Dropping science GCSE, good idea?

[Year11educationchoices]

Posted with a different topic before.

DS who is in year 10 is studying towards UAL level 2 diploma and struggling with the amount of written work; this diploma is equivalent to 4 GCSE and is either a pass or fail

He needs 4 GCSE for what he wants to do next including English and Maths passs. He is struggling with maths and just scoring a pass in English.

I am thinking he should drop science so he can focus on the diploma and English and Maths. He is actually doing ok at science but won’t be doing anything that requires science in the future.

I don’t think dropping the diploma is a good option as this is the main part of his studies.

But with science being a core subject in the curriculum would it be allowed?

if hes better in science surely its better to do that, if hes struggling in english & maths he might not end up with a GCSE in those? Go for his better subjects.

Have you discussed with the college what his options are?

Does he actually like the diploma and would he like to continue in this direction in the future? Because if not, it's not a particularly important qualification.

I would keep English, Maths and the subjects he likes / is good at - if that means dropping the diploma, then so be it (if the college will allow it - it may not).

Also - look into Functional Skills English and Maths. I think you can pay yourself for him to sit those (if the college won't allow it) and if he passes, it won't be such a catastrophe if he doesn't pass the GCSEs.

Thank you.

I honestly don’t know what to do or advice him to do.

I think he will give a chance to the diploma and see if he passes the next units; if not then I guess the decision will be made for him and he will have to drop the diploma.

The school allowed him to drop the optional so he is doing the diploma, English and science

If he doesn’t pass English and Maths he will have to resit in college and do a lower qualification

Probably not? But I guess he can continue with lessons but not put too much energy on it and don’t sit the exams?

I just realised there are 6 GCSE papers for science too 🥲

Can he do a single science? Is this an option?

This whole GCSE is going over my head.

No clue what functional skills are, will have at look

I know someone who was allowed to drop two sciences and just sit one. I think he did biology. There is no easy option but one is obviously less work than 3.
That means doing a single science of Triple science, so it is still a lot of work, but if he is good at science, then one is better than three.
(combined science would be two GCSEs but, yes, 6 papers!)

And of course, there is a Foundation paper, so that is also easier.

I think he is doing foundation but that means 2 chemistry, 2 biology, 2 physics papers?

I am honestly so lost on this GCSE. Why is it called double science if they are doing 3 sciences?

Do they need to pass all papers to get 2 GCSE?

Why is science even compulsory if you are not persuing a science related degree? Or even A levels?

If he doesn't sit the exams he will still be entered for the qualification and then he will get U grades for it. You would need to get the school to agree to withdraw him altogether. Which is unlikely I think.

It’s called Double because you study the equivalent of two GCSEs worth of content, which is made up of biology, chemistry and physics.

I feel so ignorant; after a year of DS doing his diploma I just understood how it works and I still can’t grasp this whole GCSES

You mean an U in Science? He will still get an U if he sits the papers and fails them. ?

Yes, I mean if he doesn’t sit the science papers, as in, he just doesn’t turn up for the science exams, he will get Us for the Double Science grades.

What is his current predicted grade for Science?

So you either pass or fail 2 GCSE for science? There is not such a thing as you scored enough for 1 GCSE pass in science?

And you have to pass all 6 papers to get the 2 GCSE passes?

You can probably guess I didn’t grow up here

You get two grades for double science based on an average of all of the papers.

So you can get 4-4 or 4-3 or 5-4 but you can't get 4-2, the grades are adjacent.

Target: 44
WAG: 55
MLG: 44

English is at 4

And maths is a fail at the moment: 3

You need to get an overall mark, let's say 200 to get 4 4. You can get that across any papers, so 100 each in physics and 0 in biology/chemistry (unlikely).

I guess if you got 4 3 that's one pass?

Double science is actually a nickname for Combined Science. So a cobination of Physics, chemistry and biology and you get two grades.

Some students do Triple Science which is a nickname for Separate science GCSE's. You study each subject separately and get 3 individual grades, so for separate science it is possible to pass for example Physicsm but fail Biology.

Schools also get jusged on something called Progress 8 so the league tables are done according to each student's best 8 GCSEs. English and maths are worth double for Progress 8 and then students also have to have at least two sciences that are part of Progress 8. Hence it is unlikely they will be allowed to drop science.

Don’t think of the individual science exam papers as pass or fail. All the marks a student gets from each science paper are combined to give the overall total mark. You then get a double grade, so you wouldn’t ever get a single grade awarded for double science. The double grades go from 1-1 up to 9-9. They all are considered Pass grades, but a 4-4 is the level you need as a minimum to take that subject on at the next level of education, although many places want higher than that.

getting a 3 in maths will mean he can resit maths GCSE in college, it's not a 'fail' more like a near pass. If he gets a 2 in maths or doesn't take it then he's likely to need 2 more years to get the maths in college. Depending upon where in the UK he is, he will need to continue taking maths and english at college until he achieves a grade 4 or gets to 19 years of age. I would suggest he carries on with the diploma plus English maths and science. it's not wasted learning even if he doesn't get the 4s he hopes for in them all. e.g. a very near miss of grade 4 Maths or english might mean he's considered suitable for a November resit in college. There's usually no way to resit a science GCSE in college unless he enrolls as an adult learner and does GCSE Biology for instance (this is the most likely available science GCSE offered to adults as it's needed for nursing/health degrees).

Will see how he gets on with the diploma portfolios until the end of this school year and if he passes the units; otherwise I will approach the school to see what his options are.

Dropping the Diploma or failing an unit: he will be unable to continue with the rest of it and unable to participate in the practical work/work shops. It is also the main part of the course equivalent to 4 GCSE.

Dropping Science: probably not allowed as it is a core subject/ compulsory by the government