GCSE History and Geography. A bad idea?

My youngest is doing this, plus 3 sciences. It's been fine, not problems fitting in the work at all. He enjoys them and both support good study skills for university. His school raised the same issue but that didn't put him off, he's fairly studious though.

My daughter chose to do both and they are her favourite subjects. We asked at parents eve and whilst both teachers said they were content heavy they still encouraged her to go for it. Our thinking was if she loves the subjects she’ll be happier putting the work in to get the grades.

Another here who has children who chose both History & Geography GCSEs (one with dyslexia). They’re content heavy but I’m not sure if there are any subjects that aren’t either content heavy or time consuming. Or both!

At my son's grammar there are very little GCSE options compared to other schools and lots of them do both history and geography. In some ways there is overlap because of learning the ability to for good essay writing is needed in both. My son does history, pe and drama - pe is quite a committment because you need to do 3 sports at a competitive level out of school. He was deciding between geography and drama - we encouraged him to do drama because he is shy and we thought it would be good for his confidence and he was keen to do less academic subjects. But if he enjoyed geography as you say your son does - we would have hands down encouraged him to do both history and geography - geography gives you a good perception of the world which is useful in this day and age of international working.

My DD really wants to do both, but sadly they clash in the options table, along with German which she also wants to do. It has put her in a real tizzy! The school does offer a 'Plus' programme where they study an extra GCSE in extracurricular time - she can take German this way, but Astronomy is also on offer and she also wants to do that! It's all teenage angst in this house.

When I did GCSE I did triple science, history and geography and 2 languages (All As) - but we are talking about the dark ages, so the content may well be different.

Though the problem now is what a levels to choose!

My ds is in yr 10 and doing both. He swapped last minute from computer science to art. There should be in the first term a little room for change. But doing history and geography he was always sure on. They’re his favourite subjects so yes like others have said why give one up? He’s also at a church school and they were fine with it.

Another one whose dc did both and did very well, (8s in both). If you are positive about it, your dc will feel confident to do it. Ignore the teacher.

My ds is in year 11 and doing both. He’s not one of life’s natural workers but is finding it fine and is on the way to 8/9 in both. There is a lot of content but if you enjoy it then that’s the main thing.

Strange response from school. If the child’s interest and ability is humanities why fight that? I did history and geography gcse and a level and dd doing both history and geography for gcse.

My DS is doing both and they are still two of his favourite subjects. He’s not overly keen on hard work but I think they’re interesting enough that he enjoys them. It does depend on the teacher and he misses being in school.

I have taught both subjects- if she likes them both then let her do them. I didn't have this option so it meant I could only pursue one.

My DD in Y9 also starting to choose options. We asked both History and Geography teachers about their views on her doing both and, while stressing the amount of content (as others have said), their responses encouraged her to do both. My only question to you would be that there is no mention of a language? I have encouraged my DD to think about one (if not two) languages because they are less about revising lots of content and more about keeping up as you go along.

Both my DDs did both as well as triple science. DD1 did RE as well (wasn't being taught as a GCSE by the time DD2's time rolled around).

DD2 did very well, found History far more content heavy than Geography, would have done Geography A level rather than Psychology if it had been on offer. DD1 also did very well in both, but took a different direction for A levels. It's perfectly doable.

My son does history and geography, he is managing OK( despite his SEN) as he is interested in both subjects.

It's better than going for a subject you don't have much enthusiasm for.

If they're her thing, go for it. Even if she just enjoys them, as long as she knows there may be a lot to learn, go for it.
Mine is likely to go a maths-y route, but is thoroughly enjoying doing both history and geography.

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DS did both at GCSE and at A level. If humanities are her thing and she enjoys them and is good at them of course she should do them.

DS also did RS and English too at GCSE both of which are essay subjects too and Econimics another essay subject at A level.

And he is dyslexic/dyspraxic and has slow processing but still got top grades in all.

It really shouldn't be an issue.

DD is choosing both as they're two of her favourite subjects. I can't see the logic of her picking something else she likes less and/or may not do as well at just because it seems less content heavy. As PP said, it seems like all GCSEs are very hard in some way now, so I'd rather she worked hard at subjects that she enjoys.

My DD only found it a problem in Mocks season... History, Geography and English - back to back exams on the Monday of one week, then over 2 days the following week... she found week one painful!

DS does both without any issues. His opinion is that history is far more content heavy than geography.

DD who is currently in Year 10 is doing both History and Geography. She goes to a catholic school and RE is mandatory also so she is actually doing all 3 humanity subjects. There is a lot of content but DD is very good at writing essays so this is definitely her skill set. She liked both subjects equally when she was deciding her options last year but now much prefers History. At the moment she thinks she will be taking History and English Lit for A level and is undecided about the 3rd.

I recently discounted one of our high school options because they didn't offer both history and geography. The two subjects go very well with skills learnt in each that are useful in other areas

Dd did both and RS and got 9s in all three. She only did 2 Sciences as she knew humanities were her thing. She was originally planning on History, Geography and Psychology for A Level but RS surged ahead of Geography at the last minute. At academic schools like hers there aren't loads of A Level options (no Sociology, Politics etc) so we felt she needed to keep her humanities options open for A Level purposes.

Dd found History GCSE very content heavy, but not Geography - she found that much easier (she occasionally wonders if she should have chosen it for A Level instead of History, as people tell her the same about A Level Geography!).