachable and unworkable? It doesn't seem to have held anyone back.

thisagain · 24/01/2018 07:34

It is a lot but I would just see how she goes and adjust accordingly if she wants to. My DD is year 11 now and sitting 10. She has opted out of the extra Maths (although only recently so is still in that class) as she is fine with the standard GCSE stuff was finding the extra confusing. In addition, she is doing dance and music GCSE where the written part of the exam only makes up 40% so therefore less to revise in the summer. To be honest, I feel like this is enough and she has a different reason to have to stay after school every night. She only just fits it all in!

goodbyestranger · 24/01/2018 09:45

Lonicera the only conceivable justification for doing an AS in the new reformed world of post GCSE provision is as an additional (usually fourth) subject not then taken onto A2. Lots of timid schools in both sectors tried to cling onto the old system in the first year of the new exams (exam season June 2016), putting pupils in for say history AS when they were continuing history to A2, without giving any weight to the fact that this disrupts the A2 teaching and puts those same students at a disadvantage as compared to pupils who've had a clear two year A2 teaching programme. And they also paid insufficient attention to the fact that the unis by definition had to discount ASs as a tool for assessing applicants which makes the qualification valueless.

LoniceraJaponica · 24/01/2018 15:23

Why would taking AS exams disrupt the teaching? Is the syllabus significantly different? One of DD's friends has just had an offer to study history at Oxford, and DD scored all As in her A level mocks. They both took AS exams lsst summer. And why the more timid schools?

TheDrsDocMartens · 24/01/2018 17:49

It loses a couple of weeks teaching while they prepare for the AS/ exam season before settling back to A2.

goodbyestranger · 24/01/2018 18:23

TheDrsDocMartens the qualifications are also of no numerical value since they don't count towards the A2, of no additional intellectual value as they add nothing to the A2 programme and are of no value in terms of university applications since so many schools have given them up and more and more are following suit, therefore they can't fairly be used as a sifting tool.

The only value is in taking an AS as a one year course to add breadth.

Lonicera education should not only do no harm it should add value.

goodbyestranger · 24/01/2018 18:25

Timid is self explanatory.

TheDrsDocMartens · 24/01/2018 19:50

Dd1 is year 13 so has done some linear and some modular A levels. Now they’re all reformed there’s not the need this year to AS so better to just carry on

LoniceraJaponica · 24/01/2018 22:20

"Timid is self explanatory."

Um, sorry, but not to me. Perhaps I'm being thick, but I don't get it.

DD was quite strategic about her AS exams and dropped one of the subjects she achieved an A in so it will appear as a stand alone subject on her certificate. One of the universities she has applied to are taking AS levels into account.

Argeles · 24/01/2018 22:36

I did 11. It of course was very demanding, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

When I had to choose my A Levels, I wanted to take 5 subjects. One of my friends was at one of the local Grammar Schools, and whilst I didn’t get into a Grammar school, I had achieved better GCSE results than her. She informed me that they were all allowed, and encouraged to take 5 subjects.

I was incredibly envious, and practically begged the Head of Sixth Form and Headteacher at my school to allow me to do the same. I was informed that whilst they believed I could cope, and do very well in all 5, they couldn’t offer this to me due to the way the timetable was organised. I was furious, but settled on doing 4 A Levels - and I gained all 4, I didn’t drop any subjects at AS Level. Most of my peers only wanted to take, or were only allowed to take 3 AS Levels, and take only 2 through to A Level.

I think it depends on how well your Daughter copes with hard work and organisation more than anything. I wish her all the best.

Soursprout · 24/01/2018 22:42

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

amarone · 25/01/2018 23:15

I think you should let her sit them all... My son did his maths a year early so had to sit extra maths exams (further/advanced and an AS level?). He also did latin & greek so there's another two... He was really worried about the shear amount of exams and wanted to drop some exams but he decided to go for it... He got 11A* and and an A. It is possible if they really want it...

BubblesBuddy · 26/01/2018 01:14

It’s not a case of wanting it. It’s s case of not needing it. No-one cares if it’s 11 or 10 or 12. No university thinks 11 is better than 10. It’s too easy to drop a few grades with overload for some children. So if you are not 8/9/A* all the way, do 10 max. That’s good enough for Oxbridge. The new GCSEs are more difficult and few are taking anything early now so that grades are not dropped by not being ready or sufficiently mature.

LoniceraJaponica · 26/01/2018 07:46

Bubbles is correct. DD is applying for medicine and most medical schools just want your best 8 GCSEs.

VivaLeBeaver · 26/01/2018 07:49

Anyone here who says their dc did it if it was a few years ago you need to remember gcses have changed dramatically this year. Schools here are now doing less GCSEs because of this.

LemonysSnicket · 26/01/2018 07:50

I did 13, was hard but I was fine

LoniceraJaponica · 26/01/2018 07:55

Lemony GCSEs are much harder now, with little or no coursework. I doubt that anyone other than the very bright could do that many now and achieve the top grades.

LooseAtTheSeams · 26/01/2018 08:19

Best 8 for universities is spot on. Most subjects have their first exams under their new specs this year and it's much more exam-based, with little/no chance to bank marks with coursework, so I would be wary. It's not like the old system at all so past experiences won't help.
DS1 is taking 11 1/2 including additional maths and it's a lot of work. A very motivated child will probably still love the challenge but I would look very carefully at the demands of each option and what's required to get good grades.