CCEA GCSE Combined Science: Double Award Science units and 2027 dates

CCEA GCSE Combined Science: Double Award Science

CCEA does not have a course called Combined Science. Its equivalent is GCSE Double Award Science, first taught from September 2017, which counts as two GCSEs and covers Biology, Chemistry and Physics in one course. Students must take at least 40% of the assessment, by unit weighting, at the end of the course, and each unit can be resat once. Foundation tier reaches notional grades C* to G, and Higher tier reaches A* to D with an allowable E. You can enter different units at different tiers.

CCEA Double Award papers

Unit 7 also has Booklet A, three externally marked pre-release practicals (Biology, Chemistry and Physics) done in school in the final year, taking 3 hours and worth 7.5%. Units B1, C1 and P1 and Unit 7 Booklet B each include a 6-mark question that tests quality of written communication, marked with a banded mark scheme. CCEA morning papers normally start at 9.15am. Dates are from CCEA's final GCSE timetable; see our CCEA GCSE timetable 2027.

Double Award grades

CCEA turns unit results into uniform marks, adds them, and awards a double grade on a scale from A*A* to GG, where A*A* is the highest. Below GG the result is unclassified (U). A Data Leaflet including the Periodic Table of the Elements is part of the specification. See GCSE grades in Northern Ireland for how CCEA grades compare with 9 to 1.

Worked examples in CCEA Double Award style

Biology: breathing rate

A student breathes 3.6 dm³ of air at each breath and takes 5 breaths per minute. Volume per minute is volume per breath times breaths per minute:

Chemistry: moles of sodium hydroxide

Find the moles in 8.0 g of NaOH (Ar: Na = 23, O = 16, H = 1):

Physics: kinetic energy

A 2 kg trolley moves at 3 m/s. Use kinetic energy = ½ × mass × speed squared:

Use the daily paper as a short timed mock for CCEA Double Award Science

Uni-Sine publishes a new free daily paper on each track: GCSE Combined Science Foundation and GCSE Combined Science Higher. It is a short timed mock: 8 questions worth 25 to 35 marks, marked instantly, with worked answers. It is not a full exam paper and it is not written by the exam board, so use it as a quick timed practice test alongside the board's own specimen and past papers.

• What it covers well: cells and health, ecology, atomic structure and the periodic table, reactions, forces, electricity, waves and energy, mixed across the three sciences.
• What it does not cover: the separate Biology, Chemistry and Physics units. One Combined Science paper mixes all three sciences in 8 questions, so to rehearse a single CCEA unit use the Biology, Chemistry or Physics tracks, and use CCEA papers for the practical Unit 7.

Do one daily mixed paper under time, then pick the single-science track for the unit coming up on the timetable.

Exam answers

Uni-Sine does not publish official answers, past paper answers or mark schemes from the exam board. The answers and a worked mark scheme for each daily paper come with that day's paper once it is marked, so you can see where every mark was won or lost.

Common mistakes in CCEA Double Award

• Revising by subject but not by date. Nine papers on six dates mean some sciences sit on the same morning.
• Skipping Unit 7. It is 25% of the grade.
• Looking for a Combined Science grade. CCEA reports a double grade, such as BB.
• Forgetting the Data Leaflet. Use it for Ar values rather than learning them.

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