GCSE Options - academic child picking multiple creative options

Creative subjects are no less academic or accepted by universities. I did 11 GCSEs, which included a good chunk of creative choices and then went on to study English Lit and Lang at a great uni. It never did me any harm at all and I actually loved the work I was doing, which really helped lessen the stress.

OP - you will probably find that because of the progress 8 buckets the options will be organised in a way that children have to choose at least 1 option out of a language, history, geography or computer science. Schools that make EBacc compulsory will also insist on a language but I think you’ve already said yours doesn’t.

That’s right Everard , and in my experience of two dc doing history it tends to dominate any A level workload so in general I would think it would be difficult to jump in at A level without GCSE

The other thing about history is that it is quite technique based with source questions et. And these skills are gained at GCSE and honed and developed during A level

It's also one of the A levels with the lowest proportion of A* and As.

The OP has already said her Dd will be doing at least 1 humanity. From what I gather her options will look like this

Maths
English x 2
Double Science
History or Geography (if she’s not doing a language then she will have to take Hist, Geog or Comp Science for P8 & Op hasn’t mentioned CS)
1 other as yet unchosen subject
Art
Music
(This is your standard 9 GCSE’s that most schools offer)
Then Btec Perf Arts on top.

My only reservation would be the extra workload of the Perf Arts. As a 10th subject it will most likely be disregarded if the Dd is applying to a more academic uni.

It sounds like dissuading the BTEC would be a good idea and using that option to include Geog/Hist/MFL/triple science. Check if the teacher for Spanish at GCSE will change. This may well be the case. If she is able across the board, then I agree with you that she is limiting herself with her choices.

One of my DC is doing both a performance and a portfolio GCSE, and that took some fairly careful thought because of the demands on time. It's working out fine though.

I'd have actively put her off three.

RS is always a good choice to support an application to read English at university, if she really can't abide the prospect of history.

The other thing about history is that it is quite technique based with source questions et. And these skills are gained at GCSE and honed and developed during A level

That's not completely true, and doing A Level History without the GCSE is regarded as one of the cases where it's relatively straightforward to do; the periods studied are usually completely different to those at GCSE.

I think it depends where you go. One sixth form near us has changed their A level syllabus to more closely match what the majority of schools nearby are studying because they found children coming from other schools into the sixth form were struggling compared to children who'd already studied similar periods at that school at GCSE. Most sixth forms near us (well the four that we've visited) have huge crossover with GCSE subjects that DD is doing. It probably also depends on your child, I know my DD would suffer massively with confidence if she went into a class feeling everyone else had more background than her, but others would take it in their stride.

She can't be really 'sure' age 13 what she wants to study at university.

She hasn't done GXCSE courses yet.
She hasn't started A levels yet.

She may think she knows, but a good % will change their mind between 13 and 18.

So the aim should be to choose GCSEs that she is capable of, will enjoy, and don't rule out too many options at this stage.

History is very information heavy and even if you were able to take it without a GCSE I think it would be a big challenge without being able to build on knowledge.

That's not completely true, and doing A Level History without the GCSE is regarded as one of the cases where it's relatively straightforward to do; the periods studied are usually completely different to those at GCSE. However, a lot of schools are reluctant to let you do it, and the loss of AS half way through is going to exacerbate that, there's the problem of predicted grades, and a three year GCSE means that it's three years since you did some history rather than two when you start Y12.

Encouraging children who are looking to go to university to drop all essay-based subjects at 13 seems crazy.

So... if she's pretty sure she will want to do Eng. Lit at university

Then it's not a great collection of GCSEs, because selective universities will tend to favour students with two essay based A Levels.

The standard ticket for humanities degrees is two out of English, History and a language, with some variation around the third. To do English, Art and Music at A Level is a huge amount of work (even assuming appropriate instrumental skills) and high grades are difficult to get, and if it came down to "which of the one-grade misses will we admit" you are less likely to make the cut.

As others have said, this is why three year GCSEs are shite. They force children to make decisions with fairly serious implications six years ahead of when the chickens will come home to roost.

If she doesn't want to do sciences or languages then I think history and geography are the only other options for facilitating A levels assuming Eng lit already. History is very information heavy and even if you were able to take it without a GCSE I think it would be a big challenge without being able to build on knowledge. You probably want to look at university courses as someone already suggested to work out whether she really needs two facilitating A levels, as these are mainly to keep options open if undecided, but for the sort of things your DD wants to do it may not matter.

Too much coursework to do any of it justice TBH

[DD does 2 creative GCSEs, 2 languages, 1 humanity; DS did 1 creative, 2 languages, 2 humanities - in some ways it's not the number of creative subjects, just making sure that the rest provide breadth and academic rigour, that is the issue]

Interestingly, although they are in the main pretty relaxed about GCSE combinations (and give 5 options), Art + Drama + Music is the one combination that DC's school doesn't allow.

Art is HUGELY time consuming (DD does Art + a fairly arty DT subject, and many hours of extra-curricular dance, and despite a formidable work ethic there is ALWEAYS more Art to do).

Music and Drama aren't so bad - DS did Music - but there are elements of group work in both, and also those who do them tend to be in the school shows, and concerts, and extra-curricular ensembles, and county / area music groups and... and... and... so although the 'formal' out of school hours commitment is lower than Art, the tendency is for students successfully doing, and interested in, these subjects, to spend many hours involved in them.

Will universities consider a students with more creative GCSE subjects, less favourably than one with fewer?

I really doubt it, especially as it seems quite a lot of schools are only allowing 8 GCSEs now. They will be interested in whether she's done appropriate subjects at A level though.

*Are there any other negatives (I did think she might struggle to pick 2 facilitating subjects as A Levels based on her GCSE choices as she hates maths and science).
*
So... if she's pretty sure she will want to do Eng. Lit at university, maybe work back from there? Look at course entry requirements for that at a few unis which seem like realistic choices for her. Consider also what A level subjects are actually available in whichever sixth form she's likely to attend. If she does history for gcse, maybe she'd do Eng Lit, history and philosophy A levels for instance, if philosophy is available. But it would certainly make sense if her 9th and 10th choices do support sensible A levels - and it seems from what you say, history and either geography or RS might suit best.

One of my daughters did music, drama and D&T and it hasn't been a problem. She did double science, but did fit in both a humanity and a language (plus English x 2 and maths, obviously).

I think the coursework is more time-consuming for art than it is for D&T, though.

Try to persuade her to swap one for a humanity and/mfl. 3 practical subjects can be very time consuming and the lack of humanity/mfl makes her academic subjects look unbalanced. It is likly at least 2 will be in same group for timetabling anyway. Double/triple science may take the same timetabled lessons and include all 3 subjects.

Personally depending on her other two options I think it sounds perfectly rounded but the workload would concern me.

As I said before all the other schools I’ve come across the children only take 9 GCSE’s so you can sort of disregard the PA Btec as she will have the 9. I also don’t subscribe to the notion that academic children have to do double science if they are not that way inclined.