Which of these GCSE options have the least coursework?

Don't really know about the ones in your possibles list, except for gcse Media Studies, which seems banal and also has required making posters etc.

But gcse psychology is on your reject list - I always thought that looked pretty straightforward - no controlled assessment component, learn a text book and regurgitate it in the exam.

What about cooking , most work done in class and theory will always be helpful to have this knowledge as a dancer. Don't know how work heavy it is though , but just a thought really . Best wishes whatever she choice she makes. What school surggested , they must know that she short on time and what her plans for future are , are her teachers not being more helpful and understanding of her plans .

Art is a good option if she enjoys it.
Coursework is completed during lessons. One homework a week.
60% of mark before final exam of 40%
If a student manages their time well it shouldn't affect outside activities.

DD1 Does Btec Sport (which I think is a Btec PE with sport chosen over dance). It is compulsory at her school, done in core PE time. She never has any homework and does no after school stuff for it. On track to get a B with minimal work.

Agree re considering the workload when lots of extra CA done.
Often an extra academic option can be less work than the practical subjects.
She chose triple science option over Drama or Catering and is glad she did judging by the workload some of her friends doing these have. Art seems to be the highest.

Would the Applied Business be useful for your DD considering she may well be self-employed as a dancer?

DD1 did media studies as an extra GCSE in Y10 (they compressed English into Y11), and it a) wasn't especially hard, and b) didn't involve very much outside class study.

DD2 is going FT at GCSE (and has people who wanted to do catering in her class as there weren't enough to run both courses) - that does involve out of school work - the controlled assessment/project has lots of research, and the regular practicals involve quite a bit of writing up.

I dont know about BTEC PE, but ds1 does GCSE PE and that is a lot of writing and hardly any sport IYSWIM.
its very involved, and he has had to do a lot of stuff at home.

DD does GCSE drama, which doesnt involve a lot of writing but a fair bit of time doing group work in the evening and weekends.

Media studies...hmm it sounds less effort to me than business or graphic design or catering.

DD also suggested child development, but I told her she'd be bored, as she knows it all already .

We are still planning academic A levels before dance college ... but we'll see.

DD is doing drama, which she is hoping will also help with the performance aspect of her dancing. She decided art was too time intensive. She could have done PE and used dance as one of her activities.

What does she want to do . tbh I think 12 is ridiculous if you do them for the sake of it . Better to get good grades in say , 10 imho. Media Studies is seen as "soft" but at least you can demonstrate analytical skills whereas History could be heavy going. How come she is selecting so late though isn't she already year 10/11?

My son has just retired from top level athletics and was told long ago by a huge household name athlete that ' you can study at any age but you will only be young and fit enough to follow your dream for a short time'.

In the circumstances I think I would go for media studies,if there's any coursework but it should all be done in school and it won't have additional out of school commitments.

Dominodonkey Wed 30-Jan-13 00:14:36
"Little or no time for home work? At gcse? Don't worry about the options, she is unlikely to do well in any subjects with a parent who clearly thinks that extra curricular activities are far more important than education. "

You fail to allow for the fact that in some families the extra-curricular activities are going to be the most important part of somebody's education.

There are many times in life when you can take GCSEs but a dancer has to learn while she is young.

My db at this age spent far more time working on his violin playing than he did on school work. He still did extremely well in his grades and is now a professor of an academic subject. Even though he did not stay in music forever, the work ethic and sheer stamina he acquired as a teenager stood him in good stead when he switched to academe later in life.

@SirBoobAlot making sure the workload is manageable whether or not you have outside interests is a very sensible thing to do. The courses offered are very coursework heavy with the exception of History but as the OP's daughter already has a balanced list of subjects including a language, a humanity and an arts subject then consideration of the last two does come down to what will create the least extra work.

does best

History Y7- Y9 produced vast amounts of HW so DD refused to have anything further to do with it.

Unfortunately it's maths and prep for controlled english assessments that cause work here.

GCSE drama only causes work for me (washing black clothes) not HW for DD.
Music causes very little.More I guess for DCs who need to practice an instrument (DD sings and would do lessons and choir anyway, singing's what she dies best), Geography a bit and Art quite a bit.

Mind you art is rather like a piece of string, you can make it take as long as you like. DD likes messing.

You might as well pat her on the back and say "Don't worry about your GCSEs, you have fun outside of school" if you are honestly going into her most important years at school with "we need a lighter option" as your priority.

And it really don't matter what her outside interests are, or how they will relate to what she wants to do, if she doesn't have good GCSE results, she will be set back regardless.

Think you really need to change your perspective on this. She will have to work hard for whatever subjects she studies.