77766665555 for GCSE mocks

[basilbrush]

DD in Year 11 just got the following in her GCSE mocks: 77766665555

She did revise hard for them but is not very organised and really lacks confidence in herself in many ways. She has also missed lots of school (mainly in Year 10) due to medical problems so I am really proud of her for doing this well tbh! I think these results are a fairly accurate representation of what she will get in the summer - I don't think there will be any huge jumps up in grades

She is very keen on going to sixth form college with her most of her friends and doing A-levels. However, she is thinking of Biology, Psychology and English and I am concerned she will not be able to cope with 'meaty' subjects like this. She says she want to keep her options open and not do anything too specific at 16 as she doesn't have a specific career in mind yet.

However, her current school have basically suggested that she look into doing BTECs at the local FE college as a 'back up' options

There's lots of open days etc on at the minute - should I be encouraging her to go and visit them? She just assumes she'll be doing A-levels with everyone else and I don't want to dent her confidence when she's trying really hard. Equally, I don't want her to go down an inappropriate path either because I was too scared to be honest with her and tell her what her school have said!

We are in Oxfordshire, all 3 comps in my area do the same.

science x3
maths x 2 (normal and stats)
eng x 2
plus 4 options

I think you can drop a science if you are struggling but it’s not common and I don’t really agree with making them do Eng Lit either.

11 here too NW secondary.

it is too many imo.

Ive seen some 16/17!year olds with 13!!

My children's school do 9. They have explained that for university applications it is better to get 9 at the highest grades you can rather than more at lower grades.

Well the government think that 11 is unusual - 1.8% of 16 year olds in England took 11 GCSEs in 2023 and 0.1% did 12.
8 or 9 are the commonest.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/infographic-gcse-results-2023/infographics-for-gcse-results-2023-accessible

Agree that 8/9 at higher grades is better.

One of mine did 9 GCSEs, the other is doing 10. Both selective London Schools. They can only do more if doing further maths. Absolutely no need to do 11 or 12.
It means they have more time to do other non examined stuff at school as well.

I agree that the school are being unrealistic forcing their pupils to do so many subjects. 9 or 10 is the norm. Focussing on getting better grades on 9 or 10 subjects is better than getting 11 or 12 with lower grades.

IMO the school are doing this to look good and it's not in the best interests of the pupils.

The step up from GCSE to A level biology is hard, one of the reasons being the very specific mark scheme, so your DD will need at least a 7 at GCSE in order to cope with it at A level.

My kids (one average, one top set) did 10.

All 3 comps make all the kids do triple science?!

Exactly. Thank you for this. I thought I was going mad.

I also don't believe comps making everyone do 3 science GCSEs or maths & stats either. It would be ridiculous for lower ability pupils. (I can imagine they might make them available or even mandate for higher ability though.)

I don't believe the 3 sciences simply for lack of teachers and timetable space! The amount of content in that is insane and there's a reason only some kids do it. It often involves lots of after school sessions or going at the speed of light. 'lower ability' often just means slower processing.
Stats is the only one I can believe, it was compulsory at my DDs state school even though she was a very low ability EHCP pupil. She actually found stats easier than maths.

Those are good grades, I don't get the issue?

I’ve checked 2 and they expect the majority of students to do triple science. But one doesn’t do stats, but does make them do a MFL.

The third says a combination of triple science and combined.

so that’s ours that does, one that fully expects it and the other does offer both.

I did say that some children won’t do triple, but it is expected.

I did 11 GCSEs my husband did and the school my children go to does 11 so no, I didn’t think it was that unusual.

Happy to be told it is.

Those are not bad grades for someone who has missed a lot of school and has had medical issues. The main issue as I'd see it is school forcing her to dilute attention on too many subjects. 10 is plenty. 9 or even 8 would be enough. She should drop at least one and focus on getting the grades up on the others. Many universities look at the best 8 GCSEs so the extra three are not adding much - kids should only be taking more than 8 if they're heading for 8's and 9's.

Screw what school say - they can't physically force her to sit an exam.

For biology, https://www.mrexham.com/ is worth a look. Lots of free resources and revision courses. With a bit of a push, it should be possible to get biology up to at least a 7.

It is very unusual to do 11, as per @MrsAvocet’s link above.

It is necessary to take both English language and literature to cover the national curriculum for English at KS4. Single award combined English went years ago.

I know, I said I was happy to be told it was. My original comment was made before I’d seem that.

My point was I didn’t have any particular reason to think it was unusual as I explained.

I didn’t know about the English thing, but for at least one of my children, doing triple science is much more preferable to having to do Eng Lit. I have nothing against it as I chose it myself as an option but it certainly doesn’t appeal to all. This is where a one size fits all approach doesn’t always work but of course there are constraints regarding timetabling etc.

It’s not so much ‘one size fits all’ as ‘universal basic education covering the major domains of knowledge across a range of subjects’ but sure.

It’s a rare child who likes all of their GCSE subjects equally. IME everyone celebrates dropping at least one detested subject post-16.

It was more usual to do a higher number in the past @Tulipvase
My children all went to the same school but the eldest did 11 GCSEs, middle one 10 and youngest 9. And my nephews and nieces who are a bit older than my children so did modular GCSEs did 12 or 13. Lots of schools reduced numbers when there was a return to more traditional exams, and again with the introduction of the more demanding syllabi a few years ago. My DC's school like many others dropped one subject to allow more slots for maths and english in the timetable.If I recall rightly, my youngest had maths and english virtually every day in years 11 and 12 which was definitely more than my older 2 had.
Obviously it's not universal and some schools do still do more subjects, but it's far less common than it used to be. The rationale our school's Head gave is that it's better to have fewer subjects but at better grades and that as most Universities only look at a pupil's best 8 grades there's no huge value in doing much more than that. However 9 allows a bit of leeway in case they have a weaker subject or just have a bad day in one exam without making the overall workload excessive. That perhaps explains why 8 and 9 are the two most widely entered number currently.

Ive got 11. Took 10 at once but only got 2A 7B 1C then later did a lang and got A*.
The C was because it was my weakest subject. I guess i would have chosen not to do RE.

I guess the issue is often not the number of subjects but having to do compulsory obes that you arent as good as as what you might have chosen.
I did sciences with my Bs and it was too hard... But certsinly previously you need a very very good memory as so much material.

When DD took her GCSEs triple science took up one option. The pupils taking double science (as it was then called) had four other options to choose from and the triple science students had three options to choose from, so they had more science lessons than the double science pupils.

It was quite normal to do 11+ GCSEs under the old curriculum. Since the changes Gove made though, it increased the volume of work massively. The curriculum is way more packed so it's really uncommon to do 11 now! The norm is 8/9.

Well aren’t my children the lucky ones then!

9 is usual. You’d only do 11 if it included triple science and Ad maths

I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic lol but combined science is perfectly fine for A Levels and I think a much better option for most kids. The amount of actual exam papers they sit now is so much more than before, and the exams are long. Anything to lessen the load is good. Quality over quantity anyday.