If your child is about to embark on their ‘GCSE journey’, there are probably dozens of questions spinning around your mind. Aside from the obvious one (which is ‘where has all the time gone? It seems like only yesterday they were at primary school!’), you may well be wondering what their GCSE journey will look like, how to encourage good study skills from the outset, and what you can do to support your child in their studies. This blog aims to provide a short introduction to what to expect during the GCSE years – and what you might be able to do to help!

It’s been a strange few years!

You will have not escaped the fact that the global pandemic we have been living with has affected schooling in all sorts of ways. At GCSE level, for the 2020 and 2021 exam groups, the number of topics the pupils were assessed on was reduced and teachers were asked for a ‘best fit’ grade based on a pool of evidence (practice exams, portfolios of work etc etc). By the time your child starts their GCSEs, it is hoped that the worst will be behind us – and the school will have planned to teach a full GCSE course.

GCSEs changed before the pandemic

In the years before the pandemic, GCSEs changed. New courses were created that included much less coursework (or controlled assessment) than before, with only some of the more practical subjects like dance, art and drama retaining this element of assessment. Most exams now take place at the end of a two-year course, removing the module system that was previously in place for some subjects. In many subjects there have been changes to the content students are expected to study, and they are generally required to answer more essay-style questions than ever before. A new 9 to 1 grading system was also introduced, replacing the A* – G grades.

However, whilst your child might well think that GCSEs are ‘far too hard now’ and that they’re ‘never gonna be able to do them’, it’s important that you reassure them that although GCSEs have changed, they are still there to do the same job as they’ve always done – that is, to assess how well they have got to grips with a particular subject. If your child is a good geographer or historian, who has worked hard in class and at home, listened to advice from teachers, attended school regularly and tried their best, then they will be rewarded with the grade they deserve.

GCSEs still assess the same skills, knowledge and understanding that they have always done. They might get students to do things slightly differently, but the good scientists and linguists, for example, will still be rewarded with good grades! Panic over!

How schools ‘set up’ for GCSEs

Many schools have a three-year Key Stage 3 (usually years 7-9), which leaves two years for GCSEs at Key Stage 4 (years 10-11). Other schools reverse this and go with a two-year Key Stage 3 and a three-year Key Stage 4. There are rules that state that a school must do one or the other – but your school should be able to rationalise the choice it has made.

However, no matter how your child’s school is set up, the chances are that for some of your child’s new GCSE subjects, they will have more lessons in that particular subject per week than ever before. This is because there is space in their timetable as a result of them ‘dropping’ some subjects. For example, your child may have had one or two history lessons and one or two geography lessons per week in Key Stage 3. However, they may have chosen to do GCSE geography and dropped history – so they will probably now have three (and some cases four) GCSE geography lessons per week – and no history.

And, if we keep with the geography example, the course leader for georgraphy (usually titled ‘Head of Geography’) will tend to have free reign to choose whichever exam specification (course of study) they like. They will split the course topics up into units and write a ‘scheme of learning’ to get the students through it, lesson by lesson.

Some geography departments I know, for example, study the human geography element of the course for two of the four lessons and the physical geography element for the other two. This might result in several different exercise books for the same subject – and this is something that you might be able to help with! Just being aware of which books they need to take on particular days and creating a space for them to keep their books handy will reduce stress levels no end when they are scrabbling around searching for their school books at 8am.

Furthermore, I would certainly make sure you know which examination board and specification your child is studying for each of their subjects (get your child to ask their teacher). There are several main government-approved examination boards that provide GCSE courses and exams for students. Each subject at your child’s school will have chosen one of these courses to follow. Make sure you know if your child follows the AQA history course or the Edexcel one, for example. Knowing this means that throughout your child’s time studying GCSEs, you can go onto the exam board website and download all sorts of free resources to help support your child’s learning, including specimen and past exam papers, mark schemes and example answers.

Encouraging good study skills

Your child may feel really overwhelmed when they start their GCSEs, which is totally understandable. Here are some things you can do to help take some of the sting out of the ‘stressing’ they will inevitably do:

Getting homework done on time

They will very probably get homework (although some schools now follow a ‘no homework’ policy). Those that set homework (most do) will publish a homework timetable, which has been designed to be manageable. Make sure you have access to that timetable and act quickly if your child isn’t sure what to do.

