GCSE Art - so much work!!

My DS did GCSE art finishing in 2019 (ie the last year before Corona, so the full course). He ended up getting an 8 (the second part, worth 40%, which culminated in the exam he got a 9, but the part counting for 60% which was done earlier on was not quite as good, and got an 8 so it averaged toa high 8) He did learn and grow a tremendous amount from it, but it was a massive amount of work. And yes, one of the things that was clearly very important was not so much being able to produce good artwork, but to be able to utilise the ideas of others to take you forward, and to understand them and the impact they were having and to be able to explain that in the notations.
A lot of the problem with the first part was that he picked his theme in Year 9 (they had a three year GCSE), even though they didn't do much that was part of the assessment in Year 9, and he struggled to develop it the way he gradually came to understand it needed to be developed. It didn't have as much scope as other themes he could have picked (or at least he couldn't quite find the way to fully do it). With the second part (ie the 40%), they were given a word in January of the exam year (ie for him 2019) and he had to develop his artwork around that. Having now got a much better understanding of what they were looking for, he was able to brainstorm and pick an understanding of the word that allowed him the capacity to really develop the theme in his artwork, and so the whole portfolio on that section held together so much better. He was a bit disapointed with the 8, as he really wanted a 9, but it is hard (for me at least as his mum) not to see how the second part was not head and shoulders above the first part - mostly because while the artwork was good in the first part, it didn't have quite the same sense of developing out the theme leading to the final piece. The second part effectively told a story about his development towards the final theme, in a way the first part didn't as convincingly (partly because of the theme he chose - it was harder to know where to go in the end).
Hope this helps to explain why GCSE Art is so unbelievably time consuming. It is not just that you have to create the Art - and painting takes an incredible amount of time, but to do really well you have to structure the whole portfolio in this way and tell this story, and that in itself is immensely time consuming

My DD chose to take art. It's not really her thing, but I'm an artist so she was able to bring course work home and I did it. She passed and has never needed it until she did her Masters. Luckily only abstract art was needed.

My DD did it last year so all the work was mainly coursework.

I barely saw her she was using every spare minute doing art. Thank God she found it calming and enjoyable.

I hated it felt it was not realistic expectation to put on a child with about other subjects to prepare for.

@HelloDulling she’s Y11

Yes it’s a lot of work, my dc loved it, took it at A level, foundation and now at degree level. If your child has no intention of studying art long term then they’re better off not taking it.

Dd did a level art, music and English lit.

She did well at English lit , got an A*. Other 2 not so good. She had to throw music under the bus due to time constraints and got a D, Art was her favourite subject (she has exhibited locally and sold various pieces), she got a C. A level art, it turned out, was not about being good at art.

My DS now hates art, he’s been fine doing his own style. He is having to complete a horrible piece in a style that he dislikes. I feel so sorry for him as he is very academic and probably would’ve preferred to do another subject instead.

Not my DD’s experience. She seems to be cruising through Art (touch wood). Does some work at home but not too much time. Rest is done in class and current prediction is 7/8. Must admit I’m surprised as always heard it was a lot but so far that’s not what it’s like here.

DD did two art based GCSEs, she got ahead early on one of them, so she wasn't swamped with two lots of work to finish at the last minute. She got A*and A. The only advantage was they were the subjects least affected by Corona, as they were already assessment heavy.

There are YouTube videos of the sketchbooks of students who get top grades, which are helpful, in terms of quantity and quality of work. A couple of my daughter's friends received lower grades despite being more talented and producing better work. You need to show development and quite a bit of weight is given to annotation too with some (all?) exam boards. Friends produced some beautifully executed pieces, but it wasn't enough.

Agree, GCSE art is extremely time consuming so much so that it almost put my DD off pursuing her passion. She went on to do A-level art and it was definitely less time consuming which was important as she did it alongside two essay-heavy academic subjects.

The A-level course focussed more on experimentation and seemed more about 'the journey' of getting to a final piece rather than high volumes. Definitely quality over quantity and DD really enjoyed A-level much more than GCSE.

Please don't let the ridiculous GCSE workload discourage your DD from pursuing art if that's what she wants to do!

I feel slightly bad - I'd say my DS is on the lazy side of things and he did Art GCSE and got a 7, so he must have worked hard!!! He prefers to be very independent with school work so I get next to no information about his workload.

she laughed when her teacher said during our parent/teacher meeting that they should be spending 5 hours a week on each subject

Even 5 hours a week sounds stupidly high considering most students will be taking 9 or 10 subjects. Please tell me that's including time in lessons as well as time at home?

My daughter coped with art GCSE fine, and does it at A level and says they really haven't started work that will go towards their grade, which she finds frustrating (meaning she is doing work but it won't count).
By far History is the most intensive workload - I'd say a good 75% of her out of classroom work is spent doing history. She got an 8 in both subjects so she is not unused to work, but she laughed when her teacher said during our parent/teacher meeting that they should be spending 5 hours a week on each subject - she said after it's more like 5 hours a day! An exaggeration, but not by much, though it may be that particular teacher's expectation and standards. Art seems a doddle in comparison currently.

DD doing art and product design. Planning to do both for A-level too. It’s so much work, but it’s work she enjoys. She’d rather that than spending half the time, but on subjects she’s had no interest in.

It’s a crazy amount of work! My DD is really struggling with it. She’s constantly trying to catch up. Amazing at art but definitely won’t be doing A level

I’m trying to talk my dd out of A level.

I used to teach it! It’s loads of work

My child is doing A Level Art and enjoying it, but yes, the amount of content needed for both GCSE and A levels is huge. However, she still much prefers it to the more academic subjects even if her hand is cramping by the end of the night!

We've found it to be a huge amount of work, and this year's Y11 have done much less coursework because of Covid, so they are behind previous years. But DC still wants to do it for A level.

My DS, is struggling with the amount of art work he needs to produce, he tends to work quite slowly and carefully so he's happy with each piece but he just doesn't have enough. He's now decided not to take it at A level because he's finding it quite stressful.

I am a year 11 form tutor and asked my art girls if they would recommend it to my daughter and they all said no! They are all great at art but say the workload is just too much.

My dd is thriving in art. She is much more a person that works better with course work than revision tho.

Trying to persuade her to do a level.