11 Plus Exams Forum

We are at the Year 9 point too. Mindful of the fact that all GCSEs will now be terminally examined, and DS1's school does Cambridge iGCSE in most key subjects (sciences, English, Geography), DS finds himself, having chosen all the usual suspects - 3x Science, German, Geography, History, with essentially a choice between PE and Economics (has ruled others out for various reasons). Being both old-fashioned and hands-off, I have a couple of dilemmas here as he is actually asking my advice. I don't think either is especially highly-regarded so don't think it is down to that. I am tempted to say do PE as a bit of a 'soft' option - a break from all the essay writing; OH thinks DS is more likely to be interested in Economics which is probably true (PPE has been suggested as a final outcome) but firstly it isn't necessary to do it at GCSE if you want to study it more highly, and secondly I am concerned that the poor child will be destined to spend the next 2 years writing essays if he chooses it.

So in short, any advice on the workload of either (especially Economics) would be welcomed. DS is a good all-rounder who I think will end up following a science route, though probably could have the choice and if he did jump the other way, I would bet it would have something to do with economics in it. He is not good at, or interested in, either football or rugby, but is good at water polo, cycling, running and cricket. Don't even know if these would count - the spec says he must be 'highly competent' in 2 sports. (So tempting, isn't it, to suggest 'cock fighting' or 'goat racing' and see whether they feel obliged to make provision...).

Thanks (I hope )

Amber, DD did neither (so I'm no expert, but happy to give my opinion, as usual ) but my understanding is that PE is quite science-y and not all running around on a pitch, or riding goats etc. I thought that GCSE economics was poorly thought of, but to be honest, with a good spread of GCSEs I can't think that it will really matter which he does - what does he enjoy the most? I'm beginning to wonder when we are going to get the options though as everyone seems to be doing the same at the moment.

Amber, DD (Y10) is doing the AQA PE. You only have to do 4 sports/activities in the practical section* so a mix of the sports your son enjoys would more than cover the bases - 'mainstream' team sports are not required

Also if DS is particularly good at/enjoys one particular activity you can sort of 'double up' in it by doing it as both a participant and an instructor - not sure if that is the correct terminology but in effect a very good cricketer, for example, could play as one sport and coach others as another.

The only proviso I would add is that it isn't a gimme to get the top grades - the marking criteria are quite harsh, possibly in an attempt to give the subject more academic credibility (To give you one example from personal experience DD was assessed as an 8/10 for her basketball despite the fact that she is captain of the school team and has played for the county.)

* NB this isn't true of all exam boards - DS's PE GCSE required 8 different sports

Rob Clark wrote:Also if DS is particularly good at/enjoys one particular activity you can sort of 'double up' in it by doing it as both a participant and an instructor - not sure if that is the correct terminology but in effect a very good cricketer, for example, could play as one sport and coach others as another.

I think maybe he won't be good enough. He has never shown any interest in becoming a coach. Hmm.

Rob Clark wrote: (To give you one example from personal experience DD was assessed as an 8/10 for her basketball despite the fact that she is captain of the school team and has played for the county.)

Who does the assessing? I am wondering how you could possibly get anything like comparability between, say, ballet and rugby competence. If it is the rugby teacher assessing ballet, well what does he know about ballet? And if the ballet teacher assesses ballet, how do we know 8/10 is the same value as 8/10 in rugby?

NB this isn't true of all exam boards - DS's PE GCSE required 8 different sports

Crikey, I didn't know there were 8 different sports. Isn't it a little unrealistic to expect any child to take part in 8 different sports? I am liking this less and less.

Anyone know anything about Economics?
Sorry, this thread looks like a zebra crossing now.
Thanks too scary; and to others for their PMs.

He has never shown any interest in becoming a coach.

Sorry, I wasn't clear enough. You don't need to have any interest in coaching per se, it's a way of giving double-weighting to a sport a child is particularly good at. For example, showing the younger boys at school how to play water polo. Or cycle

Who does the assessing? I am wondering how you could possibly get anything like comparability between, say, ballet and rugby competence. If it is the rugby teacher assessing ballet, well what does he know about ballet? And if the ballet teacher assesses ballet, how do we know 8/10 is the same value as 8/10 in rugby?

good question. My understanding is that the school PE teachers do the assessing in the first instance, and have a detailed list of the skills and activities each child has to demonstrate in order to obtain a particular mark/grade. So each sport/activity is marked on its own merit rather than compared to any other. These (some of these?) are sent off for moderation.

In addition a sport which is played outside school has to be filmed for assessment. In DD's case she will get her tennis coach to film her playing during one lesson. Presumably this would be the case for your DS's water polo. HTH

Very helpful, thank you. It sounds fraught with danger of subjectivity (my experience of PE teachers would not necessarily allay this fear); lack of standardisation and requiring of more talent in sport than DS has; but I am sure it works.

Would love to hear from anyone who has experience of OCR Economics. Anyone?

Yes we've done video for assesment for various members of a sport club, and also external assessments. This probably applies more to more specialist sports which aren't generally taught in school though. I suspect PE teachers may want to assess, for example, football themselves even if a candidate is playing at above schools level with external coaches.

Amber I know a little bit about Economics because I did Economics for ALevels. But I did not do it in the UK. I hope this helps in someway.
When it came to choosing subjects in yr9, I chose a subject which had Economics in it, and this helped me to choose Economics for Alevels, as I knew what they were when choosing subjects for Alevels.

Okanagan wrote:Yes we've done video for assesment for various members of a sport club, and also external assessments. This probably applies more to more specialist sports which aren't generally taught in school though. I suspect PE teachers may want to assess, for example, football themselves even if a candidate is playing at above schools level with external coaches.

I am enjoying the idea of someone trying to video my son cycling with about 40 others at 35mph. I suppose he would have to wear a distinctive helmet or something...And presumably then he would be marked on what? Pedalling technique?
Being silly, sorry. Stir crazy today.

ahap wrote:Amber I know a little bit about Economics because I did Economics for ALevels. But I did not do it in the UK. I hope this helps in someway.
When it came to choosing subjects for Olevels as we called it over there. I did a subject called Commerce which had Accountancy, Economics, Statistics, and Commerce all in one, which helped me to choose the Commerce route for Alevels, as I knew what they were when choosing subjects for Alevels.

Yes; and that is why I think it might not be a bad idea - so he knows what it is about, as we think it might turn out to be something he enjoys. Thanks.