Entering GCSEs Early

Discussion and advice on GCSEs

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Rainbow Petals
Posts: 88
Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2013 11:02 pm

Entering GCSEs Early

Post by Rainbow Petals »

Hi there,

My brother's school wants to enter him early for some GCSEs. He is currently in year 8 so I guess he would be sitting them in year 9. What effect will this have on his application when he is applying to university? I know that with A-levels, some universities only accept them if they were completed in a two year period rather than having them done early or taking more than two years to complete them.
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Re: Entering GCSEs Early

Post by Guest55 »

The grade he gets will be looked at so beware! No allowance will be made that he is young.

Ofsted now includes 'early entry' as a focus and the research shows poor outcomes. Why are they entering them so early?
Kingfisher
Posts: 416
Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2012 7:08 pm

Re: Entering GCSEs Early

Post by Kingfisher »

The DfE really does think this is a mistake. Of course, there are some children who could get an A* as early as Year 8, but this is not the case for almost all children. Even the top schools in the country do not sit GCSEs early - what would be the point? I would virtually NEVER advise it.

This is from the introduction to the publication:

'The main argument against early entry is that statistically, early entry candidates perform worse overall than those who do not enter early, even when taking account of resits (see below for precise figures). This suggests that some students are being entered for GCSEs before they are ready. Also, candidates could be ‘banking’ their grade as soon as they get C or above and as a result not achieve their full potential.'

The link for the DfE document is here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... -RR208.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
moved
Posts: 3826
Joined: Fri Oct 12, 2007 1:42 pm
Location: Chelmsford and pleased

Re: Entering GCSEs Early

Post by moved »

While, I'm not a fan it can work for the odd one here and there. DS had four by the end of yr10 and it did mean that entry into competitive sixth form was almost guaranteed. He also did well in the early entries as there was little else to concentrate on.
Amber
Posts: 8058
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:59 am

Re: Entering GCSEs Early

Post by Amber »

No. Just no.
moved
Posts: 3826
Joined: Fri Oct 12, 2007 1:42 pm
Location: Chelmsford and pleased

Re: Entering GCSEs Early

Post by moved »

Most parents don't have the choice. I just wish it wasn't all so certificate driven. What happened to learning for enrichment/enjoyment. Perhaps we need to start a petition to do away with GCSEs.
UmSusu
Posts: 1015
Joined: Mon Feb 14, 2011 2:42 pm
Location: Birmingham

Re: Entering GCSEs Early

Post by UmSusu »

So do you have to declare all exams sat on university applications then? How would they know if you fail to disclose an exam taken in year 8 or 9? Would it be the school that tells them?

I am generally against pushing for early GCSEs as an education is about more than grades and IMO it is possible for most children to sit them early if we stripped away everything but the essentials to pass. But we are in a similar predicament too: DS is in Year 7 and should be taking his Arabic GCSE in the summer as this is now the next step in the weekend school he attends. It would be silly to withdraw him and wait until he is older but I don't want to push him for a top grade when he is doing this course for cultural reasons as much as anything else.
UmSusu
KS10
Posts: 2516
Joined: Sun Mar 07, 2010 12:39 am

Re: Entering GCSEs Early

Post by KS10 »

DS did GCSE Islamic Studies (Edexcel) in Years 8 and 9. The Sunday School made a mistake and entered him in Year 8 because they assumed he was in Year 9. DS begged me not to say anything because he reckoned he'd be able to leave SS a year early (he was right). We decided to be relatively relaxed about it and hoped he would see exactly how much work was required to get a decent grade. It worked to an extent as he was able to improve upon the grade he achieved after the first year. However, the improvement only came about after several heated discussions about who knew more about how to pass exams. He eventually accepted that we knew better. Not so relaxed after all!

Not sure that DD will be doing the exam. I wouldn't want to disadvantage her. We'll make that decision nearer the time. I'm quite happy for her to cover the syllabus and not do the exam if that is what she wishes.
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Re: Entering GCSEs Early

Post by Guest55 »

It is quite clear on the form that all GCSE/GCE results have to be declared. If you leave any out then your application and any subsequent offers will be removed.

Every pupil has a unique reference number so applications can be checked.

You have to give permission if your child is not in Year 11 so just refuse!
Samlet
Posts: 306
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2011 10:18 am

Re: Entering GCSEs Early

Post by Samlet »

Can you just refuse? That would be great (I have no problem in being awkward).

But I have always had the impression from parents I know that they were given no choice by the school.
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