Single science GCSE ?

[Tanthi]

My son will start Y10 in Sept and he has autism spectrum and slow processing but is in a mainstream school where he gets mostly average marks with the help of extra time awards in exams. He really struggles with Biology and Chemistry. He is not sure what he wants to do in future but leaning towards Maths and Economics as A level options. He originally chose Chemistry and Physics at GCSE but generally gets 7s or Cs for Chemistry so I suggested he drop Chemistry in favour of History where he tends to score well. I'm wondering if this was a good idea now. Really don't want to disadvantage him but also realise he has learning difficulties so want him to do subjects he has the best chances in. Am I doing the right thing? Will we regret not choosing two sciences? Would love some advice!

I'm puzzled. Isn't a 7 the equivalent of an A?

In sciences a 7 or higher is generally required to progress to A level.

Which does your ds enjoy most?

7 is not a C. It’s a high B. Does he like history? What’s he thinking post A levels?

7 is not a C?

He doesn't sound like he has LDs if he's getting 7s as he enters GCSEs!

7 is a low A

Is he able to choose individual sciences? I've never heard of this at GCSE. I thought the options were Single, Double or Triple science across the board.

7 is technically an A isnt it? Or the upper range can be. Weird post. Let him do what he enjoys. 7s at this point is more than fine.

7 is an A or very-high-B and is excellent
8 is A🔅
9 is A🔅🔅

6 is a low-to-middle B and is still adequate for A level study

5 is a high C
4 is a low C/high D

I had to reread your post to check that he wasn’t at a grammar where 7 would be common.

His reports for each subject give a number (GCSE projection) and letter (current grade) for each subject so I assumed they were the same thing. He doesn't know what he wants to do beyond school yet. He definitely has learning needs according to his Educational Psychology report!

It sounds like he's doing far better than you realise 7 is an A and an excellent grade

Let him do what he's interested in and stop interfering

It's quite unusual to allow students to take separate sciences in England/Wales - are you somewhere else? As others have said 7, is a good grade, and I think you need to understand what the school report actually means as it sounds like you are very unsure. If he was struggling with particular subjects I'd expect school to have flagged it ahead of reports.

I thought kids had to take either dual science or triple? There wasn't an option to just take one standalone science at our school. I think you need to ask the school further clarification on the 7/C thing.

Afaik, generally only independent schools taking GCSEs allow sciences to be taken as anything other than a 'package' (or Scottish schools, but then they would be National 5s, not GCSEs).

But if the OP's DS is going into year 10, he has chosen his GCSEs already and the school must be allowing what he has chosen.

My son is going into y11 in a small independent school and is only doing physics. He hated biology so was keen to drop that, then when the gcse choices happened he was keen to do both music and drama as aiming possibly for a performing arts degree so he dropped chemistry (the school offers separate science GCSEs, not the double/triple science thing). It has been fine and he is definitely doing better in drama than he would have in chemistry, however he was absolutely sure that he wasn’t going to do further studies in a stem subject. The only thing is that if he were to want to do primary school teaching later on (which he did look into towards the end of year 10) then he needs at least one decent science and possibly having only physics might disadvantage him.

He’s not even started y10. I’d just wait and see. A lot can change!!

I would advise keeping his current choices. A level Physics could be a good option following the GCSE and he may regret dropping GCSE Chemistry if this limits A level options later.

Just wanted to add that, should he want to study physics at A-level, it will be harder without GCSE combined science or chemistry. For example, the thermal physics topic requires knowledge of moles which is not in GCSE physics.

I would start by getting the report clarified. He is just going into GCSEs so if the grades are “current level/potential with effort” then 7 is fine. Or perhaps they are effort and attainment or something.

It is odd to mix a number and a letter!

The independent school in the next city only does single sciences. It meant that my friend's DS had to stay on at his school for A levels because he wanted to take biology A level and the 6th form college he wanted to apply to said he couldn't study it if he hadn't done chemistry at GCSE.

With slow processing and a 7 in Chemistry I would encourage him to stick with Chem over History. It will keep science doors open for him and it combines well with Physics. Plus the processing load is high for History, with sources to read and evaluate under exam conditions and more expectations of bigger chunks of writing. Chem has smaller questions, is easier to structure revision for and has a lower processing demand in the exam, in my daughter's experience. She much prefers History! But it demanded more of her.

ETA of course everyone's different and SEN is a very good reason to have an unusual mix of subjects. Playing to his strengths is important. Also maybe consider him dropping both, if school can accommodate.

No, they're not the same thing. In key stage 3 (year 7-9) every school has its own grading system, some better than others. It sounds like yours hasn't been well explained - maybe check the school website or past email comms for an explanation, or ask other parents.

In England, GCSE science is a "core" National Curriculum subject in mainstream schools, meaning that it is usually compulsory. It can only be done as a double option (covering all three sciences) or a triple option (3 separate sciences). So it isn't possible to drop Chemistry. Of course, he could not turn up for the Chemistry exams - that's different - but I don't think that's what you were suggesting.

I am presuming that he is either at an independent school or in Northern Ireland as in a state school in England and wales what you describe is not possible.

If he is interested in maths then a fairly standard set of a levels is maths, further maths, physics. This is because physics a level overlaps maths a level (the mechanics options). It is therefore a good idea if he is thinking of doing maths a level to do at least physics gcse otherwise there will be a whole section of questions he will not have the foundation for.

Given you are talking about dropping sciences I am presuming he's not planning on doing the standard set of stem a levels -bio chem physics and maths.

If he's leaning towards the numerate humanities - maths/economics/business studies/history etc then which sciences he takes don't matter except that he should do physics because it's in a level maths