No teacher takes pleasure in a child doing homework badly (or not at all). The homework is given to enhance learning, so if your child is unsure, simply write a short note asking for the teacher to explain the homework again.

Creating the right environment

Creating a study space is a really positive thing to do – away from all distractions if possible. I know this is very difficult in some families – but a small, quiet area where your child can take ownership of their learning should bear fruit in the future. Then, make sure your child has everything they need – notebooks, revision books, pens, paper, post-it notes, index cards, and so on.

You could buy folders that allow them to divide and organise their work into sections, so their work is easy to access.

Preparing for tests

Each department in your child’s school will have an assessment policy relating to how they want to track their students’ progress. It might (and probably will) involve smaller tests at regular intervals (one test every half term is common) and a larger ‘exam hall exam’ at the end of the year.

It is important that you try to keep these tests and exams in perspective. Until your child gets to the end of the course, in the summer term of Year 11, these tests and exams are simply a way of the teacher seeing if what they have taught has sunk in. They are as much a test of the teaching strategy used by the teacher as they are of students. They indicate to the teacher what they need to go through again – as well as what students need to pay particular attention to themselves.

When it comes to sitting down and doing some revision, though, here are a few top tips you might like to share:

• Help your child create an overview of what they need to revise and break each subject down into manageable chunks. This is where knowledge of the exam board specification will help.
• Set definite start and finish times for revision sessions and have a clear goal for each session.
• Get your child to ask your teachers for practice questions or past papers.
• Get them to practise making plans and answering questions under timed conditions.
• During breaks, have your child do something completely different – for example, they could listen to music, have a chocolate biscuit, or make a cup of tea.
• Ensure they make their revision active. Don’t allow them to just read notes – make flash cards or mind maps, or use the post-it notes you bought when setting up a study space. Then make sure they ‘apply’ what they’ve learned – in other words, get them to do something with their knowledge (such as a practice exam question).

Further support

As well as knowing what exam board specification your child is studying for each subject, it might be worth investing in some of the approved resources that may well be used by the school. For example, if your child does history, there is every chance that the school history department will use one of the exam-board-approved textbooks. This might be a worthwhile purchase as it allows you to follow what they are doing in class, and even means you could set little recall tests for your child – nothing overly complicated, but a message that home is ‘on it’ as much as school!

It might also be worth thinking about your family’s ‘away day trips’ a little more carefully. Trips to art galleries, river valleys, coastal zones, science museums and heritage sites such as castles, battlefields and cathedrals might brighten up some of the topics in school. My daughter, for example, is studying GCSE goegraphy and was recently doing a unit on river processes. When we took the dogs out for a long walk a few weeks ago, it was well worth driving a few extra miles so we could take in the river processes at work in Carding Mill Valley in the Shropshire Hills. Indeed, my older daughter studied GCSE history and did a long unit on Medicine in Britain. When we went to Edinburgh on a family holiday, we made sure we visited James Simpson’s house on Queen Street and went to the National Museum of Scotland to see Alexander Fleming’s Nobel Prize for Medicine. The art, design and fashion galleries were also of specific interest to her as a GCSE design and technology student!

Finally (and I think this is perhaps one of the key elements of parental support) it’s important not to stress too much about the transition to GCSE! In the same way that primary schools aim to form the bedrock of knowledge, skills and understanding that students will need as they progress to secondary school, the secondary school will have been preparing your child for their ‘GCSE journey’ throughout Key Stage 3. And, of course, if you do have any concerns about your child’s progress, attitude or effort, be sure to use parents’ evenings as an opportunity to develop a positive relationship with the teaching staff – they absolutely want your child to do as well as you do!

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GCSEs (General Certificate of Secondary Education) are the main academic qualification taken in several subjects by the vast majority of pupils in secondary education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

In England, there have been significant reforms to many topics studied within the subjects, as well as to the grading system and examinations themselves. So how do the new exams differ from the many previous variations you might be familiar with? When did the changes begin? And how does the new grading system compare to the well-known A* to G grades?

The changes begin

The new GCSE format was part of a large-scale programme of reforms introduced in England’s schools in 2014.

