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 Vocabulary, spelling, grammar
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Using scientific vocabulary and terminology precisely
Learners must use the terms defined in Appendix C, such as independent variable, validity, resolution, precision, repeatability and systematic error, accurately in examinations and in the enquiry. Word equations also need precise chemical names.
Literacy: Vocabulary, spelling, grammar, Reading strategies, Clarity and vocabulary
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils keep a glossary page for variable, hypothesis and fair test, and use each word correctly in a sentence about their own practical.
- Year 8
- Pupils play a 'define it without saying it' game with accuracy, precision and anomaly, then label a set of class results using the right terms.
- Year 9
- Pupils take a weekly spelling and definition quiz on the Appendix C terms, then rewrite a weak evaluation so it uses resolution, random error and repeatability correctly.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit 3, page 33
“Learners should also demonstrate their use of scientific terminology (Appendix C) and mathematical skills (Appendix D).”
Progression step 3
I can use varied, appropriate and precise vocabulary including area of learning and experience/discipline-specific words for different purposes.
I can use strategies to correctly spell polysyllabic, complex and irregular words in the context of each area of learning and experience.
I can use a range of strategies to make meaning from words and sentences, including:
- knowledge of phonics
- word roots
- word families
- syntax
- text organisation
- prior knowledge of context.
Progression step 4
I have experienced a range of area of learning and experience/discipline-specific and general academic vocabulary, and can use them in my own communication.
I can use a variety of strategies and resources to spell familiar and unfamiliar vocabulary and area of learning and experience/discipline-specific words correctly.
Progression step 5
I can use a range of discipline-specific and general academic vocabulary accurately and precisely.
I can use strategies to spell discipline-specific and general academic words in appropriate contexts.
I can use a range of discipline-specific and general academic vocabulary in my own communication.
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.