GCSE options

[ChattyME]

I know i have asked a similar post, My daughter is considering taking History as one of her options - she knows their is a fair amount of essay writing however i was wondering if anyone could give me advise on the exam board it says she would be doing it on Edexcel covering Modern world history i think. She is worried she would have too many hard subjects, her other options are Geography, Art and German. Thank you.

Students should select their options thinking of their future (silly i know so young!) so if she feels as if she could do well, go for History as well - unis are now looking to GCSEs as well as A levels and that bunch will really set her out from the rest!!

Sorry, I appreciate that was nothing at all helpful with regard to the exam board :(

I think "hard subject" is quite an objective term.
My ds would say maths was a difficult subject, but I loved maths when I was at school and sailed through my O-level without an iota of extra work. I would say that French was a difficult subject, but my dd finds it easy, and enjoyable. My ds really enjoys reading about/ learning about / debating about history and politics, and the whole philosophy and ethics components of RS, that he would say they are the easiest subjects, because he enjoys doing them. It's difficult for anyone else to say really, except that generally children do well at the subjects they enjoy.
One thing I think there is a concensus on, is that art is very time consuming, and therefore only to be done if it's really loved by your dc.

Ditto back I loved history and found it really enjoyable, dropped ad maths tho as I just was not numbers orientated. My DS is doing all sciences and that would have floored me!

It really depends on what subjects she has enjoyed, which she does well in and which she might need for A'Level/uni places.

What career path has she in mind? Didn't her career advisor talk her thru potential choices?

Thank you for the feed back, she hasn't got a career in mind, she doesn't want to go down the Art route but she is taking it because she is reasonably good at it and enjoys it. As for History she really enjoys it, she said it's hard but it's fairly easy to get your head around and has never been too much of a struggle for her. I guess i should consider her strengths and weaknesses, she said she is good at History so it probably won't be too difficult for her, just making sure she puts in the effort in of course! she is just abit worried about the long questions, she don't mind writing but it does concern her any advise?

My DD did History (not sure which exam board) and found it fairly easy - but the Art was really hard in terms of the time and effort involved. There is masses to do, some really big projects and it is REALLY time consuming.

I think if she loves history it won't be too hard. Lots of writing & reasoning.
GCSEs are not that important to Uni admissions, usually only matter beyond obtaining a certain threshold of so many passes (5?).

Was thinking more about not being allowed to take an A'Level (needed for uni) without the GCSE. Personally did a degree from a GCSE subject I couldn't fit in a A'Level so fast track course can allow you to go from a GCSE without the A'Level.

I'm not really sure what you mean by worried about long answers if she isn't worried about writing iyswim? Essay writing will be needed but if she is fine about writing then the length won't be an issue - usually the problem is not getting everything said inside the word count!

If it's the structure or writing take a look online for essay writing tips - so many to chose from there is probably a GCSE history one in there. I just gave my DS old hard copy tip sheet from uni as the general advice is more or less similar.

Definitely mention it at the careers meeting tho, DS has had a few this year and then one with me there to make his final choice in Jan. he has a specific path in mind but the careers teacher is there to chat through general direction as well and how the DC feel about a subject/work involved etc

ds1 has just picked his first lot of options, all the advice was to go for subjects that he enjoys & is going to be enthusiastic about.
If she enjoys history and is going to be focused & motivated then chose it. I dont know about hard but there is alot of writting, research & fact finding type stuff.
I dont know anything about exam boards but one of the areas covered next yr for ds1 will be US civil war (i think)

You can google past papers for Edexcel history and look at what is actually involved. Have you asked her history teacher? If they think she'll be fine and she enjoys it, she'll be fine. As long as she has good reasoning abilities, reasonable writing abilities and some memory for hard 'facts', she'll be fine.

Thank you all, I have asked her history teacher and he has said she is perfectly capable. The reason she was unsure was because she chose ICT a week back and wanted to change it but didn't know what to change it to. She has a week off soon so it will give her a chance to decide, She is also doing geography and didn't know if doing both of them would be too much work, but again thanks for the feedback we will take all of it on board!

Would absolutely agree that what makes a "hard" subject is subjective. History and geography are hard for somebody who finds reading and writing hard, but not everybody does. Your dd may simply be worrying because other students (the ones who aren't good at writing) tell her it's hard. Universities and employers tend to view history as a solid subject, because it is evidence that somebody is able to cope with the reading and writing. So it's all a bit circular.