Combined Science and Triple Science questions

[happymummy2010]

I know in the Combined Science GCSE the syllabus covers two thirds of the Triple Science syllabus, but are the topics that are covered in both levels studied in the same detail or does Triple Science go into more depth ?

Are the same questions set in the exams for the topics covered in both levels or are the questions in the Combined paper slightly easier ?

Hope that makes sense !

DD found the step up from triple science at GCSE to be a big step to A level science, Chemistry was much harder at A level than the other two subjects which she'd never studied before.

I agree with Tinty and Something. The step up to science A levels is hard enough from doing triple science. One of the girls in DD's year took double science and went on to study A level biology. She found it too difficult as everyone else had done triple science, and she had to cover the work she missed by only doing double science. She left at the end of year 12.

My DD sat the new linear Combined Science in summer 2018, and is doing fine with A-level Biology. She said that about half of her A-level class did Triple and half did Combined.

The new linear course is different from the old Combined Science.

The triple is the same as the double but just goes deeper.
you can go on to do A level sciences if you pass the double combined.
When they offered the single award, up until last year, this wasn't in depth enough to continue onto A level.

Many students do only study double science and still do well at A-level, but if they are in a class full of triple scientists, they need to be aware it will involve extra work on their part. This is probably fine if you only intend to study one science, but if you wanted to do all three then it might end up being a lot of extra work and triple would be a better option. In schools where most/all students only do double, many students go on to do well at A-level.

It also depends on the students- if someone gets 8s or 9s in double science, then they're probably more suited to Science A-levels than a student who got 6s across all three sciences.

Are those talking about the huge step up to A level talking about the new (examined for the first time last year) syllabus or the old one?

We should be discussing the new syllabus as that’s the only relevant one from now on.

Are those talking about the huge step up to A level talking about the new (examined for the first time last year) syllabus or the old one?

New for my DD.

Discussing this with a science teacher recently, as DD (doing 'new' double in a school that only offers double, and then teaches A-level very successfully from that basis) is thinking of doing at least 1 science A-level at a school where many students do triple (so A-level teaching tends to start from the basis of triple).

Science teacher said that, in their limited experience (the first year of students doing 'new' science GCSEs is now in Y12, so there is only a single year to base judgement on), the 'new' double is a much better basis for A-level study than the 'old' one, and in fact there seemed little difference between 'double' and 'triple' students in the A-level class. They also said that Chemistry - interesting given brizzle's child's experience - is a subject, like Maths, where the step up to A-level has always been quite a big one, whatever the GCSE route taken.

If all of the pupils have only taken double science then the school will teach accordingly. In a class where most of the students have taken triple science I expect the double science students may have to do a little more reading.

DD took her GCSEs in 2016, so they would have been the old spec. She found the step up to A level very difficult, and had to work very hard, but still managed to get the results she wanted. It was a slog though. She took chemistry and biology.

cabininthesnow
Ds has just been moved into top set for science, he’s year 9. He was told that he has been asessed at levels higher than half of the top set. It also made him a prime candidate to do triple award which he would not be able to do in set 2.

Surely EVERYONE in the top set would be doing triple science? At all 3 schools by DC went to, everyone did triple unless they were specifically given permission to just do double and that would only be allowed if the pupil was either SN or was very high achieving and focussed on other areas (like multiple foreign languages or music/art) that caused time table clashes. If your DSs school has a top set or even middle set where everyone is not capable of doing triple science, that would be a worry.

So much out of date advice on this thread. The new GCSE is significantly reformed and both triple and combined are very different beasts to their previous incarnations. Eg there is no unit 3.
The most worrying is onto, I do hope she/he is not on my team of markers this year.
Both combined and triple provide suitable starting points for A level, providing decent grades are obtained.
I would challenge anyone to come into my 2 year 12 classes, (and it is really important to remember that any chat about y13 and older is basically irrelevant due to the changes) and identify who did triple and who did combined.

Surely EVERYONE in the top set would be doing triple science?

