Number of GCSE's

Eleven Plus (11+) in Birmingham, Walsall, Wolverhampton and Wrekin

Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators

11 Plus Platform - Online Practice Makes Perfect - Try Now
booellesmum
Posts: 611
Joined: Mon Jul 27, 2015 7:44 am

Re: Number of GCSE's

Post by booellesmum »

Daogroupie wrote:What board do they use? Or are they all different? DG
DD in year 10 at SCGSG:
English, Chemistry, French, D&T - AQA
Maths, Physics - Edexcel
Biology, Computer Science, History - OCR

So bit of a mix!
Moonsun
Posts: 116
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2016 2:03 pm

Re: Number of GCSE's

Post by Moonsun »

Does that not include PE and PSHE which is mentioned on their sixth form website ?
kenyancowgirl
Posts: 6738
Joined: Mon Oct 21, 2013 8:59 pm

Re: Number of GCSE's

Post by kenyancowgirl »

Students don’t usually take a GCSE in PSHE and PE is usually an option at GCSE (although required as part of the curriculum for everyone)
Worried_Adult
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Sep 02, 2018 7:40 pm

Re: Number of GCSE's

Post by Worried_Adult »

MSD wrote:
Worried_Adult wrote:My son is at HGS and he is doing 12 GCSEs.
Worried_adult, is that a standard set they offer with all children taking it?
They have 8 compulsory and they pick an extra 3 which is 11 (including triple science). The top 15 from the year also take further maths, which accounts to 12.
walidal
Posts: 32
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2018 2:33 am

Re: Number of GCSE's

Post by walidal »

Things were so different in the late 70s. I only have 4 O levels to my name from a local college (Maths, Additional Maths, Statistics and Physics). This allowed me to join my A level classes (Maths, Further Maths and Physics) and obtained B,B and D. I then went off to London University to read Electrical Engineering and things improved and was awarded an upper second honours degree (two one). A few years on, I embarked on my MBA and was awarded a distinction. The moral of the story is that the number of O levels (GCSE now-days) have no bearings on your higher academic achievements. It was the QUALITY rather than QUANTITY that was important then!

Putting children, 16 years old, through pressure to obtain 10ish good GCSEs is contra productive and cruel. Why not concentrate on less GCSEs, with focus on relevant subjects that relate to the degree one wants to read in a few years.
ToadMum
Posts: 11945
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2012 12:41 pm
Location: Essex

Re: Number of GCSE's

Post by ToadMum »

walidal wrote:Things were so different in the late 70s. I only have 4 O levels to my name from a local college (Maths, Additional Maths, Statistics and Physics). This allowed me to join my A level classes (Maths, Further Maths and Physics) and obtained B,B and D. I then went off to London University to read Electrical Engineering and things improved and was awarded an upper second honours degree (two one). A few years on, I embarked on my MBA and was awarded a distinction. The moral of the story is that the number of O levels (GCSE now-days) have no bearings on your higher academic achievements. It was the QUALITY rather than QUANTITY that was important then!

Putting children, 16 years old, through pressure to obtain 10ish good GCSEs is contra productive and cruel. Why not concentrate on less GCSEs, with focus on relevant subjects that relate to the degree one wants to read in a few years.
Because one might not actually know at the age of 13 or 14 that one wants to be an electrical engineer and that therefore from then on it's a good idea to restrict one's studies to a very narrow range of interconnected subjects?
Last edited by ToadMum on Sun Nov 04, 2018 11:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx
hermanmunster
Posts: 12817
Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 9:51 am
Location: The Seaside

Re: Number of GCSE's

Post by hermanmunster »

walidal wrote:Things were so different in the late 70s. I only have 4 O levels to my name from a local college (Maths, Additional Maths, Statistics and Physics). This allowed me to join my A level classes (Maths, Further Maths and Physics) and obtained B,B and D. I then went off to London University to read Electrical Engineering and things improved and was awarded an upper second honours degree (two one). A few years on, I embarked on my MBA and was awarded a distinction. The moral of the story is that the number of O levels (GCSE now-days) have no bearings on your higher academic achievements. It was the QUALITY rather than QUANTITY that was important then!

Putting children, 16 years old, through pressure to obtain 10ish good GCSEs is contra productive and cruel. Why not concentrate on less GCSEs, with focus on relevant subjects that relate to the degree one wants to read in a few years.
It sometimes would be nicer if youngsters did fewer GCSEs but as ToadMum says, it is important to cover a range of subjects as many won't know what degree they want to do in the future.

I went to London University in the late 70s also, from memory there was a requirement to have MFL and English Language O levels in order to matriculate - did you take these at a later date?
walidal
Posts: 32
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2018 2:33 am

Re: Number of GCSE's

Post by walidal »

Do not recall any extras as suggested. I did O and A at a college then. However, before joining local college, a quick test was given in Maths and English to assess if required level was sufficient then.
MSD
Posts: 1731
Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2008 6:08 pm

Re: Number of GCSE's

Post by MSD »

Worried_Adult wrote:
MSD wrote:
Worried_Adult wrote:My son is at HGS and he is doing 12 GCSEs.
Worried_adult, is that a standard set they offer with all children taking it?
They have 8 compulsory and they pick an extra 3 which is 11 (including triple science). The top 15 from the year also take further maths, which accounts to 12.
Thanks Worried_Adult!

I may be wrong here but I always thought further maths or ad maths for GCSE was just a free standing qualification for GCSE, rather than something amounting to a full GCSE award. DS1 was quite keen on taking it but his school never ran a course. DS2's school, as I understand, allows it and he looks forward to it.
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Re: Number of GCSE's

Post by Guest55 »

You need to check whether the course is a FMSQ or level 2 Further maths ... they are not the same thing nor of equal 'value'. Personally I do not see the point of either - there are better ways to enrich mathematical development rather than an additional qualification.

[MSD I think you meant Add ie additional maths]
Post Reply
11 Plus Platform - Online Practice Makes Perfect - Try Now