Last Thursday I attended a GCSE options evening with our
daughter to help her decide which subjects she wants to take. She’s had it all mapped out in her head for
some time as to what route she wants to take, but now after listening to
various teachers, she’s rethinking some of her options. The final decision has to be made by 6
January and I’m hoping she will decide this week, so that she doesn’t worry
about it over the Christmas holidays.
She will begin her GCSE studies after Easter next year. Her school start them in Year 9 to give them
longer to get through all the coursework and leave them plenty of time to study
for the exams.
I was the first year to take GCSE exams in 1988 and then a
lot of them were coursework based. Now
the majority of courses appear to be 100% exams and the grading system is changing,
so instead of receiving an A*-G grade, you will be awarded a 9-1 grade. A good pass will be a grade 5, which equates
to the top of a grade C pass and above.
It sounds confusing at the moment, but I’m sure we will all get used to
the new system in time.
Subject choices have grown no end from when I did my
GCSEs. There’s a wealth of design and
technology courses to choose from as well as engineering, film studies, PE,
dance, psychology etc. There’s also the
opportunity to do BTEC courses. A lot of
the subjects have residential trips as well – the film studies department at
our daughter’s school are looking into a trip to New York for either GCSE or
A-Level students. As this is a subject
our daughter is 100% sure she wants to do, we better start saving now!!
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