How many gcses do you need?

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Great-Activity-5420@reddit

It depends what you want to do. Depends what the job you want or course asks for. English was two when I did GCSEs English literature and English language. I think I had about 11 GCSEs but the main ones are your maths, English and science. I hope if you're learning online it's a reputable course as you need to sit an exam to get the qualifications

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LaraH39@reddit

English and English Lit are two gcses

You need English

You also need maths

After that you need to pick gcses that will be helpful to the degree you want to do. Or the plans you might have for the future

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Historical_Heron4801@reddit

Most sixth form colleges require at least 5GCSEs with a minimum grade of 5 in Maths and English Language. That will get you in to tertiary college. But you will need a solid foundation in your chosen subjects to manage to take that forward to A level.

Yes. English Language and English Literature are separate subjects.

Most children in formal secondary education will have upwards of 8 GCSEs. The core subjects are Maths, English Lit, English Language, Science (worth two, but you can take separate Physics, biology, chemistry, but you need to take all three), then there's a few choices depending on the school, usually an art, geography or history, a language, a tech subject, many schools offer others too, sociology, business, etc. Having more GCSEs will help open doors more easily but the minimum will get you to college.

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Pebbles015@reddit

None for uni if you do an access course.

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peddersmeister@reddit

In the grand scheme of things it matters less and less the older you get.
Experience counts for more, at the start of your career I think its more about showing ability.

As others have said there are people that excelled at school and have not gone on to greatness the exam results would have you believe.
Conversely there are people that didn't do well in school that have excelled, a couple of high profile names that spring to mind are Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Branson.

I'm obviously not blind to the fact that having money, or friends with money also helps a lot, even just knowing someone in a place you want to work is a big help.

I think for generally companies like to have Maths and English as a minimum (usually at school English Lit and Language are 2 separate grades)
If you go to college after school and do not have what was a grade C (I think its grade 4 under new scoring system) you will likely have to retake.

Hope this helps.....

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evelynsmee@reddit

I have 12, all good grades.

Then I have A Levels, after which nobody cares about GCSEs.

Then I have a degree, after which nobody cares about A Levels.

Then I have work experience in an unrelated field that I would never have reached without all those prior things, yet after which people find the degree an interesting novelty.

What you NEED depends on what you want to do with your life. But what I would say is having none or having basic literacy or maths issues would give you challenges finding many types of work. You should do as a minimum the best you can without going crazy at school to give yourself the best head start for the next several decades of your life.

What specifically these subjects (beyond English and maths) could be and any grades to aim for is something to talk to your teachers about, unless you have a career in mind we could maybe advise on?

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Worth_Kangaroo_6900@reddit

They don’t in theory BUT despite having a 1st class Hons & an MSc, I had to produce my gcse maths and English certificates for a course I wanted to do! This 26 years after doing GCSEs… I couldn’t find them so didn’t do the course in the end (couldn’t find exam boards so gave up)

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SorbetOk1165@reddit

Someone I know had the same problem so in my infinite wisdom I dug out the trusty National Record of Achievements book, decided to remove one of my certificates from its sleeve, only to see the writing had transferred from the certificate to the sleeve.

So now I have a blank GCSE certificate.

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Normal-Height-8577@reddit

So glad that book was so well-designed to keep all our certificates safe...

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Pyjama365@reddit

Yep, no-one cared about GCSEs for ages, except me listing them and confirming I had at least a C in English & maths. Then at 31 I was asked to find all my certificates from 15 years ago (despite only needing English & maths for the job - although I guess they might have also been screening for if people lied about their grades on the initial application).

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msmoth@reddit

Same here! I couldn't find one of my certificates and couldn't recall the correct exam board so they wanted me to do a catch-up course in either Maths or English despite having a degree.

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Roanmor@reddit

Same again! I was refused entry on a level 5 CertEd a few years back because I couldnt provide Maths and English GCSEs. I had provided my Maths and English A Levels though, and previous Level 5 Advanced Diploma 😅.

I ended up upgrading the AdDip to Bsc (hons) and doing a PGCert instead through different providers.

So yeah, basically have what you want, but you better make sure you still have your old yellowing GCSE Maths and English.

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msmoth@reddit

It's mad. My GCSEs were nearly 30 years old when they asked me and it was something work wanted me to do, too!

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anabsentfriend@reddit

My friend got a 1st Class Degree. She still had to go to night classes in her 40s to get her maths GCSE to be able to teach.

I've had public sector jobs since I was 20 (now 55) I've had to provide my physical GCSE and A Level certificates for every job, and they keep copies.

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twmffatmowr@reddit

I still have to present my GCSE certificates when I get a new job!

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Normal-Height-8577@reddit

English Language and English Literature are two separate GCSEs but they're generally taught in the same school class. I came down with a chronic illness in my teens, and wound up only sitting the English Language side of things as part of my pared-back sessions.

(Similarly, Science can either be sat as a dual subject - with Biology, Chemistry and Physics combined in a course that counts for two GCSEs - or as a more in-depth triple, with separate exams for each type of science.)

As far as how many courses you need, I don't know if it's changed, but I remember my mum saying that universities usually want to see that you'd sat for at least six exams in one session, and the easiest time to do that is at GCSE level.

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Wasps_are_bastards@reddit

Language and lit were separate when I was at school.

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Loose_Acanthaceae201@reddit

They still are.

source: mother of teenagers

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Wasps_are_bastards@reddit

Thanks, thought so.

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Rude_Rhubarb1880@reddit

What’s the question?

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bluejackmovedagain@reddit

Six is fine. It's better to focus on passing six than doing too many and struggling.

You need to do Maths and English Language.

