GCSE Integrated Science
Integrated Science (Single Award) asks learners to read a pre-release Resource Folder worth a third of the Unit 1 paper, judge how reliable health and climate information is, write balanced evaluations, and write up a scientific enquiry alone under high control using precise scientific terms. Its numeracy load is heavy: Appendix D lists units, percentages, significant figures, substituting into equations, plotting graphs and, at higher tier, standard form, rearranging equations and gradients, all applied to energy costs, efficiency, density, motion and practical data. The single biggest thing Key Stage 3 should build is routine, confident handling of practical data: measuring with units, calculating means and values from equations, and plotting and explaining graphs.
- Awarding body
- WJEC
- Level
- Level 1 and Level 2
- First taught
- September 2026
- Amount of literacy work
- Medium
- Amount of numeracy work
- High
- Specification
- Open the specification
How this qualification is assessed
- Unit 1: Living on Earth: Written examination (tiered), 1 hour 30 minutes, 72 marks, includes pre-release Resource Folder, 45%
- Unit 2: Science in a Changing World: Written examination (tiered), 1 hour 30 minutes, 72 marks, 45%
- Unit 3: Scientific Enquiry: One enquiry from a choice of two: practical task (1 hour) and written task (1 hour), 28 marks, externally marked by WJEC, 10%
Skills that use Communicating with symbols
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Substituting into and rearranging equations
Learners substitute values into equations for speed, acceleration, weight, resultant force, wave speed, density, efficiency and electrical cost, using correct units. Changing the subject of an equation is assessed at higher tier only.
Numeracy: Communicating with symbols, Strategic competence, Measurement, Calculation
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils time a toy car over a measured distance and use speed = distance ÷ time, setting out the equation, the substitution and the answer in m/s on three lines.
- Year 8
- Pupils measure the mass of classroom objects and calculate their weight on Earth, the Moon and Mars from given gravitational field strengths, writing units at each step.
- Year 9
- Pupils find the density of rock samples, then rearrange density = mass ÷ volume to predict the mass of a larger block of the same rock.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Appendix D, Mathematical Skills, page 46
“Substitute numerical values into algebraic equations and solve them using appropriate units for physical quantities”
Progression step 3
I can communicate my answers using correct mathematical form.
I can use appropriate notation, symbols and units of measurement.
I can recognise, model and apply the underlying mathematical structures and ideas within problems, in order to formulate and solve them.
Progression step 4
I can demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between a formula representing a measurement and the units used.
I can use the order of operations including brackets and powers.
I can use appropriate notation, symbols and units of measurement, including compound measures.
Progression step 5
I can communicate my answers using correct mathematical form.
I can use appropriate notation, symbols and units of measurement, including compound measures.
I can recognise, model and apply the underlying mathematical structures and ideas within problems, in order to formulate and solve them.
Good to know
- Unit 1 includes a pre-release Resource Folder released one month before the examination: '24 marks will be allocated to questions linked to the pre-release material', and candidates receive a clean copy of the folder with the question paper (page 11).
- Unit 3 Task 2 (22 marks) is written alone: 'Learners must work independently in high controlled conditions' (page 33). In Task 1 (6 marks) learners 'may work in groups of no more than three' (page 33).
- Higher tier only mathematics is shown in bold in Appendix D (page 46): standard form, changing the subject of an equation, and determining and interpreting the gradient, slope and intercept of a linear graph. Calculating acceleration from the gradient of a speed-time graph (page 13) and calculating rate from a straight line (page 20) are also higher tier content.
- The uncertainty formula is provided: 'There is a formula to calculate this which you will be given in an exam' (Appendix C, page 44).
- AO3, 'Analyse, interpret and evaluate scientific information, processes, techniques and procedures', carries 25% of the qualification (page 35).
- The specification awards no separate marks for spelling, punctuation and grammar and makes no statement about calculator use.
Links with other qualifications
The Appendix D mathematics overlaps closely with GCSE Mathematics and Numeracy, and the carbon footprint, air quality and energy cost work overlaps with Geography.
Source: WJEC GCSE Integrated Science (Single Award) specification, teaching from 2026, for award from 2028, © WJEC CBAC Ltd 2025.