Year 9 Options Evening Science @ Oaklands

GCSE Sciences 9-1 All students must now sit either Combined Science GCSE (Double Science) or Separate Science GCSEs (Triple Science). No other Science GCSEs are allowed.

GCSE changes Controlled assessments have been replaced by a series of required practicals which will be tested in the final exams. Students will need to learn more of the formulae. Some old content has been removed and a lot of new content has been added. Some content which was Higher tier only has been re-designated to be learned by all students. All students will sit the same number of exams which have higher grade boundaries than the outgoing GCSEs.

Double or Triple? The new AQA GCSEs have been written so that Double Science provides an excellent foundation for A level Sciences. FE and HE institutions are more interested in quality than quantity so there is no advantage to doing Triple Science unless a student has a real passion for the subject.

Combined Science: Trilogy This is taught to all students (including Triple Science students). Is the equivalent to Core and Additional Science.

Option - Triple Science Students will be allocated to an option block where they will study the extra elements of the course. This reduces the amount of revision that students will need to do at the end of the course and will allow students to achieve higher grades.

When do we start? Year 9 students have started their new GCSE Science courses already. We have chosen topics that students would usually study in Year 9 (as part of the KS3 curriculum) but we are using resources to ensure that students are prepared for the new GCSEs.

The examinations All examinations are available at Foundation tier and Higher Tier. There will be 6 examinations for all students. Biology Papers 1 & 2 Chemistry Papers 1 & 2 Physics Papers 1 & 2 For Combined Science each paper is 1 hour and 15 minutes long. For Separate Sciences each paper is 1 hour and 45 minutes long.

What do students need? Equipment for every lesson. Revision guide/s. Pen, pencil, ruler (clear). Their own scientific calculator is essential, they will be expected to make order of magnitude and standard form calculations in exams. Calculators do not all have the same buttons! Revision guide/s.

Grading Separate Sciences Combined Science A 9 point scale, 9 – 1 where 9 is the equivalent of the top of the current A* and 1 is the bottom of the current G. Combined Science A 17 point scale 99 – 11 (starts 99, then 89, then 88 etc).

Useful websites Copies of the specifications http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/science/gcse On-line text books and resources http://www.kerboodle.com Students all have individual logins for Kerboodle Username – jsmith Password – jsmith Institution code – xdc6