Science Trilogy

Combined Science Trilogy

What Does the GCSE Science (Trilogy) Course Offer Me ?

· This is a double award · It is worth 2 GCSE’s · All 3 sciences are taught as individual disciplines. · www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/science/gcse/combined-science-trilogy-8464

What Does the Course Entail?

· The specification content is reduced compared with separate science qualifications, so there is a concomitant decrease in teaching time for Trilogy. · There are a reduced number of required practicals in Trilogy (7 compared with 10), which are taught integrally, without any practical examination. The latter content is tested in the written papers. · The teaching of the content is started in Year 9, to overlap with separate science content, and then completed in Years 10 and 11. · At the end of Year 11, 2 papers are sat in each science, each of 1 hour 15 mins duration.

Why Choose Trilogy?

· A pupil might choose this route for a variety of different reasons; · It might be that a pupil prefers Humanities subjects and envisages these as their ikely A level progression. · A pupil might want to be able to choose another alternative option subject by studying three sciences in the form of Combined Science(to gain 2 GCSE qualifications), rather than three science subjects (to gain 3 GCSE qualifications.) · Pupils who consider that their academic strengths are not scientific may benefit from the combined science route for a number of reasons. Firstly, some of the more difficult content is not present within the Trilogy specification and secondly, as many schools nationally only offer the Combined Science option, the grade boundaries for Trilogy are significantly lower than those for separate science subjects.

Beyond GCSE

· Studying Combined Science does not preclude a student from studying science at A level, providing that they meet the GCSE criteria stated in the separate subject sections for both Science and Mathematics. However, we strongly recommend that pupils planning to study science subjects at a level choose three separate subjects at GCSE.

·Pupils who consider that their academic strengths are not scientific may benefit from the combined science route for a number of reasons. Firstly, some of the more difficult content is not present within the Trilogy specification and secondly, as many schools nationally only offer the Combined Science option, the grade boundaries for Trilogy are significantly lower than those for separate science subjects.

Curriculum Enrichment

· As with the separate science option, pupils are encouraged to take part in a wide range of extracurricular activities, including lectures from outside speakers and online science debates. · An annual biochemistry competition is run by Liverpool University as well as classroom science “stretch and challenge” activities. · Pupils can take part in Liverpool Young Physicist and extracurricular STEM activities