Year 9 options help

[domesticgodessintraining]

Would ICT, geography and business studies be classed as weak GCSE options by Universities, or would it be better to do ICT, Geog, History or RS?

anyone know what statistics is like? It used to be compulsory for the top maths set but not anymore. Is it hard or a waste of time? ds3 really struggling to find the last choice and the reserve

How many academic GCSEs are universities looking for? DS will be starting 11 plus 2 non-academic next year. DD will be going to a different school and will be doing 8 plus 4 non-academic. When I was at school we only did 8 GCSEs in total, so I'm assuming 8 is enough but perhaps I am behind the times. Do universities care about non-academic GCSEs or do they just ignore them?

I think with GCSE choices you just need to consider what the likely A levels choices will be. It's fine to do a lighter subject and some schools recommend it. The grades achieved in GCSEs are more important than the number..8As would be preferable to 11 GCSEs with a mixture of A, B or Cs.

The Oxbridge and Russell Group tend to look for a good mix of solid subjects at GCSE and certainly A & A*, 8 to 10 GCSEs are usual.

I would just add to the above that yes the Art course is quite time consuming but both my DD's chose it as an extra they enjoyed and as "light relief" from their other basic studies. Not to say they didn't/don't try their hardest but they did it as something that they were good at that was different and stimulates a different part of their brain! DD1 got a C pass & DD2 is on course for an A but that was a bonus for us.

RS nowadays is more ethical studies than religious, they cover a wide range of topics not just the bible. I can't understand though why they only get "half" a GCSE, if it's a compulsory subject why not get a whole pass?

Some schools do a full GCSE as compulsory, some do half a GCSE as compulsory, some offer it as an option. DS will have to do full RE, but he isn't taking the ethics unit; he is doing the religion and expressive art unit instead. DD will not have to do RE at GCSE. It varies from school to school.

I'm also wondering what counts as an academic subject and what doesn't. I'm assuming that RE does, Drama doesn't and Art definitely does not. But then Drama involves writing about plays, which is surely more challenging and academic than RE?

Sorry me again. If DD is taking Maths (higher paper) Eng Lang, Eng Lit, Chemistry, Biology, Physics, French and Geography would taking ICT and either Business studies or child development put her at a disadvantage as she?s not clear about what she wants to do in the future.
At the moment she is interested in teaching would taking RS be a better option in the long run?
She is very good at ICT the course could be taken off timetable at school in favour of a more academic subject during school but I worry that things might get on top of her.

Personally I'd go for RS as a lot of places do the Philosophy & Ethics syllabus which could then lead onto Philosophy A level and beyond which afaik is highly respectable. ICT has been so slated our school no longer offer it, she probably already knows as much as she will ever need to unless she wants to go into something specific such as programming etc

RS is a much more "respected" subject than ICT, business studies or child development, so if she thinks she may go an academic route, I'd suggest that was the best of those options.

But if she really has an interest in one of the other areas, and wants a chance to "try it out" then this is an opportunity for her to do that. Your first list of subjects (Matsh etc) are all very "good" from an academic point of view, so she should be able to pick her final option(s) without worrying if they aren't as academic. It's only DC who are trying to pick all "less academic" subjects who are likely to have problems.