GCSE options...how much do they really matter?

My DD does art as a hobby and that's what has inspired her to consider it. She might be put off now though because she wants to do Fine Art and it looks like she will have to do art and design instead.

@hells and this proves that it is. For he is a nogoodnik. and a knownothingnik. At the same time (impressive array of rubbishness, he displays).

According to DD1's friends, art GCSE is a sisyphean ordeal. Yet, at the same time, they love it. Go figure.

Mordion - I don't think Gove thinks it is academic :)

gCSE art is loads of work. Loads

Hi Bells, thanks for that information, its good to hear it from somebody with experience because it's been hard to get objective information from her teachers about it because the last few weeks has been like a sales pitch for DD, all the teachers are telling her how good their subjects are and want her to do them.

Hi Dizzy. Just a word or caution - Art GCSE has been very very very time consuming (can't emphasise that enough)! The problem with my DD doing both Art and Music is that she wants high grades in both and both subjects are 'never finished' - if you understand what I mean. DD spent the weekend before this last one finishing her art portfolio when she needed to be revising for her 3 science GCSE exams last week. And then she brought more art home at the weekend and has now started her exam prep for art. Her final music composition needs to be finished this week so again lots of work on this. She often stays late in school for both these subjects. BUT she has enjoyed them both :)

@gelo - that's because she didn't want to though, isn't it. There is no reason why any child can't get up to grade 3 on an instrument (or singing) by the time they are 15/16. There's no reason why they should, of course - but no reason why they shouldn't.

My DD1 finds the speaking and listening in French almost impossible. Your DD is good at it, but not everyone is. Don't assume that just because your child can do something, everyone can.

@gelo Well, music isn't the right choice for everyone, but that doesn't mean it's not academic, which was the thing I was taking issue with. Believe me, sciences aren't the right choice for everyone. Neither is French.

DD is making her choices at the moment. She wants to do medicine at university so is going to go for triple science plus a language (French or German) and then geography and either Fine Art or Music. She can't choose between Fine Art and Music; unlike me she is very good at both (sorry, stealth boast there!), she's got a grade 3 in music already but she enjoys art more.
We've not yet had the options meeting at school (it's next week) but we just had parents evening, I thought they would give out the options sheet then but they didn't.
Any useful websites out there?

people around grade 2 or 3 do consider music seeker - they ask themselves do I have a realistic chance of getting to ~grade 4 and preferably 5 in the 2 years between making their option choices and taking the exams. They don't always make the right judgement.

And french speaking is more or less a memory test these days as you can plan what you are going to say with books/internet/friends and then just learn it. Listening isn't too bad if you are good at guessing either (my dd appears to understand no spoken french at all but gained a high A on that exam, from doing all the past papers she could, studying the mark schemes and knowing the kind of things they might be asking for a few weeks beforehand). She is grade 2 on an instrument and no way could she have gained an even half way decent performance mark if she'd chosen music.

But I don't think you would be considering music GCSE unless you were at least grade 3 level, would you?

Ah mordion, you are a musical family, so grade 3 seems easy to you, but there are lots of dc for whom that is a struggle and for whom performance ability is a key factor when deciding to do music GCSE or not.

@hells well, that can happen in any subject. See the English hoohah last year. That's the risk you take with internally moderated assessments.

@gelo You only have to be grade 3 level. The maximum they will evaluate at is grade 5. At 15/16. DD2 is grade 5 level singing at 9. It's really not a huge ask. It's just whether the kid wants to do it enough. French speaking and listening is a much much bigger ask. Massively so.

I would say that music is academic too but as gelo says the standard required is very high. DD is grade 6 in 2 instruments but has been advised by a friend (grade 7) who took A level that all their compositions were marked down and they ended up with lower marks - which is not good when high grades are needed for uni etc.

I do think it's a shame that kids think like this, I really do. I'm glad that dd's school insisted on at least one non academic subject. As I said, I do like a hinterland.

The thing is with music GCSE is if you are not at a high enough standard on an instrument or voice it's very difficult to score highly on the performance part mordion, and unlike a science ISA it's difficult to improve your grade on that section of the exam in a short space of time.

Music GCSE is academic. The practical element dilutes the academic nature of the discipline no more and no less then the ISAs for physics, chemistry and biology or the speaking and listening tests for MFL.

My DD (now yr11) has taken both Art and Music and they have both been very very time intensive compared to her more academic subjects! She is not choosing to take either at AS level both because of the amount of effort involved and the fact she doesn't want to risk low marks (she is not going to follow either as a career).

When I'm world dictator, history will be compulsory!

Yes probably yellow. But I do know one ambitious young lady who didn't take drama or music or art gcse in spite of strong parental encouragement to do at least one because she didn't want to risk a lower grade. Her parents still think it was a shame, but she is very happy with her 11 or 12 straight A*s - that's what mattered to her so I suppose it was the right choice for her to take subjects she felt more in control of. I still think it's a shame that some (and I know it's only a few) selection criteria weigh against taking a risk with creative subjects, even though it's probably perfectionist tendencies rather than consideration of admissions criteria that put people off them. At least they are all things you can do as hobbies even without a GCSE.

Not sure gelo. It suggests possibly too narrow a forward plan. I think there's merit in taking each step at a time.