GSCE options - how many to take

[Ridgey40]

We are just going through GSCE options with our first son (#1 of 4) and have suddenly realised how out of touch we feel.

He is a bright boy with predicted A grades in 12 of the subjects he is taking in year 9 but the school timetables for 10 GSCEs and so we are trying to work out which to drop.

'In my day' the more GSCEs the better and the grades were less important but we are getting the impression from the school that 10 good grades (A*/A) are better than 11 mixed A's and B's but would like a second opinion in case the school are just trying to make their timetabling easier!

So my questions are:

How many GSCEs is it usual to take? and
Is it better to do 10 with A/A results than 11 with mixed A/A/B grades.

For reference he would like to do Law at Uni and does obviously does not want to rule himself out of applying to the a Uni through the wrong choice. He is looking at doing the following GSCEs:

Maths
English lang and lit (is this two GCSEs?)
Sciences (either as 2 or 3 GSCEs - depending on staying in the top set)
French
Geography
History
Latin
Spanish

ideally he would like to do RS as he really enjoys it but the school are concerned that this would have to be extracurricular.

Any advice would be very welcome.

Many thanks in advance, Helen

I thought RS was compulsory to GCSE?

I would have thought 10 A*/A would be far better than 11 lower grades. What is it with the current fashion to do so many at GCSE? Twasn't like that in my day

There have been quite a few threads in the last few months about GCSE options. Try searching on 'YR9 options' and/or 'Ebac'

Yes - Eng Lang & Lit is generally 2 GCSEs

The school should tell you what subjects are compulsory, and how many choices (either free or from groups) you have of the remainder. You may find there is a compulsory RS element, which could be a half or full GCSE. There will also be compulsory PE to timetable.

I agree with your DS's school that 10 good grades would be better. I thought even the top Unis and most competitve courses would be looking for 8 good grades.

A friends year 11 DD who is extremely bright, is taking the same list you have above without the Spanish. So that's 10 GCSEs. She is finding it tough going and has a total of 23 papers this exam round.

There is also no practical/relaxing subject there?

DD1 is in year 9 and has just chosen options - although she is not as bright as your DS sounds, she is still in the top academic pathway at her school.
Her compulsory core subjects are :

Eng Lang
Eng Lit
Maths
Chemistry
Physics
Biology
BTEC Sport*
ICT*
RE - no exam
PSEC - no exam

and 3 free option choices (hers will be French, Geography and Music)

So that's 9 GCSEs (possibly 10 if the core science paper they take is separate) plus the non-GCSEs* apparantly GCSE equivalents.

She wanted to do Drama as extra curricular, but the school would not allow it.

I agree that the grades are more important than the quantity. RS is compulsory but not as a GCSE subject. Could he not drop Geography and do RS instead. RS I believe is more academically rigorous and will involve more essay writing which will prepare him for A levels.

Alternatively you don't actually need GCSE RS to study the subject at A level so he could wait until his A levels to study it.

I agree it would be good to have a more relaxing subject too - like Art or PE at GCSE level. He has chosen some very academic subjects there.

Many thanks for the advice and I will also look up the other threads - my searches using 'GSCE' did not come to much but I might have been doing it wrong!

I know what you mean about the relaxing subjects but the school (50:50 boarders and day pupils) does build in 3 x activities sessions per week plus cadets and sports and he gets 'down time' in his house - the pressure to do more is coming from him and not us!

From what people have said it sounds like the school are giving good advice and have his interests as a priority (as opposed to their timetable!) but I appreciate the chance to find out from other parents. By the time son#4 goes through this we will be experts!!

They look like really good choices to me and 10 is enough for any top university. If he did want to switch one for a 'more relaxing' one (drama/music/DT or something) that would also be fine, but not essential if he doesn't want to.

To be honest he hates drama, music he is not allowed to do as he doesn't play an instrument and DT and art are the only subjects he has a predicted B grade in - hence he dismissed them himself.

We'll just have to make sure he gets some R&R time.

Ha!
I thought taking cookery O'level would be a relaxing choice back in the day.

How wrong could I be - it was the hardest one I did and the others were all pure academic subjects

Drama's good if he is thinking of Law to become a Barrister.
Though not as well respected as Art or Music - but with all his other academic subjects, that shouldn't really matter.

Music is possible if he doesn't play an instrument if he sings? Though having said that, the syllabus has changed this year so they must read music. Easy to learn though.

10 is fine for Law at top places and the subjects listed are all good too. Agree that you can relax outside the school stuff and beware Art etc. unless you love those subjects: hugely time consuming!

I've got two doing Law at the moment, similar profile, though state school not private (but good).

Yes, quality over quantity every time.
At ds1's school they only do 9 GCSEs as standard: I'm happy with that. His targets are very high, including for subjects he's dropping. So it's better to focus on few subjects than spread himself more thinly.

Yes, 10 GCSE's at A*/A better than 11 mixed grades. My son had 7 compulsory and 3 true options. He was advised to take 1 from humanities (history/geography etc), 1 from "arty" type subjects (art, pe, music etc) and at least 1 MFL to have a good coverage so future options at A level/degree weren't too restricted. The school should give a booklet with all the options and what category they fit into to help you choose the best options.