Why should that be the case? At DC's school some weaker children are not allowed to take triple science, but stronger DC are not forced to take triple. My DD's science teacher was quite keen for her to take triple science, and she is more than capable, but she would prefer to take combined science and use the option for another subject.

At DC's school some weaker children are not allowed to take triple science, but stronger DC are not forced to take triple.
That was the case at my dds school as well. At her school there are top sets for Triple and a corresponding top set for the Combined.
I would expect sixth form teachers in good sixth forms to be able to differentiate work in Y12 for those who have taken either route at GCSE and not just expect pupils who haven't taken Triple to catch up by themselves.

At both my kids’ schools the triple science kids have proportionally more lessons. Do not know a school that tries to cram 3 into 2. It means one less option for other subjects if you triple in their schools. The double option is also not necessarily regarded as an option for the less able. Some of the bright kids just want to keep their options open for A level in MFL etc.

WhyIampaying fees, my school for eg, but I know many more. The triple kids have exactly the same time allocation for science as combined. Really is not a rarity

DD’s school gives extra lessons for triple science. 2 extra hours per week which means those taking triple Science take one less option than those taking combined.

It used to widely be the case that 'less able' took double and 'more able' took triple in the same timetable slots. It seems less common now, because the content in the new GCSEs is so much greater. Schools are then making different decisions about whether they just offer double - thus preserving breadth of options for all - or take up an option slot, which obviously narrows options. DC's school is very much in favour of wide options - has 5 free option blocks - so sticks with double for all, and is then very successful at A-level.

Both my DCs have done double, then 2 languages, then 1 child did 2 humanities and a creative subject, the other does 1 humanity and 2 creative subjects.

Our school has decided that triple will be the only option going forward from this year. Will work for my science mad DD not so sure will be ideal for my DS when he's older. Anyone else's school dropping the double option?

thenext,

i think what would worry me is what is being dropped to make way for it?

I mean, triple + 4 good options (so e.g. a couple of languages, a humanity, a creative or design / computing subject - or some mixture of that type) is fine. But if doing triple then ties everyone down to doing only a couple of options (I was appalled to see that some schools are doing this, by also making RE compulsory) then that's really poor.

My unscientific impression is that in the new GCSEs, the amount of content in double is MUCH bigger than it was, while the amount in triple has only gone up a bit, so the gaop is much smaller than it was [happy to be corrected]. The school may therefore have decided that it's not 'worth' offering the double as it's much more than 2/3 of the work.

Imo triple is more demanding than combined. There is a lot more content and only the brightest and most interested should take it. If you want to do science a levels doing trilogy at GCSE won't hold you back.

Cantkeepaway that's a good point, looks like they choose 4 of which one needs to be a language. No compulsory RE thank god!

My DS is in Year 11 doing triple (ie new spec). When we were looking at sixth forms (of which we toured a number), - he was a bit flummoxed as to what to ask the various teachers on their open days (he is only interested in science/maths, but potentially all the sciences), so I suggested "is it a big jump from GCSE to A level in your subject?" which he duly used as his opener. The question that inevitably came back was "are you doing combined or triple?". Almost inevitably when he said triple, there was a noticeable relaxation, and the response "not as much as if you were doing combined", or "not so much for you", or something along those lines. This did seem to suggest that the teachers who are on the cliff face, teaching first year A level after the new GCSEs (as that is who we were talking to), are seeing a noticeable difference. As the new science GCSEs were only examined last May/June for the first time, it is only current Year 12 science teachers who will have any feel on how the two groups compare (and most of these open days were in November).

I think part of that reaction is probably that most schools select the brightest for separate sciences so those students are more likely to be able to cope with a levels in science. Not true for all schools of course.

Bimkom,

We asked similar questions - later open days, though - and were asked which school as well as combined or triple.

On hearing the school + sciences (double) taken by DD, there was no issue. I can imagine that they are used to distinguishing 'able pupil from school which historically does double for all to allow breadth' from 'pupil from school which does triple for more able pupils and double for others', as traditionally where we live there has been a mix.