How many GCSE subjects to take?

[trudylady12]

My DD is Year 9 now. I am wondering how many GCSE subjects do most students take nowadays? Is there a norm for it?

Thank you!

Dd is doing 10 at a highly selective school - but she's hoping to drop one after half term. She would probably do fine with 10 but I can't see the point of sticking with a subject she's finding harder and which isn't essential (Latin!). Doing 9 seems the perfect number in terms of workload. She ran out of time for revision for year 10 mocks as she couldn't work out how to juggle all the subjects.

I'm dreading Ds' year 11 as they do 11 at his school except for bottom Science set who only do 10. At the moment he's fourth set Science out of 5 - maybe he'll move down before he gets to his GCSEs?!

My DDs both took 11, but that included triple science. The norm at their school is 9. There aren't a lot of easy GCSEs any more, they have all become .much more content heavy

The old saying of quality rather than quantity is the perfect answer to the initial question - it is far better to get high grades in 8/9 GCSEs than 10 x lower grades.

Since the introduction of Progress 8, most schools have changed their offering to 9 qualifications with the focus on the 'bucket 2' subjects first then bucket 3.

In terms of your later question re how difficult it is to get 8/9 in some subjects this link gives the grade statistics for this summer's exams. It is though important to note that some subject cohorts are on occasion not comprehensive i.e. not many high achievers may study one subject, whilst a lot of middle/low band students may not study another

cricketballs3
indeed! Yet many DCs manage 'quality and quantity'
DD has friends now in the year 12, from various schools, who achieved between 9 and 13 grade 9s and still had an active SM life or/and were party animals in Yr1
It truly does depend upon the child

I think DD (now yr13) did 12 + EPQ.

DS (now yr11) has finished 2 already & will complete... 10 more this yr.
math, FM, 3xscience, French, Geography, RE, 2xEnglish.

The kids in more vocational streams might only have 7-9 at end + a BTEC.

It really depends on the school. My son is taking maths, English, history (he had choice of either history or geography, couldn't do both), physics, chemistry, biology, RS (compulsory as he's at a catholic school), german (had to choose french or german) and music.

Yr11
As an aside, I really dislike the notion of ''quality over quantity'- but that's just me

Now you see Proggy I am perfectly happy with the idea of potentially sacrificing one of DD's GCSEs to protect/encourage passes in the others.

What about the notion of quality over quantity don't you like?

teen as I've said it depends upon the child?

The number they can juggle depends on the child. And whether an extra one impacts the quality of the others depends on the child. But Proggy you said you didn't like the 'notion' of it, so I just wondered why?

teen perhaps a read through the thread?
I'm not being arsey

I have read the thread! I was only trying to understand your comment.

I'm now guessing you mean 'people shouldn't assume that just because someone is going a large amount eg 11 then they are doing quantity over quality as some can manage quantity AND quality'?

But that wasn't how I interpreted your comment on not liking the 'notion' of 'quality over quantity'. That sounded more like thinking that say 10 at grade 5 is preferable to 8 at grade 7, or that you don't think doing fewer raises the grades of the others. So I was just trying to understand where you are coming from.

But never mind, if you don't want to expand, you don't have to.

teen
Precisely!
Just because some Dcs have more 'quantity' in terms of the amount of subjects they chose to sit at GCSE does not mean that the 'quality' in terms of the grades that they achieve will be sacrificed
Some will achieve both- hence my dislike of 'quality over quantity'
To be naughty I wiould add Oxbridge bound or not.
Each child is different and will need to jump through hoops at GCSE to get where they aspire to be after Yr11

I do think the exam glut is ridiculous, though. In many state schools, exam leave begins well after many of the GCSEs have begun. All exams are now at the end of year 11(apart from a few outliers) and few subjects have coursework. I don't think just because some (usually super able) students breeze through , the impact on stress and mental health and indeed outcomes for many should be dismissed.

As an aside, I am astonished by how many schools , according to MN, stream their students. I don't know of a single school in my area that has different GCSE streams (other than reducing the burden for a small selection of SEN students by reducing by one option).

I don't think just because some (usually super able) students breeze through , the impact on stress and mental health and indeed outcomes for many should be dismissed.

Well said Piggy
in terms of sets. At DD's comprehensive school, they were set for maths and English, and for science in years 10 and 11. The other subjects had mixed ability classes.

Reading everyone's replies has been interesting. My DDs attends a Welsh medium state secondary school and they do 14 GCSEs! DD1 coped with this without any problem and achieved excellent results, but DD2 is now in year 10 and is already feeling overwhelmed. I wish that she could do fewer, but the only option would be to drop to double science instead of triple which is the subject she enjoys and does well in - so not really an option!

She's doing 2 x English, 2 x Welsh, 2 x Maths, 3 x Science, RS and Welsh Bac as core subjects (11!) and 3 options History, PE and Drama (the last two chosen specifically to be lighter with everything else). It's a ridiculous system and makes me quite angry!

TeenPlusTwenties: Not aim for grade 9/8, just heard it is difficult to obtain 9/8 for Business even study hard for it, not sure if it's particularly true.

Seems taking 9-10 subjects is standard. Would it affect Uni application if take below 9 subjects?

The lack of uniformity is worrying. Some doing 9, others 12. It all seems a right mess!

Oblomov you say the lack of uniformity is worrying.

I’d be more worried if schools had a one size fits all - all children are different so I think the Different numbers of GCSEs reflects that. Some schools (most I know though have different numbers depending on ability) may have minimal choice once in them but that is part of the selection process when looking at schools.

Also the choice of GCSE subjects varies. DD's school does not have Economics, but they have Business. Is it common or uncommon to have Economics to choose for GCSE?

I think it isn't a common subject. It is an A level subject that you don't need at GCSE level to take beforehand.

Piggy re 'streaming'

Our leafy Hants comp doesn't 'stream' in KS3. But in y10 there are 3 'bands' which although called bands are more like streams I think.

One band is doing triple science. Those are the pupils who chose (and were permitted) to do triple science, no one is forced. But I believe that it is likely to have the majority of the 'high achievers' in it.

Then there are 2 other bands. They have been 'sold' as mixed ability, but given the sets my DD is in, it is pretty clear to me that one band is higher than the other, although they overlap. (You can do higher tier maths & science in both bands).

The option subjects are mixed across bands, with some setting. I don't know if you would call that streaming or not?

OP: I suspect that Business/Economics is down to what teachers in the school feel competent at teaching more than anything else.

Proggy Thanks for the clarification.

At my dc school (high achieving state comprehensive) they reduced the number of subjects when the new GCSEs were introduced and you don't generally do more than 10 at most.

Everyone does Maths and English x 2
Then you get combined science (2) or triple science (3)
3 options
And some do an extra subject after school

So if you did the extra subject plus triple science you could get 10. Most would do 8 and those doing triple would do 9.