If your DC is sitting 12 or more GCSEs this summer...

[FirstDaysOfSpring]

Did they choose to do this or is it school policy?

Could they opt out at this stage if they wanted to?

Not many people do this tbh. Last year 390 people sat 12 or more GCSEs.

For context, 189,285 sat nine (the most popular number).

Why would they? I thought this kind of stuff went out of fashion decades ago!

The only ones I know doing this at my DD school have done this through choice. Most of the year group take 10 (some may do less if they are doing some other kind of qualification alongside GCSE). But, as we are in London, many sit a community language in the language that they speak at home, so most of those kids get 11. Plus there is an option to take Latin, but it's taught as an after school club so only a small proportion (less than 20%) took it in Y7-9 and even fewer selected to take it to GCSE. So in theory you could get 12 and my daughter knows someone taking 12 - but she speaks another language at home (both parents from that country) and chose to take Latin club and continue to GCSE.

Many DC sitting that number may be doing:

A home language such as Urdu or polish where they can drop out anytime

Further maths gcse which is generally optional and taught after school or before school and where they can drop out anytime

Or statistics gcse (same deal)

11 plus FSMQ. 9 as standard, triple instead of combined science as top set. Additional language before and after school by choice (not home language). Those taking home language usually do that in year 10. FSMQ is optional for top set maths but taught within normal lesson time.

Thank you for your answers. I was feeling a bit like people didn't want to answer but maybe it's because people don't have DC doing 12 or more.

My DC is due to take 12. Most take 10, which includes RE. DC is not taking an exam in RE but is doing separate sciences and Statistics and Further Maths.

MFL is compulsory (EBacc pressure on schools from government)

I have asked for them not to be entered for MFL as there is such a lot of it and it now seems like a test of memory. School understandably have said no as it would open the floodgates to others.

I still feel that 12 is too many but I don't think there is anything I can do.

DC is simply good at maths and average at everything else. They have hobbies and also like a bit of time to just chill. They have been revising with a sensible plan since the start of the year.

Ds did 12 and it is quite a lot I feel. Personally I do not think it gave him any long term benefits. He was very academic but went on to only do 3 A levels as he saw no reason to push himself to do 4.

maybe it's because people don't have DC doing 12 or more.

Yes this. Literally just a few hundred ppl so there’s a pretty low chance they will see your thread.

I suspect there isn’t much you can do tbh. Tho I dispute the MFL GCSE is just a memory test. You need to learn vocab and grammar but then you need to apply it in the exam.

It's unfortunate by the sound of it that your ds couldn’t drop one option to do the extra maths. If most do 10 inc RE but not three science GCSEs (I infer) then there must be four option subjects yes? Even if you have to take MFL and history/geog that still leaves two. Bit odd of the school not to make it possible for stats to be one of those. Is he in year 11 now? If so then yes bit late to do much.

The extra maths ones are usually offered to top set and do not take any additional teaching time. I've never heard of them being actual options,

Schools hate students dropping (timetabled) gcses as the student has to go somewhere and be supervised and it takes up an additional adults time.

Agreed but imho if it leads to a student taking 12 GCSEs then the school should try to flex something. Just bc 12 is sooooo much work

I dont know anyone taking 12 in one go. One of mine might end up taking 12 overall but two of those, maths and statistics, will be taken in year 10. So 10 GCSEs taken in year 11.

If it's too much they might be able to opt out of the statistics and further maths (just do them in class, but not have to worry about the exams)? 12 is a ridiculous number.

I know plenty of children who have just dropped MFL, and further maths is always optional at my DDs school. I would push for dropping MFL if maths is his thing. I think the stats GCSE is very easy for top sets, so that shouldn’t add any stress.

Thank you for everyone's replies. It's really helpful.

I swing between it does matter/doesn't matter.

DC has had the benefit of excellent French lessons. However, now that all subjects need to be revised in full, there is a lot to fit in and spending time revising French leaves less time for other subjects and downtime (compared to DC taking 9/10 GCSEs). It would be better for DC to say thanks for the education but no thanks for an exam certificate.

But, as the school have offered this broad curriculum should DC feel obliged to sit the exam (and tick an EBacc box) now they've had the teaching as a payback to the school?

Or am I getting weird about this 😄

I have come to realise that GCSE grades cannot in any way be compared fairly as every student has a completely different experience and I can conclude that my DC really is not hard done by... unless I am reading threads about universities wanting strings of 9s (just shortish strings of 8/9! 😂) when I think but my DC is doing 12!