You don't have to do English Literature, but if you want to do anything likely to involve essays after your GCSEs you should do it.

You should do either Combined Science+which counts as two GCSEs or Biology, Chemistry and Physics separately. In theory you don't absolutely have to do science if you don't want to do anything that uses it later on, but lots of courses which you wouldn't immediately expect to require science still ask for it so you'll be screwing yourself over if you don't take it.

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Previous-Ad7618@reddit

England and Maths are very important, the rest. Not so much.

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Slight-Brush@reddit

Actually there are lots of essays in lang as well - this is where you have to write newspaper articles, stories, descriptive essays etc.

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Slight-Brush@reddit

9

The 'English Baccalaureate' is meant to be maths, eng lit, eng lang, chem, bio, physics, a foreign language, a humanity, and one of your choice.

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Medical_Mulberry3230@reddit

They were two seperate subjects when I did them at O level, ask a UK examinations board instead of google.

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AgingLolita@reddit

How is a child meant to "ask a UK examinations board", come on. If you can't help, then don't, but don't hinder.

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Medical_Mulberry3230@reddit

Get lost as you don't seem to have a better option than the option (google) that didn't give someone who is young (therefore you define as a child) the answer. Give me your knowledge about examination boards, I'm all ears.

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Pyjama365@reddit

They were done as separate subjects at GCSE for me, but at A-level they could be separate or combined. I was apparently quite unusual and had to confirm repeatedly that I wanted to do both separately, rather than the combined option (because I thought they'd be easy A*s for me, so I might as well do both rather than have another subject I would get a worse grade in).

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spicyzsurviving@reddit

“Need” for what? Uni? College? A-levels? A certain job? Survival?

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Sad-Nectarine-6395@reddit (OP)

Need for college and uni

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AgingLolita@reddit

Four or five for college. For A levels they need to be grade 5 at least and for many subjects they prefer higher. For btec courses, they'll accept grade 4 usually. You need to have maths and English (language, English literature is an extra) and then whatever is relevant to the courses you want to do.

You will ALWAYS need GCSE maths and English.

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OkTadpole2920@reddit

Essentially Maths, English, Science, Humanities plus.

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Wee_Potatoes@reddit

Ok, but why online school? Where are you based? If outside the UK, then English (not Eng lit) and Maths are the only two required as standard. Others are your choice and will enable you to decide your future path.

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spicyzsurviving@reddit

Depends on your college, your subject, your course etc.

Most will publish requirements on their websites

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tb5841@reddit

Schools get judged in league tables based on your best seven (with maths being double counted). So most schools will enter people for 7 or more.

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Lozzybops@reddit

I know people who only passed 2 GCSE’s and have gone on to have great careers and lives. I know people who passed 12 GCSE’s and have the same.

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Cauleefouler@reddit

Look, there are people out there with 0 GCSEs and have been very successful in life, there are people with 12 GCSEs and have done nothing with their life. I have 9, then I got 3 A levels and no now no one cares, then I got a degree and no one cares about the A levels. Now I have a decade of work experience on a specific field and am considered an expert and no one cares about my degree. It all depends on what you want in life. The minimum would be maths English science and maybe IT. After that, the world is what you make it.

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Extra-Ebb-3529@reddit

Nil disperendum! I got 4 crappy ones and went to college to do retakes. So I’m a year behind everyone else but no-one really cared. My daughter got good GCSEs and A-levels before dropping out of uni in the first year and starting along an entirely new path that needed different A-levels. She did an access course and completed her science degree. My son got fairly mediocre GCSEs (passed 7 but all at minimum pass values) and did a b-tech course at college and is still going to uni. To do something he loves. We all get there in the end. It will work out x

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bendybow@reddit

If you want to go to college for a levels you'll need 9+ gcse's with at least a 6 in the subjects you think you may want to take at A level. If you don't mind doing a BTEC or doing some sort of trade school for construction, hair dressing etc. Then you can probably get by with 5-6 gcse's. In either case though you'll need to take at least maths and english, and get a minimum of 4 in both. English literature and english language are separate gcse's.

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N64Andysaurus92@reddit

I have 13 GCSEs from A* to C grade and then three A Levels.

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jabertsohn@reddit

The standard for "okay" back when I was taking them was English Language, Maths, Combined Sciences (2 GCSEs) and 1 other. Meaning an absolute minimum of 5 GCSEs.

The standard for "good" was English Language, English Literature, Maths, Combined Sciences (2 GCSEs) or all three individual Sciences, at least one of History or Geography, and one Foreign Language. Meaning 7-9.

The standard for "great" was anything on top of that, but with diminishing returns above about 10.

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JK_UKA@reddit

What are you looking to do? Do you want to go to university or just a college course?

I got into university doing an access course after only having 4 basic GCSE’s, many courses are pretty accessible if you’re willing to put the work in, you’ll need to speak directly to the place you want to study to get the exact requirements

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Sad-Nectarine-6395@reddit (OP)

I definitely want to go to college idk about uni

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JK_UKA@reddit

Colleges usually run open days around this time of year so you can see what you like and what they have to offer.

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_Nefarium@reddit

Are you not already in school? You should have a chat with one of your tutors/teachers.

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gibbygibson987@reddit

english literature, english language, maths, and at least one science degree is probably all you "need", but most people do any number from ~9 to 12

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MomentoVivere88@reddit

Best speaking to a school for advice. Different exam boards cover same subjects, but differently eg: my Science GCSEs were not separate, I covered biology, chemistry and physics but it gave 2 GCSEs with my School's Exam Board. My English was 2 GCSEs, 1 for language and 1 for literature. The main ones needed would be English & Maths. You need them as a basic job level but also for entry into some more advance courses, etc.

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