Double Science Award and extra science

[kenyancowgirl]

crikey it does mention an online school
What the heck is that?

And...
"....As a bright boy, he wants to join a selective 6th form, which does accept Double Award science..." (my underlining)

Online schools exist to support the global home education network. Children who are home educated have a "classroom" of students and access to a teacher - for example a native Spaniard teaching Speanish etc.

[Yamin151]

I wonder if it is related to the practicality of assessments / practicals etc ?

I assume not as you can do any of the 3 as extras (but this costs extra whereas the double award is included in the basic fees)

[Yamin151]

Ignoring the GCSE conundrum for a second...double check with Universities but I am fairly certain that Chemistry is the essential requirement at A level for Veterinary Studies, not Biology.

I suspect that doing Double Award Science (which is what some schools offer for Science GCSE) negates the need to do "additional" Biology/Chemistry etc...although, generally, doing them separately sets you up far better for A level study (and I suspect, having recently been to the 6th Form Open Evening) this will become MORE improtant. I am not sure how Science would work with practicals though (or for the Double Science Award) but possibly like the Open Uni this school has some contact time?

Do they offer RE? That can be a fairly straightforward qualification - quite formulaic so relatively easy to get a high grade GCSE - one of the reasons our school has moved away from doing it as they can see more benefit out of doing the alternative qualification.

Yes, I gathered from 'our' school website that they will accept Double Award, but yes, the fact of it contributing to the first modules of A level study if you do separate sciences is a good point too - my understanding is that there may be some subjects that you don't do the basics of at A level, because if you've done a single GCSE you would have covered them, but bot in Double Award, so you have to catch up by yourself.

Useful info on chemistry for vet science yes. These are all IGCSEs and the school has been running for 10 years, so the practicals are all covered so far as GCSE is concerned - and as they offer the 3 sciences separately too, all those practicals must be covered too.

I can of course ask the school too, just wondered about the thought here re extra science.

Cheers!

[Yamin151]

I'm . Again

What kind of school offers triple science and dual science(common enough) but then also offers dual science and a single science? The point being?

Yamin,please check this out.

And which selective a sixth form does not accept Double Award, odd that, Oxford and Cambridge do!

But there again what do I know?

Hi

I have only looked at the selective 6th form he is interested in, so thats great that Dual is accepted across the board. The school he is at does not offer triply science as 'a' subject - I'm sorry if I misled. It offers the double award in its standard package of 8 GCSEs. You are then able to choose from the second list for any other GCSEs you may want to do, at extra cost. As has been suggested, in theory if he wanted to gain the extra by doing all 3 sciences separately then we could elect to drop the Dual award and just do 3 separate sciences, but that costs a lot more and may be unnecessary, hence the question.

[Yamin151]

crikey it does mention an online school
What the heck is that?

Exactly that Catseye. It is a high school that is entirely run online. It has teachers, lessons, using a system similar to google meet which allows talking and interaction, both verbally and in group and private chat boxes, all supervised. Students work from wherever they are in the world with internet access (so a pupil involved in very competitive sport for example, or acting, or travelling with parents working all round the world who would otherwise have schooling disruspted). Homework is uploaded and marked as necessary. All lessons are recorded and available for listening or redoing later and teachers are available on e mail. Its brilliant. Results are commensurate with a good non selective school.

[Yamin151]

Is it all possible there has been some confusion and it's possible to choose between double science as 2 'slots' or the three individual subjects as three 'slots' ie making one extra slot over the basic number?

I don't think so. The nature of the school is that it is entirely flexible. The basic yearly fee includes the 8 GCSEs you see in the first list. Alternatives are possible from the second list, in that if you wanted to do the 3 sciences you can - you could drop the dual and do all three, but as its not in the basic package you pay extra for them - you can't just swap as presumably thats not what they are set up for. So, its just like a 2ndary that only does dual award but with the added ability to pay to do the subjects separately if you want to. Does that make sense?

[Yamin151]

The dual award will cover Biology though. He will effectively do two thirds of the syllabus in all three sciences which he would have done for triple science. So I imagine if he takes Biology he is going to get rather bored as there will be so much overlap. I don't think many institutions look down their noses at dual award science (though sadly some people on this forum do) and I know two DC who did it and went into Medicine and Dentistry. Looking at those lists though - why can't he do Biology, Physics and Chemistry? I am a bit puzzled as to how they offer them all as an 'extra' but not as an individual subject, unless I am just being dense, which at the moment is entirely possible.

