Doing a language GCSE early - pros and cons?

[TulipLightBulbs]

Background - when DS was 6, we moved abroad for work for 2 years (Austria).
DS attended a local school and after initially struggling a lot, managed to get quite good at German.
We moved back to the Uk when DS was 9.

DS has been attending German classes outside school, at his request, since he was 9, he's now 13. He's worked extremely hard at this and is very motivated.

His secondary school unfortunately doesn't teach German, but his German teacher (who is attached to a different school) has suggested he could sit German GCSE there as an external candidate. She thinks DS could realistically aim for a grade 8 or 9 at GCSE, and sit it in year 10 (he'll be year 9 is September).

Are there downsides to sitting it in year 10?
I thought people might just assume DS is a native speaker and not realise all the hard work he's put in.

A friend also told me GCSEs done earlier or later "don't count", so he might not be able to do it for A level at 6th form?

DS will do 9 GCSEs at school in year 11, with at least one other modern language, possibly even two. I thought doing a 10th subject earlier would be good experience, a bit of a practice run, rather than 10 all at once.

Are any teachers able to advise on what the best course of action is? DS has worked massively hard to get to this point, and we don't want to make the wrong decision for him.

Totally agree about exam preparation.

For GCSE DD's language skills were easily good enough so we (she and I) went through lots of old papers, the mark scheme and the examiner's report. We used those to pick out where marks could be dropped, common mistakes etc.

For A level DD needed a tutor but the person who tutored her wasn't a teacher. The tutor was a native speaker with a passion for sharing her language. Again lots of past papers and the tutor was an incredibly strict marker, probably more strict than the examiner!

The tutor was actually a scientist and across two years got DD interested in her subject and DD is now a scientist in the same field. Funny how things turn out!

Just learning how to do exams is a useful skill in itself. For A level, learning the commitment required to get a good grade is also useful.

I did French a year early and then did a level work for 3 years. I’d do it if he’s predicted to get the top grade. My niece did music very early at 13 but only got E, I’m not sure why she was pushed to do it! At my dc’s school they all do 1 or 2 a year early and have more hours in that subject eg 5 hours English lit y10 then 5 hours Lang in y11. Doesn’t affect a level choices or uni applications at all.

MIne did some exams early. The benefits weren’t immediately obvious but there’s were several.

They felt academically interested and there was a confidence boost going into their exam year,!knowing what taking public exams felt like
.
They could take more exams - not something universities were particularly interested in at GCSE, but employers have always commented positively ad they are perceived as very bright/hardworking.

They did French as an additional subject exam in year 10- no lessons at all but fluent speakers/writers. Seemed silly not to. One did languages at university, but not French. It means she is fluent in four languages, not two and that is definitely advantageous for employment in her field.

They also did RE/theology early to allow an early start to A level theology. They took the AS level in year 10 with the GCSE and then A2 in year 11. No real university advantage except the medical school accepted it as one of the required grade As and this took significant pressure off in year 13, knowing she only needed two more As and could slip a grade without losing her place.

The school did computer science in year 9 for half the pupils too, but I have no idea why. I guess to support learning in other subjects. It did set an expectation and recognition of achievement as the norm.

I work in a selective school. We have a number of students who take various languages such as Italian, Mandarin and Japanese as extra curricular clubs who take their gcse in year 9 or year 10. This is because they are doing the regular number of gcses eg. 10 or 11 in year 11 too (including another mfl).

I would recommend that your son do take it. I would then suggest that he keep up lessons perhaps during year 11 and in the event any 6th form would want him to do German A level because his "German" is a year old then he can demonstrate he has done this and maybe he might want to take a TestDAF or similar.

If he doesn't want to take a German A level it will still count as a gcse if he were to apply to Oxbridge. If he wanted to apply to UCL it will still satisfy his language gcse requirement (they just want one and it won't matter when taken, and indeed may take you without a language gcse but you have to study language alongside your degree).

For uni applications, they will be far more focused on A Levels, and will know thdt hd isnot snativd speaker.
For 6th form admissions, some schools which require minimum grades/points score might only take into account exams sat in Y11, but that still works for you. Taking German early will allow more time to focus on other subjects in Y11. Tutor has given good advice, take it in Y10

DS did Spanish gcse in y8 ( dad is Spanish, but ds is not bilingual).
School prepared him by letting him sit in with y11 in run up to the exam. He got A*.

When he got to y12 he chose A level Spanish, no problem!

I wouldn’t do it early if he was borderline 8/9. It would be better to get the top grade in year 11.

I did a language degree and it pissed me off no end that there was a proper native speaker on one of my courses. She did actually only get a 2:2 though because while she aced the language elements she was rubbish at the content modules so I felt like it was poetic justice. We all felt like she had a massive advantage and it was really unfair. Your son isn’t in that camp at all. There were plenty of people that had a year or two living somewhere relevant. That is very different to growing up in the country and having native parental speakers.