Double or triple science?

[AlunWynsKnee]

Just after a quick piece of guidance please.
Dd's report has her on track for a predicted 7 in science. She's got to pick her options for GCSE soon. Is that strong enough to pick triple science or would she be better with double science?
Obviously I will ask the department's opinion too but she's one of the few girls in her top set so I wonder if they might be keen to get girls into triple. That was certainly the case when I did my O Levels and I don't know if much has changed :(
So unbiased advice. Is a 7 double or triple territory.

Thanks Red it does look that way.

Sorry I should clarify that doing double science doesn't stop you doing science A, levels. Surely triple must make it a bit easier tho.

Remember that the exams have changed. My ds2 does biology A level and he says it would be really hard if he had done double. Mind you at his school all the most able do triple, in fact it's almost a shorthand "is he clever enough for A levels ?" "oh yes, he does triple"

Anyway, if I were you I would find out how it's done. DS had to do it in the same lessons as those doing double, hence the need to be more able. Sounds like your dd would be fine with that. But some schools have it as an option which might mean it doing art (or history, or tech) so that's a, consideration.

Ds1 had no option but to take the double award as the triple wasn't offered, so last summer he achieved a 9,9. There was a possbility that for biology he may have dropped to an 8, so having the two 9s looks better on his GCSE profile.

He is doing A level physics and has found it very easy. I know they say the jump from GCSE to A level can be big but it depends on your GCSE grade. You had to achieved a grade 6 to take any science, there is a huge difference between a grade 6 and a grade 9 at GCSE. It also helps that his other A levels include maths and further maths which overlap with physics in content.

Ds2 has been told he will probably be put in for the triple but I have refused it, there is no slot in the time table, he would just be expected to put in several hours a week at home. He could be spending that time aceing out other subjects.

At my ds school you have to be invited to do the triple science

Just done options evening g with my dad. At her school the dec8id made as late ad the Christmas or year 10 weather to enter them in double or tripl6 science. The sylibus is very similar for both. Shes top set currently for both science and maths so should end up with triple just need to decide on art or btec dance to go with history & geography.

Ignore the typos dd not dad. Loving predictive txt.

Decent predicted grades, good at maths, and wants to do it - sounds good to me.

In terms of the amount of work relative to double - does doing the triple take one option or is it an extra gcse? If the former, then would whatever she might do instead actually be any easier for her than the science?

Giro I think that was my underlying thought. Would two good grades be better than three OK grades.
jamimmi art and history are on her list :)
Errol tbh science is her lowest predicted grade! She's an 8 or 9 for everything else she wants to do (obvious brag!) I do wonder if extra computing or RE might be easier for her.

Just a caveat OP that you check whether the "predicted" grade is a computer generated one based on her KS2 SATS results, or whether it's based on a teacher assessment of her current progress in class/recent test results etc. Your last post rang a slight alarm bell because I'd be surprised that teachers would be predicting 8 or 9 as GCSE results for a student currently in Y8/9.

If it's based on SATs results, take it with a pinch of salt and actually talk to teachers about how she is doing currently and whether they think it's a good idea for her to take certain subjects.

Red they start from the KS2 SATs and testing at the start of KS3, but assess termly and indicate whether they are meeting expectations. Based on her reports I think the assessments are believable. The subjects she struggles with had high targets because of the Y6&7 testing but she's marked as under performing in those which makes sense.

AlunWynsKnee
I was going to say something similar to red about KS3 tracking and using GCSE grades as almost anyone who teaches Ks3 with any knowledge of data would say that they're really educated guesses at best, and at worst it's plucking numbers our of thin air. Even things like FFT are problematic as the most likely grade a child might be expected will depend on which version of FFT the school uses, and often it's a grade that the child would be expected to get 30-35% of the time. This is rarely communicated to parents.

I didn't want to say that earlier because I didn't want it to come across as pissing on your DC's parade as that wouldn't be the intent at all, but I don't think predicted GCSE grades at KS3 would be something underpinning my options decisions.

If she is doing well, enjoys the subject and is motivated to study it then they re better reasons to select an option subject in my opinion.

Lola I won't take it as dd's chips are now soggy :) You're right though this should be communicated to parents. I don't know what FFT is and the reports that come out termly are the only real guidance. I can't imagine for one minute that the teachers want to be dealing with dozens of parents wanting more clarification on a regular basis. We do have an options evening but events like this are usually so busy she doesn't cope well.

I do take your points and for the most part she will pick the subjects she likes best and since she's an Eeyore she will be conservative when estimating her abilities. This is the only one that's given me pause for thought.

Ah well, I shall see what they say at the options night and get clarification on the points people have raised. It's all useful.

AlunWynsKnee
FFT are an organisation many schools use to work out target grades.
It looks at a previous cohorts and then says something like 'a child who has X KS2 scores for maths and English, at a school like this, with Y postcode as a social background marker, and other factors, most students got this particular grade'.

So FFT50 is a child with this profile who acheived in the middle of the bell curve for their profile would be most likely to get a grade 5/6/7/etc.
FFT20 would be a child of this profile achieving in the top 20% of others meeting that profile.

It means, for example, a student could have a target of a 7 because under FFT 35% of similar students previously got a 7, but 32% of students previously got a 6, and the remainder of the percentages were 4/8/9. Really they're not that much more likely to achieve a 7 than a 6, but the 7 would be the target despite it being more likely that the student would achieve a different grade.

I don't think schools should communicate this much detail to parents, but I do think they owe it to parents to acknowledge that when they're talking about targets it's certainly a very grey area.

It's certainly worth asking how they've come to the 7 target/prediction as in my experience parents much prefer the honest approach of "the data suggests they should come out around an X, and based on my observations in class and their work ethic I would say they would be likely to achieve high grades / a secure pass / probably borderline".

I hope that didn't read as a hijack.

Ds did double, school wanted him to do triple as he was in top set but he wanted to do more essay type subjects like History & Geography & also wanted to do Drama & Computer Science. They still do the same number of exams paper for science whether doing double or treble, just get extra GCSE grade.

Lola no not at all! That's a clear explanation and I will be quizzing the poor teachers armed with some knowledge now rather than pulling on my very outdated experience. Thank you.
Nat dd is definitely a STEM type.

DD has just moved from a school that only does double to a school that does triple, and is taking Physics A-level.

So far, there is nothing that the class has done where she knows less than the triple takers - according to her teacher at Parents' Evening, the only unit where the triple takers will have done more beforehand is taught in y13, by which time they wilkl probably have forgotten much of it anyway!

Anecdotally - obviously not much data as yet - the shift to 9-1 GCSEs has narrowed the step up to A-level, and in particular combined science (ie double) now has so much more content that it's almost as good a preparation for the A level syllabus as the 'old' A* to G triple.