Stick with triple or switch to double science?

[therainneverbotheredmeanyway]

DS is in yr 11 and has been doing triple science. In his recent mocks he got 5,6,6. These were all quite secure grades.

The school are suggesting some children switch to double at this point. It has been suggested that he should but we are wondering if it's a good idea.

He is not planning on taking any science A Levels.

If he switches to double he will have finished the syllabus by February half term. I believe physics is already completed. Triple won't be finishing the syllabus until Easter.

We were thinking this then gives him lots more revision time to be secure in the knowledge and hopefully aim for good grades.

Parents evening last night. Teachers were totally on the fence. He needs to make a decision by end of the week.

The downsides - he would go into new classes with new teachers. Effectively moving down sets I guess. But as they have literally finished the topics it will be more revision than learning new content.

Any thoughts from teachers or otherwise?

How many GCSEs would that leave him doing? Does he enjoy science? What does he want to do post 16?

Is he doing triple science in the time others are doing double, or is it counted as an options choice?

I would ask the school to mark a set of double science mocks to see what grade he would get in that.

It would leave him with 9 GCSEs.

Triple and double are done in the same amount of lessons. It's not taking an option away.

Following as I wonder if DS will be in this position after his mocks results come out

I am of the opinion one should grab their chances in life as they come. I wouldn't let my child move into lower set

Does a double award count against applicants for “top” universities ( for non science subjects)?

Triple science all at pass marks and above is surely good? Changing to double wouldn’t guarantee him better grades or would it? Can you get him some help? Or go over the papers to see where he is losing marks?

I had assumed that less content = more revision time do more chance of getting better grades but maybe not.

I don't think double science counts against them at uni as not all schools offer triple to my knowledge.

we had a similar thing earlier in the year where DD was getting C's for physics and they suggested she move to double science, however I spoke to her chemistry and biology teachers who said no way as she was getting As for both of those and double science would bring her overall grades down so decided it was better to get 2 As and a C possibly a D then a more average BB. Her latest physics mock was a B so she is putting the work in.

Not a teacher but my daughter's triple science classes ran out of time. They were set mountains of HW over Easter and were still working on syllabus in May. It added enormously to the stress and she was basically too overwhelmed to start revising anything else. But I'm sure others took it more in their stride. It was blamed on COVID and missed learning in Y8 and Y9.

I'm sure lots of people do triple without this issue, but your son's school seems to be heading towards a similar scenario.

Look at potential impact on his grade average. If he has a weaker subject of the 3 then that may pull down his Combined marks, whereas with triple the weak subject could be dropped from his Best 8 altogether. And if he does well compared with his other subjects, all 3 could count in his best 8 (I think) and crowd out one of his weaker subjects.

I think with hindsight my daughter would advise dropping down for sanity's sake! But I don't think she actually would have made the jump in your son's position. She did well with triple in the end, but I think there was knock-on impact in a couple of her other subjects.

My other question would be would he miss any content? If the double scientists have finished the syllabus, have the triple lot also finished all that material or had they not covered some of it yet? Risk of gaps from moving groups this late perhaps.

I would ask for the combined mock papers, sit them and see how he does.
That said, there isn't much time before the end if the week to turn that around.

I think I'd stick with triple. How will he know what bits to drop from what he has already done? Triple isn't just "one more topic" it's bits on most topics.

Would depnd on his other subjects and predictions.
9 is still a lot. I got 10 but only 2 As..
I guess its whether you tbink its worth getting that extra 5 or 6. Or boosting other grades - and subjects that he wants to take at Alevel as often those have minimum

I'm also of the opinion that one should grab chances in life as they come.

If he doesn't want to do science at A level, I would seriously consider dropping to double to get the extra in class revision and less to revise overall. It should in theory boost his science grades and possibly others. Less exam load too.

ie. I'd be grabbing the opportunity for better grades in double / other GCSEs.

I’ve been the teacher on the other side of similar conversations this week.

Triple isn’t worth the extra work/revision/stress unless you definitely want to do science A-levels. It makes no difference to university applications.

However, another point to consider is that dropping it doesn’t guarantee better grades at combined. If marks were mostly lost due to poor exam technique or skills based questions (graphs, maths, understanding practicals) then the level of these skills needed at combined will be the same, so the final grades are likely to be the same as they would for triple. If marks were mostly lost due to lack of knowledge, then reducing the content by doing combined should help.

I think better to get 2 8s in the double than 3 6s in the triple ( or similar, you get the gist)
If not doing science a levels triple is not needed

I think that if they're giving your DS a choice, it's worth considering sticking with the Triple Science at this stage, particularly if he's doing better in his other subjects, and he's getting secure pass grades in Science. If he changes to Combined, once they finish the syllabus is the time going to be spent on supported revision/practice papers etc, preparing for the exams with teacher support? Or is it a question of several more weeks of revising (or not) independently? If not, February seems a bit early to finish the syllabus and it might be better to continue for another 4 or 5 weeks, closer to the exams. If he's getting secure passes at 5/6, another 2 months and practice papers might help him improve his grades. My DS1 was still getting 5s and 6s for subjects other than Maths and Triple Science (his best subjects, predicted 9s), though I got the impression the teachers thought he could do better. When he got to exams, he did get those predicted 9s, but the 5s and 6s turned into 7s and 8s (apart from English Lit - 6).

Yes this - a child who is getting 5s or 6s now could get 7s or 8s with the extra time and space to revise less science.
Or they could devote the extra time freed up to another subject.

If he doesn't need triple science for future aspirations, no real benefit to having a 10th GCSE.

@therainneverbotheredmeanyway what did you decide to do in the end?