Has DD chosen time consuming GCSEs?

[starfish4]

I appreciate all GCSEs will take a certain amount of time and hard work, but just wondering if anyone could give their thoughts on whether DD's choices are generally going to be more time consuming than others, or just average?

She's doing geography, French, art textiles (we know this is going to be time consuming), music and ethics. Also doing Maths, Eng Lang & Eng Lit and triple science.

DD isn't lazy, but she's been chosen to do triple science and not happy as she feels she's at the bottom of the set and just doesn't get half of it. If she's going to have a heavy workload, we both feel she'd be better doing double and being able to concentrate on doing her best with other subjects. I suspect she's likely to end up with GCSE grades As and Bs, but an A is in sight for French, she's desperate for an A is music which I think is hard to achieve.

[BitOutOfPractice]

She's been chosen to do triple science?! Didn't she have a choice?

[DeidreChambersWhatACoincidence]

My dd has just finished yr 11. She did geog, French, textiles, and art as well as core subjects in maths, English and double science.

She was being asked to do triple science but tbh it just wasn't something she loved enough to devote so much to. We were advised that Triple is mainly aimed at people wanting to continue with science later or onto university which she probably won't. I'm glad she didn't take it on really because it is a heavy workload and I think you have to really want to be immersed in it to do well. As it is she managed the double pretty well and her teacher has been excellent.

She thoroughly enjoyed geog and textiles and may continue with them at A level. She did art GCSE too. This has been a struggle tbh. The teaching of it at her school was chaotic and badly managed. The curriculum for it anyway is rather repetitive and uninspiring, She pressed on with it but it wasn't what she'd hoped it would be.

French for her as darn hard, but through sheer determination she did it. Huge relief at the end

Maths and English were as expected but she enjoyed them and had very good teachers which always helps.

[SoupDragon]

I would have thought music might have th potential to be time consuming.

DSs GCSEs don't seem to have been time consuming as such (apart from Art!). He did triple science (chosen by the school) but he was top of the sets. I think if your DD feels she might struggle then it is worth talking to her teachers to see exactly what they think and whether it would actually benefit her to drop to double. If she is unlikely to be heading towards a career requiring science GCSEs or doesn't want to do a science at A Level, I'm not sure what the benefit of triple is for her.

[TeenAndTween]

Is triple in the same time as double, or does it take an extra option block?
Triple in the same time is very fast paced.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

music isnt so bad if she gets on top of it in year 10. Id advise thinking carefully about how to do the compositions so that she dont end up with zillions of rehearsals with increasingly irate class mates

[bigTillyMint]

DD did Art textiles and it IS very time-consuming, but she loved it and the teacher was fab at giving them deadlines, etc so she kept it under control.
I believe Music is similarly very time-consuming as they have projects to complete...

Triple Science DD found was very time-consuming because of CA's and revision. She is currently advising DS to do Double and I feel the same - if you don't really just "get" Science, then Double is a better option - more likely to get 2 decent grades than 3 scraping a passes IYSWIM.

[titchy]

Music could well be a doddle if she plays to a decent standard. 2 performances = 30% of total marks. If she gets the compositions sorted in year 10, again 30%, then the exam is fairly straightforward for someone who plays and understands music. Again languages tend to be done throughout years 10 and 11 so the workload at the end of year 11 isn't too bad. Overall sounds ok to me.

[mummytime]

Sounds fine to me - I assume she loves Textiles. That will be a lot of work. She needs to be disciplined to keep on top of the Music, but it should be fine. Triple Science can be done with fairly little work if you are good at Science (I have one child to whom that applies).

In my DCs school if you can do triple and it won't be too much of a stress then that is the best idea, because you will be in the top sets with less disruption.

[Millymollymama]

Lots of schools advise one Art GCSE, so music or art textiles would have been suitable. We felt Geography was less work than History and DD didn't do Music but did a 2nd MFL instead. She did 11 GCSEs but honestly, 10 is fine. Is there a need for Ethics? If she does not need triple science, do the double. Workload is one thing, but results might be better if she has more time too. 10 GCSEs at higher grades is more impressive.

[RaspberryLemonPavlova]

DS1 didn't find music particularly time consuming, but he plays instruments anyway so the performance part was no hassle. Geography he found very time consuming.

[stareatthetvscreen]

my two dcs did music and it was quite hard work.art also.if yr dd is not mad keen on science i wd spk to the school and ask to just do science.umpteen gcses are no use really - the grades are what counts.

[BertrandRussell]

Does she have any idea what she wants to do next?

[mrsfrankieheck]

The school really wanted DS to do triple science but he didn't want to. He got A A and was much happier not to have to do 11 science lessons a week.

Her choices look good to me but swap science if she isn't doing it at A level.

[AtiaoftheJulii]

Dd2 did similar to those choices, but with history instead of geography, and Spanish instead of music. Textiles was a lot of work, but manageable, and she really enjoyed it. She ummed and aahed over double vs triple science and eventually went for triple on the grounds that she thought the behaviour in lessons would be better. We talked about it quite a lot over y10 and 11, and if things had got too much I would have strongly encouraged her to drop the last science papers and just get the double award (as it was we just gently let her know we thought it would be fine if she did).

[Lancelottie]

DS did double science even though he wanted to do it at A-level (and indeed at university).

Younger DS did music and let it take over his life completely, but I don't remember it involving irate classmates. I think his composition was voice and guitar so presumably he did it all himself.

[IndridCold]

DS was advised to take RS rather than geography, because it was less time consuming.

[starfish4]

Thanks for your replies. I've been saying to her I'd be happy to speak to the school. Apparently they can go back to doing double science in Year 10 as long as they complete the coursework they've missed - they've already started on coursework for double, but nothing for triple.

They will get five science lessons whether they do triple or double.

I had thought music and art would be heavy. Her private music teacher has volunteered to do compositions with - apparently this is allowed, so at least that would save on arguments.

Workwise, she'd love something to do with music or maybe interior design. She wants an A* in French, so whether she would use this for anything? She's not talking about it workwise, but she's interested in the environment so that's the one thing science might be handy for.

[Ionacat]

As a music teacher who has taught GCSE, she shouldn't be allowed to record her compositions with her private teacher unless her private teacher comes into school. A teacher has to be 100% that the composition is her own work, and therefore a private teacher can't make suggestions about the composition in anyway. It should be all controlled assessment. I've had private teachers come in and accompany for performances in the past or recorded another part with me there. Most of mine do their compositions in Sibelius and we submit the Sibelius score and recording, job done with less stress!