• The new courses include much less coursework (or controlled assessment) than before, with only some of the more practical subjects like dance, art and drama retaining this element of assessment.
• Most exams will now be taken at the end of a two-year course, removing the module system that was previously in place for some subjects where students took exams that counted towards a final grade along the way. This will make the exams at the end of the course more important, as students will be required to draw on what they have learned over several years of study. In many subjects, students will also be required to answer more essay-style questions, too.
• A new 9 to 1 grading system is also being phased in.

The 9 to 1 grades

A new 9 to 1 grading scheme has been introduced by the Department for Education in the hope that the new GCSEs will ‘better differentiate between students of different abilities’ by allowing greater differentiation at the top levels. The table below shows how the new GCSE grades compare to the old ones – although the DfE is clear to point out that each grade cannot be directly compared, there are places where they can be aligned.

The new grades explained

Grade 9

The new Grade 9 has been introduced to allow colleges and universities to identify those students with exceptional ability in particular subject areas. A Grade 9 is not the equivalent of an A*. It is a grade that has been included to recognise the highest performing students. There will be fewer Grade 9s awarded than there were A*s previously. In fact, Dr Tim Leunig (the DfE’s chief analyst and chief scientific adviser) has predicted that under the new system only two students in the whole country will receive Grade 9s in every subject. So your child should not worry if they don’t achieve a Grade 9!

Grades 8, 7 and 6

Grade 8 sits roughly between an A* and an A grade. Grade 7 is equal to an A and Grade 6 sits just a bit higher than the old B Grade.

Grades 4 and 5

These grades represent a ‘pass’ mark, equivalent of an old C Grade. Grade 4 is considered a ‘standard pass’ and Grade 5 a ‘strong pass’. Schools will be measured by the number of students achieving a Grade 4 and above – but they will also be measured on the proportion of students who achieve a Grade 5 and above. It is hoped that the Grade 5 will be considered the benchmark when comparing educational establishments both in this country and abroad.

Grades 3, 2 and 1

These grades correspond to old GCSE grades D, E, F and G. Grade 3 ranks somewhere in-between a D and an E, whilst Grade 2 is somewhere between an E and an F. A Grade 1 is similar to an old G Grade, and a U grade still refers to an exam that has been ‘ungraded’ – it simply did not achieve sufficient marks to get onto the scale.

The GCSE timeline

English language, English literature and maths were the first to be graded from 9 to 1 in 2017. There is no Foundation Level in the new English GCSEs, so students of all abilities take the same exams. The vast majority of subjects will have 9 to 1 grading this year (2018), with most others following a year later. In science, for example, there are now fewer course options than previously, with most students taking either the new Combined Science course (worth two GCSEs) or three separate GCSEs in biology, chemistry and physics. During this transition period, students will receive a mixture of number and letter grades.

Are GCSE exams changing everywhere?

New and revised GCSEs were introduced in Wales too, and have been taught since 2015. However, students in Wales will still receive their grades in the A* to G format. In Northern Ireland, three-quarters of GCSEs are awarded by their Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA), which follows an A* to G grading system – but if students sit exams from other exam boards such as AQA, OCR, Edexcel or WJEC, they will also receive grades from 1 to 9. Students in Scotland follow an entirely different public examination system: Nationals and Highers.

Why are GCSE grades important?

There are number of different reasons why GCSE grades are important to students. When they choose a course at a college or sixth form, they will be given entry requirements for the course they have chosen. The grades are an indicator to colleges and sixth forms on how well the student might do on different courses, whether they are A-Level or vocational subjects. Some colleges and sixth forms may only allow your child to take particular subjects at A-Level if they have achieved some of the higher grades at GCSE.

Also, GCSEs are used as an indicator to universities. Most universities will look at the number of GCSEs achieved above a Grade 4. They may also require particular grades in specific subjects at GCSE when admitting students onto some of the courses they offer.

What happens if grades are lower than expected?

If your child doesn’t achieve the grade they expected, or they are disappointed with the grades they achieve, speak to their school and their teachers. They will be able to explain what your child’s options are. If some of the grades do not meet requirements, it is possible to re-sit several subjects including English and maths. It is often possible to re-sit these after you have started a new college course. Re-sits in other subjects can often be taken in the summer of the following year.

However, as a parent or carer, whatever grades your child is predicted to achieve, if you are unsure of what the grade means or how you can support them to achieve (or exceed) this grade, it is important you speak to their teachers who will be able to explain what is expected of them.

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