Easiest and hardest GCSEs?

Computer science (if that's the course) bears little/ no relationship to what they've done previously. It's pretty hard (my DS does it and does more work on it than anything else) if you have a good memory and are good at Maths it's a big help.

I agree in terms of staffing being a major issue. Also how important /supported the subject is at the school (you can tell this by staff turnover and how many teachers teach the subject).

My DS1 is doing Product Design A level and they've had major staffing issues which has drastically affected him. He could have done very well but they just haven't been taught properly (a friend of mine teaches it and she gave us some help/ was a bit shocked where they are at this stage of Y13). DS2 is doing Spanish GCSE and predicted a 6. All other subjects 8-9 but language teaching is very unsupported at the school (2 teachers in whole school), so I have had to get him a tutor as he's very talented at languages so it would be a real shame for him to do badly by his standards.

So, those are the things I'd consider. Also, as an aside, if you do triple science you will generally be with kids who like science and therefore behave better in class.

Further maths is the hardest by a street, none of the others come halfway close.

If further maths is the same as O level Additional maths, I'd disagree. For me French was far the hardest subject.

easy - geography
hard- biology

but that is a generalisation, depends on the child, a lot of the time

I think you need to reframe "hard" as "what will suit my child?".

So, that mean, for example - what subjects does he enjoy? Which ones is he currently strongest at? Which involve essay writing (and does he like that)? Which have lots of content (and will he be ok with that?) Which involve creative elements (and does he like that)? Which have coursework (and will that suit him)? I agree it may also be prudent to factor in "what is the teaching like at his school?" though that's not an absolute as teachers come and go.

I could do maths without trying at this stage. But that doesn't mean maths is an easy GCSE - more that it suited my brain and my interests

Further maths is the hardest by a street, none of the others come halfway close.

Easiest I really don't know, it depends what the child is good at. I suppose something with a little bit of numbers-y stuff and a little bit of reading/writing but not too much of either might be a contender? e.g. something like maybe business studies?

I agree with others, there is no such thing as an easy GCSE – but there are GCSEs that will play to your strengths. DD took music and some elements came easily, some not so much. But DS1 would have found the whole thing impossible. Similarly PE was a breeze for DS2 but DD would have hated it I suspect.

Agree there are concerns over staffing for comp sci and that is not a new thing, sadly. But even bearing that in mind, your DS should choose the subjects he enjoys as that is where he will be motivated, interested and inspired. If the teaching is poor then he is more likely to want to go beyond that in a subject he likes. You cannot know where the school will struggle in terms of teaching staff anyway so there’s no point trying to second-guess that. He needs to be true to his own views.

Well both my sons would tell you maths is the easiest GCSE because Ds2 never dropped below 96% on any GCSE paper but struggled with English lit. You play to their strengths, what they like, what they are interested in because they are much more likely to engage with a subject if they like it.

Re computing, youtube Craig n' Dave cover all GCSE boards for computer science so there are resources out there other than just the teacher and to be honest if a child wants to excel in a subject then looking outside the classroom is the way to do it.

History and Geography are very content heavy, I can only comment on History as that is what both of mine chose, lots of dates, events, knowledge of what is going on at the time these things happened which influence it all and good essay writing skills are needed and can be taught. Add Geography into that and it becomes weighty. MFL there are apps for like Memrise which has GCSE specific content.

He could choose a subject which has a great teacher who then goes off long term sick, so support him choosing subjects he loves. Come back to MN for recommendations for exam board specific resources and join/read the threads on here for his year group.

Agree with the others that he has to play to his strength. But also consider staffing issue because it's not good having to study on your own. That said, I have looked at the computing GCSE paper after the news about the poor results. It looks very easy. I have an engineering degree and work as a software engineer. I don't think I can sit GCSE maths and physics without some studying. But I think I can sit the computing one with a few days prep. Hopefully that gives you some hope.

Totally depends on the person studying.

For me: maths, physics, chemistry. Fairly sure that's not a universal belief tho.

For my brother: Art, German, Latin. I'd have failed 2/3 of those. I did pass the third one, which I took, but it involved a LOT of work.

Go for what you enjoy at this stage, ideally not shutting too many doors by keeping some science, humanities, languages and arts involved.

Let him go for what he likes as often they are the "easiest"

The easiest ones are the ones that play to your DC's strengths.
That is a pretty 'academic' set you have listed with no creative / technical.
So if he has a good memory and is good at writing etc and poorer at being creative then he will find those easier than say Art, Music or Drama. Perhaps.

I agree with @Piggywaspushed.

In my DD's case (Y11), she's found the subjects she's genuinely interested in to be the easiest. I guess it's because she enjoys the lessons and doesn't begrudge the home studying.

I would just let him choose what he enjoys the most. Unless the teaching in one department is particularly awful and gets consistently bad results.

I'm not sure that's a thing. People who will tell you school subjects are easy invariably have no experience of it. Poor staffing is more of a concern and a problem in nearly all subjects.