GCSE's and Genes

27th August 2014

Hundreds of thousands of GCSE students will have recieved their grades, with mixed feelings towards the results - and the hashtag #GCSEresultsdayexcuses trending on twitter. 

Some students may be pleased to hear that while hard work is important, studies have shown that GCSE results are also influenced by a myriad of other factors - including your genes. So you really can blame your parents.

A study published by the researchers at King's College London showed that around 58% of the variation between student's GCSE results could be explained  by genetic make up. How do we know? Identical twins (who share 100% of their genes and 100% of their environment) have more similar GCSE scores than non-identical twins (who share 100% of their environment, but only 50% of their genes).

The shared environment was shown to account for just over a third of the variation between students; a surprisingly low figure as this category includes; schools the pupils went to and the teachers they had, effects of the home environment (including the family), peers, boyfriends and girlfriends, reading (or lack thereof), the internet, computer games, and all the other things teenagers fret about.

You can read more here

 


Tags:

#GCSEresultsdayexcuses, GCSE results,


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