Physics GCSE: how hard is it?

[Thepeopleversuswork]

My DD wants to change from biology to physics GCSE -- she's in the first term of year 10. The school is fine with it provided she does the required catch-up work and they feel she will be able to manage it. She primarily wants to change because she did much better in year 9 exams in physics than she did in biology. She's moderately interested in sciences but not doing all three and looking to do them at A-level so its purely from the perspective of her wanting to get the best GCSE grades possible.

I'm just looking for experiences from others whose kids may have done physics. I did physics GCSE and found it very hard, and anecdotally others have said the same. DD is OK at science but not particularly strong at maths. My concern is that the maths element of it will suddenly ramp up and that she will struggle as she gets into the curriculum.

Welcome any thoughts!

Why isn't she doing all 3?

I'm confused by this. Is it in the UK?

DD did all three sciences and her best grade was physics - however her maths is very strong (she doesn't like it, but she just gets it). Her school wouldn't have allowed her to drop any sciences though, they either do combined science or three separate sciences.

That question is like asking how long is a piece of string.

Some people can do it as if it were totally trivial whereas others find it really tough.

The actual mathematical element of GCSE isn’t hard at all. Where people find it hard is either the parameterising of words into equations, or the longer written answers.

If she is bad at maths because of a mental block, she should probably go for it. But if she finds logical structure hard, that could be a problem .

I’m surprised she is only taking one science, that seems very unusual as they normally either do double combined or triple single sciences.

If she isn’t strong at maths, physics may not be the best choice - from my son who is very good at maths and physics and just did GCSEs, he says part of why he does so well at physics is he can pick up a lot of marks on the calculations. He says physics is more applying what you know rather than just learning facts.

Sorry realised I have probably confused people with a critical typo. She is not planning to do science A level.

@twistyizzy she didn’t want to do all three.

In England you have to study all three.

this is not the case in Northern Ireland. Not sure about wales.

op, physics gcse is much more mathsy than biology. Biology needs you to memorise more. What’s her maths like?

I thought that they had to do either dual or triple science though? And dual covers all 3.
Are you in Scotland/Wales?

You don’t have to study all three in England.

I’m in England. My DD’s school allows them to not do all three.

Nope. Private school if relevant.

OK but still surprising

Biology has more content and more to remember. Physics is (for most people) more conceptually difficult. If she has a good memory she'll probably find biology easier.

Wow I assumed everyone did all 3!

@twistyizzy- lots of private schools don’t make you do all 3

If she’s not keen on maths and doesn’t want to do science A levels I would stick with Biology

Unless she likes maths stick with Biology.

My apologies. Let me be more clear.

private schools in any area of the U.K. can do what the hell they want.

Scotland state schools do not do GCSEs Scotland has it’s own system of national and higher/advanced higher qualifications.

England, Wales and Northern Ireland state schools use GCSEs and in English state schools you have to study all three sciences at either dual award or triple award. Not everyone sits the GCSEs as some students sit entry level science instead which incorporates all three sciences

I guess it explains how private schools massage their results

The problem is @Thepeopleversuswork it's a "how long is a piece of string" question and you would be better off talking to the teachers who know her.

DS finds it easy and fascinating and is breezing through it and reading all around the subject for fun. But DS is not your DD, so that answer is irrelevant.

I’ve known students at private school drop a GCSE science. A friend’s dd didn’t take chemistry.

In state schools it’s unheard of hence people’s confusion.

As to your question @Thepeopleversusworkwho can say? Ds2 got 9 in bio, 7 in chem and 8 in physics, the latter much to his surprise (issues in KS4 physics, poor teacher, class behaviour). Suspect the GBs are often lower. Ds was mathsy tho, took maths A level.

What do her teachers say? Surely they have the best steer.

My Y11 daughter is doing triple science with Chemistry being her favourite by far and Physics her least favourite. She says Biology is just memorising a lot whereas Physics has more Maths (but they are given the formulas so it's not that hard to learn the Maths).

All the GCSE's are imo at very similar difficulty levels, a handful of outliers such as further maths & maybe PE being the main exceptions.