Today in ICT, the teacher gave the whole class a choise of 'doing key stage3 work and get 1 ICT GCSE or Do GCSE material now, and do 2 ICT GCSEs'.
most of the class went for do GCSE now, so the whole class(or all Y9)is doing it. most of the class should easily get a pass, but why bother doing 2 ICT GCSEs?
What does everyone think of this?

I still don't like the idea of doing stuff early - I've heard stories from teachers of old, about how they excelled in their subject, and were pushed forwards. They always said they regretted that they did that, as they missed key lessons, points and ideas.

I think it's best to stick to doing GCSEs in year 11.

I plan to do an As level course rather than a GCSE because the only GCSE course my school does is apparently exceedingly easy

The benefit of two ICT GCSEs is that it's an extra GCSE to count towards the 5 A*s-C figures published in league tables. If a pupil has 3 C grades from other subjects plus two C grades from ICT, they have 5. If they only have one ICT GCSE, they only have 4, and the magic 5 GCSEs box cannot be ticked for that pupil. Depending on the state of the GCSE ICT syllabus, it could be easier to get two ICT GCSEs than to get one ICT GCSE and one in something else, and this might encourage teachers to encourage people to do two ICT to game the system a bit and improve league table results.



I skipped Y6 of primary school, did GCSE maths in Y10 (started in Y9), and did A-level maths in a year at the sixth form to allow time for further maths afterwards. I don't feel like I've missed anything - if anything, at the time it was a relief to be in an up-pace lesson.

GCSEs taken early don't count in the league tables as they only count those of 'normal' GCSE age.

My nephew was encouraged to to maths a year early but they didn't let him do (didn't prepare him for?) the top paper. He got a B and then they made him take it again in year 11. A bit of a waste of time really as only one maths exam would count.
Are there actually 2 DIFFERENT ICT exams to be able to count them both in you GCSE total?

I think GCSEs a year early do count. My school has a group of about 20 Y9s doing maths a year early, and has had this sort of 'top set' group of Y9s and Y10s doing GCSEs a year early for a few years.

Well, 1 ICT GCSE is 1unit and half a unit
2 GCSEs is 2 units, or 1 unit and 2 halvs of 2 units. ( i think)

I have to wait, even though I already know everything I need for an A*

aw ict is rather pointless o.o
one of the questions in my year 9 exam was:
what's a mouse?
a creature that eats cheese?
a sensor..
etc
etc

I think it's both

Yes, you're right.

The league tables published are based on pupils' achievements by the end of Key Stage 4 (KS4). It doesn't matter whether an exam is taken early, the result is still attributed to the pupil who took the exam. The achievements of pupils finishing KS4 in a given year are then collated to form the statistics: what percentage of them had 5 GCSEs or equivalent, grades A* to C; what percentage had 5 with grades A* to G; and so on.

The level of GCSE needed to get a C grade is L4 in the national curriculum!!!!!
I am L5~6

maths or IT? I think I could probably pass GCSE IT now as well as maths.

Thats IT



In maths L8 is a B grade. I got L8 in SATs so I'm aiming for a A*, but probably would get an A

We were told L7 is equal to a C at GCSE

is that for any subject?

Yes

Writing one's name coherently on the cover is equal to a C at GCSE .

True. What with coursework, I'm surprised that anyone who is actually bothered about passing even the tiniest bit fails.

I don't really know about doing exams early. I did a short course Food Tech last year. I didn't really enjoy it but I suppose it's another half and I don't thin it did me any harm. OUr maths teacher is thinking of maing us do our stats exam at the end of this year (year 10), depending how we do in our mocks. She won't let us do maths early though because although we'd be able to do it and get good grades, we then wouldn't have anything to do next year and if we started AS work it would mess up if we did it at 6th form college - none of the local schools in my area have a 6th form.

aw it's probably true.. at my school, we have to do business and communications - which is basically ict.. and it's rather pointless.. *mummble grummble takes up one of my options
hehe i shouldn't complain rewi
thomxxx

5 passes is VERY difficult if this is true

The mind boggles how people can manage not to get 5, especially when things like media are 100% coursework, take up the work of 2 GCSEs and are worth 4. Interesting how the figures plumet when Maths and English are included.

It would be, if one had to get 5 level 7s in Y9 - but one has an extra two years of education under one's belt by Y11, making it far more likely one will succeed in getting 5 Cs at GCSE.

my maths teacher won't tell me or bobifier anyhting about maths that we study at A level so we won't get bored and he keeps his enormous maths textbook locked up

I might scrape through english if I work REALY hard in Y10and 11. I'm L5 at the moment.... but, I suppose it's work that makes the passes possible...

And in those two years you learn a lot. And your mind learns to cope with it all. It's quite surprising actually, looking back. *reminisces*

Youre right. I just can't think of getting a pass that's a C...


My goal is to get a B or more on every GCSE subject I choose to do

I go by the percentage. Anything less than 75% is a fail, less than 85% is not good and 95% - 100% is good

I think that as well, but when it comes to doing english...

my maths teacher is currently talking to a local 6th form college about what other exams we could do in year 11.

I got Bs in English, and I was appauling at it; I'm sure you'll be fine Liz .

did you do Y9 sats? If you did , what did you get?

I did GCSE Statistics in Y11 after doing maths in Y10. GCSE Further Maths is another option. Failing that, go mad and do something like Astronomy .

My eldest started GCSE IT last year it's some sort of modular course. They are expected to achieve the equivelent of 5 GCSE. I don't know the detail of how it works. I don't think it's difficult but there is quite a lot to keep on top of. they don't get the results until year 11 same as their other subjects as I understand it.

Have you done your SATS already I thought no one did them until May? Predicted Grades in my daughter's school are calculated on progress other than straight SAT's.

nmm - might it be GNVQ IT? GNVQs are equivalent to 4 GCSEs, and do wonders for the league tables....

You could always buy a text book yourself or a Letts revision guide if you want to look at things in advance. It's a useful skill for university life if you can learn from books without a teacher . Failing that I'm sure the BBC bitesize AS-maths site would tell you a lot (not that I've ever looked at it....). Might take some time to get used to, and won't be as fast at first, but there are plenty of people around here with A-level plus maths that can answer any questions you have.

That's the one! I get confused sometimes!!!!!

A very interesting report, I'm glad to say that's the only GNVQ their school do. The school is a bit hung up on league tables generally, on the other hand it is a good school.

sometimes my school librarian lets me take A level textbooks out of the library

My teacher told me that there was no such thing as further math at GCSE?



They're equivalent to 4 gcses, but take up the teaching time of 2, at least in our school. The media one at least is 100% coursework, and we have endless trouble with media students supposedly dong their courswork while actually runnng around corridors causing havoc. Some of them anyway.

I was in Waterstones yesterday - they had C4 maths books up for sale, the textbooks used in lessons.

How much?

I dunno, but my C1 book (the same series as the ones I saw) costs....ah it doesn't say. I wouldn't have thought it was more than about £12...

Rosemary - CCEA do an 'Additional Mathematics' GCSE:

http://www.rewardinglearning.com/developme...g05addmaths.pdf

And that can be taken in addition to Maths and Stats????? A lot of that doubles up the A level stuff I've seen, but it looks interesting. I hope my teacher didn't know about it - otherwise that mens hes been lying to me again.