GCSE Taster - Which would you recommend to your DC

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At My DS school they are running a GCSE taster week. He has no idea what he wants to do in the future (has expressed an interest in medical research, but only recently), his best subjects are maths and science, his favourite subject is maths. He is a bright lad, predicted to be level 7s in most subjects by the end of the key stage, currently in year 8.

He will look to me for guidance, which of the following GCSEs would you recommend:-

GCSE Business Studies
GCSE Business & Communications Systems
GCES Child Development
GCSE Computing
GCSE Dance
GCSE Economics & Business
GCES Food & Nutrition
GCSE Health & Social Care
GCSE Law
GCSE Media Studies
GCSE Philosophy & Ethics
GCSE Physical Education
GCSE Product design

I am confident that he would not be intrested in Child development or dance, but all the others would be possibilities. Are any of the Business options better regarded? I didn't have these options when I was at school!!

I'll alphabet the ones I'd investigate further; sorry can't be bothered to retype all.....

A
F
G
I
K
M

Good mix of useful skills at his age and should give a basis for a level/study/apprenticeship in future

Thank you, you confirmed my thoughts.

I'm not sure about law? Have read on other threads that at A level it's not highly regarded, not sure at GCSE.

If the school is doing taster sessions, why not let him attend the sessions of the subjects that he has an interest in or wants to find out more about?

GCSE subjects, whilst the traditional academic are important such as the core subjects, option subjects aren't as set in stone as many MN'ers would have you believe; it is his education and his interests/talents. Therefore it should be his decision as he has to spend the next 2 years studying the subjects. Advice him, but don't force him

If he likes maths and science he might well enjoy computing which is a good option for able dc. Philosophy & Ethics might be relevant to medical research (but probably not worth choosing for that reason alone, only if he thinks he will enjoy the course too). Health & Social care sounds as if it could be relevant, but I have heard people be quite sneery about that one, so it's possibly not so well regarded. Don't know about Law GCSE, but it's not one of the solid academic ones.

The other thing to look at is how much coursework (called controlled assessments these days) versus exams there are. I think business type GCSEs are often up to 60% CA, whereas Philosophy and Ethics is 100% exam. Different course structures suit different children - they say boys often do better with more exam based courses - that's not true for all boys, but maybe you know what might suit your ds.

I do agree with cricketballs though - the choice isn't as critical as it's often made out to be. He needs to think what A levels he may want to do and be sure to do the essential pre-requisites for all of them and beyond that as long as he has about 8 well regarded subjects (including the core ones, and preferably including one humanity and one language) it shouldn't hold him back if the remaining two are a bit 'soft'.

I would never force him to study a course he does not want to, two years for a child is a long time!!
He does enjoy core and traditional subjects i.e. maths, english, science, german, humanities and music, so until we see the option blocks he may not be able to take any of the ones listed above.
The school are offering a taster week in subjects they don't currently study, after a brief discussion tonight he has no idea what he might like to try. Hopefully, the school will give them some guidance over the next few weeks. Ultimately it needs to be his decision but I know he will seek support from me and I want to be able to offer him good advice.
Thank you for your replies.

I would advise him to tqke tqster sessions in as many as he can fit in- even thones he thinks he wouldn't touch with a barge pole. Going to th session doesn't commit him to anything-and he might be surprised at what interests him.

DS1 was pleased that he did systems and control for GCSE (which I think is quite similar to product design) because the project gave him another thing to write about on his Personal statement for engineering.

Economics & Business
Philosophy & Ethics
Product Design