Honest opinions on GCSE options - drama or DT

I know this has probably already been said but there is a lot to be said for doing something you enjoy too rather than academics.
My parents wanted me to do media studies over food tech and I wish I had ignored them as I really enjoyed food tech. Still annoyed about it nearly 30 years later.

Also Drama and English are very good for Law.

English Lit, Drama and History are popular A levels aming the medics at dds school - they get lots of offers!

Drama
It actually teaches some great skills - speaking - presenting etc

Dd started DT and dropped it as she hated the emphasis on the "book" rather than actually making things. There seemed to be a lot of coursework style work as well.

Speaking as a medic, humanities subjects are incredibly useful for medicine. Essay-based subjects such as English or History teach analytical skills and the ability to string together a coherent written argument. The ability to write well is invaluable for producing good clinical letters and reports and also for publishing research papers and articles.

Drama is also a great supporting subject for medicine. Doctors spend a lot of time presenting information to others in a clinical or research setting (at clinical meeetings, conferences, etc), so being a confident speaker is very useful.

But if medicine or bioengineering is your goal, English is useless

I taught an A level art student who went to Edinburgh to do medicine. They took her because of her ‘breadth of study’

I suppose you think Art is useless for medicine too? It’s actually very helpful for dentistry. In fact Textiles is the most helpful for dentistry as it shows the ability to manipulate small items.

I’ll pass that on to my English A level student from last year now thriving studying Medicine! We’ve seen time and time again that Medical applications, in particular, which have English, History, French - Drama even - shock horror - alongside Biology and Chemistry are looked upon favourably. Of course the real discriminators are the UCAT and BMAT scores but the last thing an Arts or Humanities A level is is useless! We also have a small number of students who successfully manage 4 A levels, for what it’s worth. Anyway, this is besides the point of the post. Taking Drama at this stage is only a good thing.

ArseInTheCoOpWindow, you've misunderstood my post. It's not that the marking itself is more lenient, but rather that the thresholds for the raw scores needed to achieve a particular 1-9 grade tend to be lower for written work that practical coursework in GCSE drama. Therefore a student who has good written expression skills can find it easier to achieve a higher grade for the written exam, boosting their overall grade for the subject.

Just to reiterate that it is important that when working in a group that everyone pulls their weight

DD struggled with GCSE Citizenship and only achieved a D for her coursework because she was the only one who did any work. Fortunately the teacher was aware and did what he could to help her. Luckily she aced her exam and ended up with an overall B.

Pfft. If a liberal arts college in the US is your goal, then yes,
But if medicine or bioengineering is your goal, English is useless.
Besides, taking a 4th A level will only drag down the grades in the other 3 A levels resulting in the student settling for a lower tier Uni and actually less chance of even studying medicine as it’s very competitive. There’s no earthly reason to take a 4th A level except for FM.

Yes it is. That has to be weighed up against doing FM if Stem degrees are in her sights though. It’s not vital but it’s very useful if you can do it. Biology snd Chemistry aren’t great for most engineering or technology degrees either. However i’m assuming DC is more medically minded.

'On A levels, no reason for her to continue English. She can get into oxbridge with Double Maths, Chemistry and Biology, or RG with just Maths, Chemistry and Biology'

Or maybe she would like to study English at a higher level?! It by no means uncommon and is in fact educationally valuable, to combine Arts and Sciences.

Whichever they most enjoy

She enjoys boys

Not an option at DS' school, but a glorious autocorrect!

DT is more STEM. So I’d do that as she may decide to go more engineering by doing a bit of DT. My youngest DD did. She thought she wanted pure Comp Sci, but now is wanting to do Robotics..which is an engineering degree.

On A levels, no reason for her to continue English. She can get into oxbridge with Double Maths, Chemistry and Biology, or RG with just Maths, Chemistry and Biology.

If it makes a difference to his feelings there is virtually no actually cooking in GCSE food tech. My DD is doing it and only 10% of the grade is cooking. It's more food science / nutrition.

There are a lot of people struggling in her class who were obviously expecting a more practical course.

@WinterFoxes My DN preferred drama as he could mess about with mates. You really want to avoid this. As Dc already has music he might like performing.

Whichever they prefer but not both as they are both very labour intensive.

@hubbabubba80
I think, correctly, that a number of people have commented about the quality of other pupils doing drama. This can be a worry. However to try and determine what the situation is in your school, I strongly suggest getting tickets to drama productions. What is Dc doing to get a part? Has Dc had parts? Look at drama exam results? 9s, 8s, 4s? What do students achieve? Is drama flourishing? Are the teachers keen or jaded? Is there LAMDA or other exams on offer? Does the school value it? If you can say “yes” to some of these then it’s a good option. If it’s a backwater with poor results, I would avoid it.

Agree that the focus of analysis is different in English LIt and Drama. The advantage of good English skills for the Drama written exam is the ability to think critically and write clearly. My understanding from DS's school is that the grade boundaries for the GCSE Drama written exam are quite lenient as the average standard of written work in the subject tends not to be high.

This is total twaddle. I used to hang out with drama teachers. Their complaint was that drama is seen as a soft option but the analysis of plays was hard, and people were just shoved into drama because it’s ‘easy’

All areas of study are subject to the the same areas of rigour. One doesn’t get marked leniently because it’s drama😂

Dt is a STEM subject. Across all disciplines. I taught it for 26 years. It has lots and lots of materials science, forces etc in it.

You opt for DT, the different individual areas as such don’t truly exist anymore. You may opt for say a textiles strand, but all areas study a very difficult theoretical core.

Is it actually DT - our school doesn't do DT anymore. You have to pick from product design, textiles etc.

If I had my time again, I'd do drama. The reason is that some activities need plenty of other like-minded people at a similar level of confidence and with the energy and available time to achieve great things together. Your school years really are the best years for this - with university coming a close second. Drama is a subject that almost requires that sort of setting to get the most out of it.

DT knowledge and skills can always be caught up later, either in evening classes, or even alone in a garage studio or workshop or at a PC. Can't do that with drama. The Am Dram scene is really fickle, with the gap between "so cliquey they won't accommodate a newcomer" and "so amateurish it's pure cringe" being very very small indeed.

One of my dc did both.
Where I would warn against drama is that you are reliant to some extent on the other people doing drama with you. My dc's cohort didn't seem to have people (or at least the people they were grouped with) who wanted to put the effort in / commit, and that effects all group work. Group work can be very frustrating when it is going to affect your exam grade.
I think if you have a good set of results with all the core subjects and a good range of subjects, it wouldn't matter one iota if a single GCSE were a lesser grade though (in terms of future employees, or University criteria - it might to the pupil if they were a perfectionist.

Also, if they are really keen on both, they are likely to be able to find a drama group outside of school, but it is much more difficult to learn the DT skills outside of school. Which is another reason to go with the DT, IMO.

Not sure why that was bold. DDs got A star. ( star symbol: Maybe that’s why it went bold? )