DS3 did 13. My other kids did 9/10 each. Not coincidentally, his were the lowest results.

Hey @FirstDaysOfSpring trouble is if you are suggesting he could not work for or maybe not even turn up for the exams for (eg) MFL, that grade of 1/2/3 or U or X will be on his exam certificate and he has to declare it. That's unless the school agrees to withdraw him from the exam – not sure without checking whether the date for that has passed.

Or am I misunderstanding? apols if so. Tbh it sounds like a difficult situation as frankly the chances are that he will do less well overall taking 12 exams than people who take 9 or 10. But in fairness, he doesn't need all grade 9s for anything. No university requires that, I promise. Just make sure he is supported (in whatever way needed) to do his best.

I know a few students who did 12 but all sat at least one in Y10. There really just aren't benefits to it and colleges and universities aren't encouraging it. Most indies don't encourage it for their GCSE students now either.

However... sitting an exam and revising for an exam are not one and the same. Refusing to sit MFL is probably a wasted battle with the school at this stage but how much time and energy he spends preparing for it is up to him (with guidance from you). I know quite a few students who have benefitted from agreeing on a "just sit the exam and don't bother about the score" approach to one of their GCSEs for strategic reasons. If there's no need for a specific score in that subject for his 16+ plans, he doesn't have any intention pursuing it at A level or university, and he's likely to have at least 8-9 strong passes in one sitting then realistically that 12th exam is just wasted time that is only going to take away from other subjects.

Not all teens can embrace that approach but if they're able to it can be a useful lesson in allocation of resources to get the most out of them. If you're willing to broach it, talk about it in terms of his time, energy and mental space being a finite resource and choosing to spend them in the areas that he'll benefit most from. High achieving students often really benefit from learning this - I wish it hadn't taken me until my graduate degree (and a few near breakdowns) to figure it out.

We are in wales and my eldest 2 did

Maths
Maths numeracy
English
English Lit
Welsh
Skills challenge (part of welsh bacc)
Chemistry
Biology
Physics

they then choose 3 other options
DS did Spanish, Geography and Computer Science.
DD did Design Tech, Media studies and Art

DS also did Further maths (he took both maths GCSEs in year 10)

the lower sets only do double science instead of triple and also don’t do Eng Lit

so here it varies between 10-13 GCSEs

Mine both did/are doing 12. Tbh I'm not that keen, and I suspect older one's grades would have been marginally better if he'd done 10 or 11. But both DC are adamant that they want to do all the subjects - no pressure at all from the school - and ultimately it's not just about the grades.

I think it depends on the timetabling and how many exams on each day and how well spread out etc. I never allowed mine to do more than 11 GCSEs in one sitting. One DC did far more, but in earlier years. Also did multiple Grade 8 ABRSM exams and diplomas, but I insisted they are spread out, in a reasonable manner. What you do not want is 3 days of exams in a row, morning and afternoon sittings.

At my dc1 school it’s possible to do 12 GCSEs because they everyone does PE but you can take it as a GCSE if you want to do that, and if you are assigned triple science (top two sets) you end up with 12 GCSEs .

RE is always taken in Y10 so they only sit 11 in the summer of y11.

it’s a state comprehensive .

I don’t see the benefit of 12 and dc has reluctantly agreed not to do gcse PE so will only do 11 in total (sitting ten in summer of y11). Some friends have opted for the full 12!

I asked if dc could drop one of the options so could squeeze in PE instead but was told not possible.

My dc works so hard and is currently hitting 8s and 9s across the board but I don’t know if the workload is sustainable (as one option dc chose is Art which is so labour intensive!) I’m quite scared for the next few years of hard labour .

I asked this as I knew two people who have done 12 recently (at Grade 9 no less so I was thinking this was standard 🤣) and every school we saw said limit to 9-10 even with high performing top 1% of kids. Oxbridge are happy with 9-10 and better to take 10 and get Grade 9s than 12 and get Grade 7.

My DS took 13, and it was a lot, since they were all academic subjects and we don't have a second cultural language. The numbers racked up because he was doing a couple of triples and a couple of doubles. We were conscious it might prove too much and kept his wellbeing under review, and in the end his results were fine.

Can’t they just put no effort into MFL? I mean go there in body but not in spirit and coast? They might have to sit but but they can’t be forced to care.

@Araminta1003 makes a very good point. My DC did 11 GCSEs in one sitting and, during the exam weeks, there were very few days days without exams and quite a few with two exams a day; so your DC needs to be ready for that. There is usually the half term break as a 'pause' and that needs to be used strategically to regroup.