DS got combined science not separate. Is it going to at least be a lot less revision?

[Bewt]

Ds y9 found out last week he has been given combined science rather than separate.The school decide. There’s probably about 90 doing separate so about 1/3.
DS is upset. The assessments are pretty crap though because theres, just lots of mini tests. They dont want to do chem/phys alevel anyway but could maybe do biology. It would have meant 10 gcses too.
ive known they were borderline because i could tell from reports.

My issues -
now the kid is stuck in sets 4-8 or so which could mean very slow pace or lower grades as theyve creamed off the higher achievers. You effectively now cant move up.
With combined its 2 of pretty much the same grade so doesnt allow for being better at 1/2 subjects. I feel its going to put pressure on to bring up the worse subjects when he may have been ok with getting say 5 on physics. Current grades in everything are behind targets. Science current 6 target 7.

Science does seem very content heavy
I think i feel a bit sad in that a 7 in say biology could have been one of their top grades. However worse is they wont accept its the lack of effort that is the cause.
i do think its been quite unclear what marks to aim for or that they needed to work harder as by the time we got the report at least most of the tests were done.

Will it at least be the easier work and a lot less content?

There will be less content, certainly. That will either mean lessons are slower paced, there is more time to revise once the content is taught, or there is more time to really practise things in lessons.

For example, my Combined Science class might spend a whole lesson on finding the molecular formula. My Separates will do molecular, empirical and a practical in lesson, with questions set as homework.

If you know which exam board your DS will do you can compare the content.

The grades are worked out by adding up the 6 papers. There are just 17 grade boundaries instead of 9. So if DS is great at Bio, that will pull up less good Chemistry marks. You can still do A level sciences with a decent grade at combined, usually 7-7 or higher.

I think your making a big deal over it. My dd does tripple and it takes up a hell of a lot of her timetable. You have to really love it, the teachers were actually trying to put them off doing tripple! They said you don't need tripple to do A level science either and you can easily catch up if you get good grades in double. In her school it took up an option so surely your son will get another GCSE in another subject? It's not really going to make a difference in thier long term future is it. If I were you I'd play it down. Son you will be fine, try your best. The end.

Combined is about 2/3 of 3 separate sciences. The good subjects pull up the poor one just as much as a poor subject pulls down the good.

DD has jyst finished Yr10. There was a reshuffle in October between the Science sets as some were not coping in Separate.

They go fast since its 3 Gcses in 6hrs of lessons a week.

I have actively encouraged my daughter to do combined rather than triple as it is less content and as said above, you can still do A level sciences without doing triple.

That's one GCSE less so what subject is he doing instead? My DD opted for combined as she wanted to do other subjects more for options. They moved her from set 1 to set 2 as apparently only combined in set 1 but there's no reason for combined to be only set 4-8 unless that's where he has been assessed as being for other reasons. Speak to school for the truth about why he has been moved. If there's not a capability issue he should either be allowed to do triple science or pick another GCSE otherwise he is one down and at a disadvantage compared to his peers.

The school choose as its bot using an option - in same hours whether separate or combined so yes will go fast.
The separate will be top 3 sets. Not sure if the rest will be set at all.
He will still have 9 gcses.
looking at the info it does say even if you get to start separate they still drop some kids down if not coping next year. (Which would obviously be worse).

Out of 4 DC’s only one has got into triple science, and it’s not the one who went to a super selective grammar school!
The one who went to the grammar school got streamed into combined, got a 99 at GCSE and went on to do physics at A-level. The youngest only chose triple because there wasn’t another subject he wanted to study.

Basically it doesn’t mean much whichever one they do!

Yes there is less content. If he’s not on target in year 9 it wasn’t likely he’d get it and honestly if he’s not planning on Chem/Phys a level it really doesn’t matter.

doing it in the teaching time for 2 GCSEs is fairly pressured.

It doesn’t matter that much, some schools only do combined anyway.
They will be fine to do biology A level as long as they get at least 66 - ideally 77 but if school know he has consistently done better in biology and doesn’t want to do Chem/Phys a 6 in combined would be ok.
This might be a good way to get them to focus on science too, to try and aim for the 7.
9 GCSEs is fine too, 9 at 6+ would be better than 10 with lower grades.

My DD did combined science GCSE, then Biology A'level amongst others.

She then did a genetics degree and masters achieving a 1st class honours from a Russel Group uni. Unless you want to be a doctor you don't need it - at least that is what we were told. We were also told that doing triple can easily bring you down a grade in each subject. DD got 8/8. Glad she did combined.

My DS asked to switch and got it as other DC wanted to swop the other way. Worth an ask l

I'd spin it positively. A good chance to really get to know the content and maybe come out 7 7 instead of 6 6 5 (for example).
At DC school it was their own choice to do Triple or Combined (triple took up an option choice) and any that didn't choose it but wanted to do an A Level were just told to actually do the summer bridging work and they'd be fine!

I guess if someone was intent on doing physics, chemistry AND maths A Level, I might look into it more.

My understanding is that some schools allow triple science to be chosen as an option. They therefore get the time allowed for double science and the time allowed for an option to cover the content.
Others schools decide from results which they think are capable of triple science. Those children are probably covering the content of the 3 gcses in the same time as the others are doing double award. There is more pressure to get through content, so it is not just ability, but the pace in which they can get through the material to factor in.
You have referred to a slower pace or lower achievers, but have the school said whether those doing double science can still be entered to the higher level paper?

Some children may be good at the subject, but just need to work at a slower pace. Just because they have not been chosen for triple science, doesn't mean they can't achieve good grades in double science.

I may be wrong, but thought the difficulty was the same, but triple covered extra content, which could be extra topics or could be they go into more depth on some topics.

The difficulty is the same, it is just more topics (not more depth on the same topics).

Doing triple in the same time as combined is a big ask.