Choosing Between Combined or Triple Science

In GCSE Science, students can either take a course of Combined Sciences (equivalent to two GCSEs) or Separate “Triple” Sciences (three separate GCSEs in Biology, Chemistry and Physics).

A range of factors would determine how a school decides which of these courses their students will take including their context (e.g., its size), staffing capacity and the ever-changing Government policy.

Each school should clearly communicate to you, normally during year 9 or 10 (whenever your school begins its Key Stage 4 content), which GCSE Science course your child will be following. In this article, I will explain the differences between the different courses.

If your child is placed onto a course and you are unsure of the rationale, it is important to contact your child’s teacher or Head of Science in the first instance.

It is perfectly possible to switch between courses during the early stages of Key Stage 4 (KS4) as there is a lot of common content which most schools will often cover first. However, there are differences in content later in the courses which include explaining the style/phrasing of exam questions.

Combined and Triple Science exam papers are written by different teams, so it is important to get used to the style of questions and what they are looking for in the mark scheme.

There is also more content to learn for Separate Science papers.

Each exam board will document the content that is required for Combined Science and the additional content for the Separate Science courses. The content does slightly vary across each exam board but again, your school’s Science Department should make this very clear to students and parents at the beginning of KS4.

In the past two years, there has been a shift from the Government to encourage more students to enter into the Separate (Triple) Sciences. This is increasingly more important for schools as school performance figures will soon include the percentage of students taking Separate Sciences.

One thing to also remember is that students will sit these courses in one of two tiers: Foundation and Higher. Below is a table of the new GCSE grading system in England and Wales, which has been in place for quite a few years now.

Students taking the Higher Tier can achieve grades from 9 to 3 - if students fail to get a grade 3, they will receive a U grade. For students taking Foundation Tier, they can achieve grades from 5 to 1 but cannot achieve higher than a grade 5.

Most sixth forms and colleges require a minimum of grade 6 to study a Science at A-Level, so if your child has an interest or aims to do this, they will need to be sitting the Higher Tier papers on either Combined or Separate Sciences.

Combined Science GCSE

Combined Science is worth two GCSEs. This is a combination of Biology, Chemistry and Physics and is currently what most students sit across the country.

It is assessed at the end of Year 11 and involves taking six examinations:

• Biology papers 1 and 2
• Chemistry papers 1 and 2
• Physics papers 1 and 2

Each exam lasts 75 minutes and papers consist of a mixture of short answer, extended answer and scientific skills-based questions. Each exam carries equal weight and the total amount of marks across all the papers is 420.

For all GSCE examinations (across all subjects), grade boundaries are calculated by the exam boards by using exam marks from the current and past years to ensure consistency from year to year.

Students will get two grades on their certificate which are linked (e.g. it might read 9-9 or 9-8, 8-8, 8-7, 7-7 going all the way down to 1-1. Below a 1 is a U grade).

What are the advantages and disadvantages of Combined Science?

Advantages:

• There is less content to learn than Separate (Triple) Science.
• The exams are shorter (75 mins).
• Some of the most challenging topics are not included.

Disadvantages:

• Students can only take the same tier for every paper (Biology, Chemistry and Physics). For instance, you cannot take Higher tier papers for Biology and Chemistry and take a Foundation tier paper for Physics. They all need to be the same!
• If your child is looking to take an A-Level in a Science, some concepts that they might find useful are not introduced in Combined Sciences but are taught in Separate Sciences.

Separate (Triple) Science GCSEs

Separate (Triple) Science GCSEs are three individual GCSEs in Biology, Chemistry and Physics.

It is assessed at the end of Year 11 and involves taking six examinations. Each GCSE consists of two papers and each exam lasts 105 minutes. Each paper is worth 100 marks. Therefore, for each GCSE there is 200 marks up for grabs.

Again, grade boundaries are calculated by the exam boards by using exam marks from the current and past years to ensure consistency from year to year.

Students will achieve three GCSE grades for each Science and these grades are not linked, e.g. a student may achieve a 9 in Biology, a 4 in Chemistry and a 7 in Physics.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of studying the Separate (Triple) Sciences?

Advantages:

•  Students will study a greater breadth of content which your child might find helpful if they wish to study an A-Level in a Science.
•  Students may be entered into different tiers for the different subjects, e.g. a student could take Higher Tier papers for Biology and Chemistry and a Foundation Tier paper for Physics.
• There are more experienced tutors available for the classic, separated sciences. However, if you are seeking assistance for either option, Sherpa has you covered. Check out some options for qualified and experienced tutors below:

GCSE Combined Science Tutors

GCSE Biology Tutor

GCSE Physics Tutor

GCSE Chemistry Tutor

Disadvantages:

• The examinations are longer (this requires a lot of examination resilience!)
• There is more content to learn.
• The additional content does include some more difficult topics which some students often find challenging.

So, what’s best for your child?

Whilst the above informs you of the mechanics of the specifications, it is important to also ask your school how they will deliver the separate science GCSEs. Each school takes a different approach to this:

Here are some key questions I would be asking the school about the delivery of Separate (Triple) Sciences:

1. Do students get extra curriculum time to cover the additional content? I.e. Are there more science lessons in their timetable?
2. Does Separate (Triple) Sciences count as an option choice? I.e. Does it remove the ability for your child to take another GCSE subject?
3. If there is no extra curriculum time, will there be additional lessons after school to teach the additional content?
4. What support is in place to help students revise all the extra content? (There are online systems like Tassomai or Educake which are brilliant!).
5. Are the different GCSEs taught by subject specialists?

Commonality

Although there are many differences between the courses, there are many similarities. Both courses are very knowledge-rich, which requires focus and a lot of revision to achieve the highest grades. 

Both courses use a significant amount of Maths, including an understanding of basic Mathematical concepts such as mean, median, mode and range, alongside rearranging equations. There will also be many graphing and data interpretation questions. Don’t worry, students are allowed to use a calculator in the exams!

There are also required Practicals for students to participate in to demonstrate their scientific skills of variables, planning, data collection, analysis and evaluation.

Key Conclusions:

Whilst studying Separate (Triple) Sciences at GCSE offers a greater breadth of learning, it should be noted that it is not a prerequisite to studying an A-level Science. 

There is nothing stopping students from studying Combined Science to go on to study A-level Science. The quality of the grades is more important than the quantity. E.g. sixth form or college would prefer a student who has a 6-6 in Combined Science rather than three grade 5s in Separate (Triple) Sciences.

The final decision for whether a student takes Combined or Separate Science should be made in conjunction with the school, parents and the child themselves.

It is important to trust the judgement of the school as they would have conducted many assessments throughout Key Stage 3, however there is no harm in politely asking how they came to their decision!