[matbon12]

Im not sure if im in the right place here but oh well...

I done a history GCSE course in year 8 and took a mock gcse exam and got an A*. When doing the GCSE course I was told that the exam would not actually count as a GCSE. Does anybody know how I can a history GCSE that actually counts now in year 9?

Thanks

This post has been edited by matbon12: 03 September 2008 - 08:47 PM

[MrJohnDClare]

You are obviously a very bright pupil!

A 'mock' GCSE is just an in-school thing, marked by the teachers.
I carries no weight as an external qualification.

What you would have to do to convert your potential to get a GCSE into an actual GCSE would be to see your History teachers (preferably, woth your parents there) and ask them if the school would enter you for the actual GCSE. You would then do then exam next June.

Then you would be able to make sure you had learned enough history to be able to answer the questions in the exam.

You can get a GCSE exam by two pathways:
1. two written papers plus coursework - if you did this, you would need to arrange with your teachers to do the coursework.
2. three written papers - if you go this route, be aware that it involves a huge amount of content, much of which you probably have not done: this would all need to be studied.

It may well be that, through a love of History and a natural intelligence and flair for the subject, you ARE indeed ready to take the GCSE. If that is the case your teachers should be able to arrange the neccesaries.

What I fear is that the 'mock exam' you did was in fact just the paper (or part of a paper) which happened to overlap with some work you were doing. In such a case, whilst you may well have shown the potential to do well, I fear there would be oceans of content that you would need to address in order to be able to answer the whole GCSE exam. Again, if this is the case, then your teachers will advise.

The only other possibility is that you are home-taught. If that is the case, then you will need to find a centre at which you can take the exams - again, your local school will be able to advise.


On last thing. Once you have done the full external GCSE exam proper, then it lasts for ever - you would not need to redo it in Year 10-11. The drawback of this, of course, is that you would then do other subjects for those two years, and you would spend two years not doing History. f you love the subject so much, it might be better to wait and take History as a GCSE option, and spend those two years doing History.
You will still get your A*, and you will be able to go on to A-level.
People who do early-entry sometimes are very disappointed by the grade thry get.