I'm 13 - please help me choose my GCSEs!

[badger2005]

My mum uses mumsnet - this is her account. She said I can ask you this question because I'm stuck.
I have to choose my GCSEs in 4 days. I'll be doing maths, english, sciences, PoR, French - so I'm choosing my optional ones. I definitely want to do Art and Geography. But should I also choose Music or drama. That's the choice... please help me decide! Music or drama???
I already do some of both outside school. I go to a youth theatre group that I love, and I play the piano (grade 5) and love that too. What should I do?

@EmpressCixi

Er, French is optional. You don’t need a foreign language at GCSEs at all. I say drop French and do both the two you want- music and drama.

Schools only push a foreign languages because it ups their Ofsted score if they can get more students completing the English baccalaureate mixture of GCSEs. But the English baccalaureate is not a qualification for the student and has zero impact on admissions to selective sixth forms for A levels or to universities or other higher education schools...ie Art school, drama school, etc.

Not true a language is compulsory in some schools.

@EmpressCixi

Er, French is optional. You don’t need a foreign language at GCSEs at all. I say drop French and do both the two you want- music and drama.

Schools only push a foreign languages because it ups their Ofsted score if they can get more students completing the English baccalaureate mixture of GCSEs. But the English baccalaureate is not a qualification for the student and has zero impact on admissions to selective sixth forms for A levels or to universities or other higher education schools...ie Art school, drama school, etc.

My DD is choosing her options and spanish is compulsory.

I would lean towards music for the same reasons others have said, but don't forget to have a longer term view on it all too - have you any idea whether you want to do A levels, go to uni etc? Some A level subjects you'll need to have done GCSE for, and definitely for university courses you'll need specific subjects.

Good on you for asking though, I wish I'd had that much sense when I was your age! (Doesn't matter that the internet wasn't a thing then but hey ho)
Ps I v much approve of your choice of geography!

Language is compulsory in many schools.

My DS chose his last year and dropped the language option. He is taking geography, triple science, DT, comp sci and double maths (there is a double maths GCSE now), as well as the usual English and PoR.

Er, French is optional. You don’t need a foreign language at GCSEs at all. I say drop French and do both the two you want- music and drama

If it's anything like my school, you choose options from column A, B and C, and they are all taught at the same time. You can't chose two from A, because the lessons are in the same slot or overlap.

Music rather than drama. You’re already doing one less academic/creative subject (art). Music makes you stand out from the crowd too.

Well done on giving it so much careful thought. My 14 year old has just made their options choices and has chosen to ignore much of the advice teachers and I have given him!

Art has a huge amount of coursework, so bear that in mind. On the whole I'd say choose music rather than drama.

I was Grade 5 when I took Music GCSE and it was very easy to get an A grade. I just played the pieces I was learning outside of school. So if you want an easy win, I’d say Music.
Really though, you should do the one you enjoy most. Do the one you find most fun. I can imagine Drama would be really enjoyable and very different from academic subjects.

Also, I'm sure I should and will know this, but what is PoR? I've googled and just got Spanish verbs coming up!

@UserWithNoUserName

Also, I'm sure I should and will know this, but what is PoR? I've googled and just got Spanish verbs coming up!

@UserWithNoUserName philosophy of religion

I was feeling dim for not knowing what Por was too!

Ok- I will clarify you. Obviously you cannot obtain entrance onto a medical course with a bank of grade 8 distinctions. However if you’re next to a any other candidate and wanting to be say….a primary school teacher your music proficiency would put you ahead. Those UCAS points would be very useful!

Music. It’s more “respected” and the gcse is useful if you want to continue with music at a higher level. You are likely to get a good grade as you are already a grade 5 and you won’t be dependent on group work for your marks. You don’t need a drama gcse to get into drama as a career so it’s not shutting doors. Doing both and dropping art might be better. I would say 30% of my dds time is spent on art and is disproportionately time consuming if you aren’t going to do it beyond gcse.

I'd say take drama rather than music - I think you've got that covered with your piano grade! Drama is not an easy subject and the mix of practical performance and academic content can be a challenge and quite a change from your other subjects.

My son did GCSE music and my daughter is doing GCSE drama.

He really enjoyed music (should have taken it for A level but that's another story...) Some people find composing difficult - he writes a lot of music but at GCSE felt a bit confined by the types of compositions they had to do. The listening part is interesting and you should be fine with the performing part. And quite an amount of it will be done before the exam.

DD says she wishes in some ways she had not done drama and had done French instead (she is also doing Spanish). Whilst she enjoys and is very good at analysing English literature, she finds you have to do it in a slightly different way in Drama which can be a bit tricky.

Overall unless not studying a subject at GCSE means you can't keep studying it later on, then it doesn't really matter which GCSEs you do. So I'd go for what you think you'd enjoy most.

I'm a teacher (not music or drama): art requires a lot of hours outside class time working in school. It can be very inflexible because if you can't take your project home with you then you have to work on it when you're allowed to use the art room: before school, lunchtimes, after school... For this reason, I would be wary of doing drama as well because it requires a lot of group work, which is quite often organised on the same principle (before school, lunchtimes, after school - basically trying to gather the group together while you're all on the school premises anyway). Music might be the better option as it's more individual so you're more in charge of when and where you do the work (unless you need to use the practice rooms/ instruments at school). They can both be quite time-consuming subjects if you really get into them, but at least with music it's more on your own terms.

I'd do music but that's just me as drama would be my idea of hell!

Drama is likely to give you some lifelong benefits like confidence in public speaking.

Music can just continue to be a personal passion that you can do on your own at any time.

Music, because you can study drama later without the GCSE, and you've already got a head start with your grade 5 piano

We used to like taking degree drama students on our post grad diploma course in nursing because they were extra confident when speaking to large groups. A skill that is very transferable.

Just another thing to consider- transferable skills.

My children are a few years older, but the advice that they were given was to choose subjects that they thought they would do well in, as, as a general rule, getting a raft of good grades at GCSE is more important than the specific subjects- barring subjects that you definitely need to progress down a particular career route of course.
So as well as your individual strengths I would consider the strengths of your school. If, for example, there's a fantastic music department that regular gets very good results, but the drama dept is only so-so then it might make music a more sensible option.
The other consideration is course work. If you are already doing art, that has a very considerable amlunt of coursework. Both music and drama will have some, but I believe drama has more. Think about how you are going to manage that and what impact it might have on both your core subjects and school/life balance.

Another vote for music. I did music GCSE and really loved it. It hasn’t been my career, but I can always go back to it at any time in my life, it is always there, and playing has been a great therapy at difficult times in my life. Doing the GCSE gave me a better understanding of the theory and history of music to better appreciate what I play.

My son did drama, he got a lower grade than he would have hoped for as the other people in the group work part were very lazy and didn't learn their parts for the video'd performance. He is a bit of a perfectionist so was very upset about it. So, I'd suggest you do music as your grade will reflect your own talent and hard work.

Do both, drop geography