In terms of another choice - what does he enjoy? Could he start a couple and see (as this is an online school with total flexibility) which ones he likes best? Unless he is a confident linguist I would probably avoid two languages online - you kind of need a person with those, I think, to speak with and listen to.

Absolutely Amber, on choosing what he enjoys, that will be a priority.

He can drop the dual and do 3 singles, but the point is the dual is included in the basic yearly fee, and presumably because of logistics and economics, you can't just swap one for another so although you can indeed do all 3 sciences separately, it will be an extra charge for each. Does that make sense?

Good point on the biology repetition.........and great to know dual science perfectly acceptable, thank you

[PurpleDuck]

DS is doing GCSEs (Edexcel) this summer and the only difference between double and triple award science is how many papers they sit.

Double award is a bit of a confusing term, it still requires one paper per subject, at least in our school. There are separate exams in biology, chemistry and physics. Those doing a triple award, have two exams for each of three sciences, the first is the same as that for the double award (2 hours long) and then there is an additional paper (1 hour long), also separate for each subject. In other words, double award students have 3 exams and triple award students do 6 exams. Ours is a 'regular' school, though...

The second lot of papers is on a different day so if a school only offers a double award science, perhaps there is an option of doing the second lot of exams in an external exam centre?

[quasimodo]

I appreciate schools are different but the grammar school my youngest attends take the view that everyone takes separate Biology,Chemistry and Physics with English Language and Literature and Mathematics as the six core subjects with a choice of language and humanity subject and then a further two options.I have however noticed in the last two years exam results which are the only ones I remember seeing that the weakest 3 or 4 students have been entered for double science at the school.The weakness is apparent from the relative grades these students obtain even in double science.

I had previously held the view until I read about different schools on this forum that generally brighter students would take three individual sciences as compared to double science.This was partly reinforced by the fact everyone in my family at different schools at different ages had taken 3 sciences in schools where sometimes a double science was offered.I don't know how common this view is ? As veterinary medicine is the objective and as KCG rightly points out Chemistry A level is a must plus another two science based subjects which could include maths then I would suggest three individual sciences. Particularly as you point out your son is bright.I see no benefit in doing a double science which is a third biology and doing separate biology.Your son will also get the benefit of studying the individual sciences in greater depth over two years by choosing three separate sciences which can only be of added value in choosing his science based A levels which will include chemistry.

The only negative for you is the added additional cost which you will consider in the balance with the added benefits that have been suggested with three individual sciences.

[ToadMum]

DS is doing GCSEs (Edexcel) this summer and the only difference between double and triple award science is how many papers they sit.

Double award is a bit of a confusing term, it still requires one paper per subject, at least in our school. There are separate exams in biology, chemistry and physics. Those doing a triple award, have two exams for each of three sciences, the first is the same as that for the double award (2 hours long) and then there is an additional paper (1 hour long), also separate for each subject. In other words, double award students have 3 exams and triple award students do 6 exams. Ours is a 'regular' school, though...

The second lot of papers is on a different day so if a school only offers a double award science, perhaps there is an option of doing the second lot of exams in an external exam centre?

Did they take Core Science at the end of year 10? The Double award for the current spec consists of Core (B1 / C1 / P1) and Additional ( B2 etc) papers in each subject and Triple consists of Core, Additional and Further Additional (B3 etc), plus the relevant Controlled Assessments for each route. It is possible to combine the 'full set' as GCSEs in Core Science, Additional Science and Further Additional Science, or as qualifications in Biology, Chemistry and Physics separately.

So two papers in each subject for Double and three for Triple.

I must admit that I have no idea how schools organise their teaching of Double vs Triple Science where the two take up the same number of 'Science' slots on the timetable -as there would be no point in covering the content for Additional Further Science and not put the student in for the exam (would there?), I would assume that there would be setting, with Triple sets covering the content of the three elements in the time taken for the Double sets to cover the first two? At DS1's school, taking Double frees up a slot for another option.