GCSEs - can bright children wing them?

[bendmeoverbackwards]

Had some problems recently with my 15 year old dd and school. She is on the autistic spectrum and had some mental health problems at the start of Year 10 (so 6 months ago) resulting in erratic school attendance. She is managing to keep up but her attendance averages around 50%.

I am obviously quite worried about GCSEs next year. She is very bright and so far has done very well at school with not too much effort. I'm wondering how she will do next year if the pattern of school attendance continues.

Some people I speak to (including my own older children!) say that GCSEs are actually not that challenging for bright students. My oldest dd did pretty well and she admitted she didn't work that hard and she is probably not as bright as my youngest.

I know my dd's health is the most important thing and that GCSEs can always be done later on but I don't think spending more time on these exams is the best thing for her. She just wants them over and done with so she can get onto the next stage.

Yes I did (16 years ago). I did no revision at all, barely any coursework and skills loads of my lessons in the last year. I got couple of As and the rest Bs and Cs. As long as it gets her into A levels she'll be fine. Let her wing it if the work is stressing her out. I would've had a full mental breakdown if I'd have worked any harder than I did at the time.

Also, its really easy and almost enjoyable to retake exams a couple of years later.

My experience, after more than a decade of teaching, is that bright sparks can wing the GCSEs... but, if they do, they'll try it again for A Level and fall flat on their faces.