How many GCSE's do student sit in your school?

[Amber]

At her school - if she stays on for the 6th form (which she probably will) she will be expected to take 4 A levels.

Gosh. I wonder why they are sticking with that. It is surely more likely to disadvantage than benefit most students.

[Tinkers]

DDs School give them a choice of doing 3 or 4 A levels, with the option of dropping one of the 4 (possibly doing an AS level) and the end of year 12.

When they gave us the options talk in year 9, they did say thy would be doing 4, so the option of doing 3 from the start is a new thing.

[Amber]

I think many schools are suggesting starting with 4 and dropping one early on, to ensure they choose the correct ones. Universities only want 3 and if you do 4 they tend to offer on 4, or at least certainly not make any allowances for a dilution in grades of the 3 they do want. I was with DS for a talk on a course at Durham which needed A*AA. A lad in front of us piped up that he was doing 4 A levels and the tutor said 'I don't care how many you're doing, the requirement is A*AA'. That is a real world example from this academic year, as is Oxford's A*AA, no more and no less.

The new linear specs are a lot of work! Hard to see why a school would recommend 4 - and there are other ways to add breadth to the life of a 16 year old, if that is the argument.

[Tinkers]

DD wants to start with 4, particular as she can’t decide on just which 3 she would take. It’s sort of a try before you buy thing. She wants to do an EPQ and she can’t do that and 4 A levels.

She has looked at some uni entry requirements and some do offer a 3 A level offer and a 4 A level offer, but not many. I don’t know where her list is so don’t remember which ones off the top of my head.

[kenyancowgirl]

Our school were very clear that it was not advisable to do 4 under the new spec. DS1 hasn't and I am glad - he is working every night as it is and would like to do an EPQ in any spare time he has around jobs, voluntary work, Silver DoE etc etc. Having seen how much harder his new English and Maths GCSE were, to get the Level 9s, and frankly, despairing at the changes (for the worse) for poor DS2 for all his GCSEs, which are now more a test of memory than anything else, I think Ofqual have completely lost the plot.... Anyone who does 4 or 5 A levels, fair play to them, but I would genuinely wonder how they could do all the other stuff required of a good rounded A level student AND - and this is the important bit - also have a balanced "life" outside of school (and I'm not talking about orchestra or sport, I'm talking about cinema, meals out, bowling, sitting eating truck loads of chocolate in front of trash telly....) It's the balance side that is the only thing likely to stop a huge mental health explosion in a few years time, in my opinion.

Just my tuppence worth - I think Unis and employers are going to be focussing much more on the other half as the deciding factor between candidates going forward (thankfully) rather than who has 6 A levels or whatever - the ones I have spoken to are all appearing to be far more interested in the personality nowadays which is a very good thing.

[KB]

I absolutely agree that taking an unnecessary number of A levels or GCSEs is liable to be detrimental to personal development and/or mental health for many students as well as putting grades at risk but I don't see that University admissions should be making offers based on 'personality'.
This becomes extremely objective and open to all kinds of questions. Moreover it has nothing to do with ability to achieve a good degree.

[kenyancowgirl]

Sorry what I meant there was faced with candidates offering the same number/grade of A levels they are more interested in the person behind...they are less concerned about someone who has a huge ream of A levels - more about someone who has the grades they want in 3 and extras to offer - which is as it should be! Ditto employers...

[loobylou]

I was talking to a friend this week whose dd is also in year 10 (but who lives in a different part of the country from us) and she was saying her dd will be doing 8 or 9 GCSEs.
What I found surprising though was that they just study "science" and the teachers decide whether they will do double or triple later on in the course. I've not come across that before - everywhere else that I know chooses double/triple as part of their options

[Amber]

Sorry what I meant there was faced with candidates offering the same number/grade of A levels they are more interested in the person behind...they are less concerned about someone who has a huge ream of A levels - more about someone who has the grades they want in 3 and extras to offer - which is as it should be! Ditto employers...

I don't know about this as I feel that at most universities the only thing which admissions tutors are interested in really is grades/grade predictions. We now have experience of one of the ones which apparently cares about other stuff because they interview, and my DC who was interviewed there successfully was not asked one single question about interests or personal statement. What I don't know is if it was used to help screen those who got as far as interview - and as one of my offspring, this one has had a fairly full and colourful life with lots of outside interests. What I can say with some certainty is that there was no concession on grades given to those who were taking more A levels.

[fairyelephant]

Going back to the GCSE question at my DC's schools 10 is the norms although one offers twilight Greek which would make 11. Just the vanilla Maths GCSE offered at both schools since the change in GCSEs as they consider the new spec is stretching enough.

As for A levels here it starts to vary. DD's school recommends 3 as the norm but you can start 4 if you like with the idea that you will drop to 3. The exception is FM which DD is taking partly because some of the courses she is vaguely interested in at uni suggest it is useful, and it has to be a fourth. I realise that lots of people consider FM slightly less burdensome than other subjects, but its still concerning that it might disadvantage the end result. We shall have to see how it goes.
At DS's school all start 4 but most are advised to drop one, again with the exception of FM.