GCSE PE-any info pls!

[Freckletoes]

My DS1 has put in his GCSE options but has now changed his mind about one subject-they have started doing similar work to that on the GCSE syllabus and he is finding it really dull! Changing is not a problem at this stage.
However he needs to decide between History and PE. Can anyone fill me in a bit about PE at GCSE. When I was at school it was only just available as a subject and was seen to be a bit of a dossy subject. Am I right in thinking that it now encompasses some biology, nutrition etc and is quite science based? He is developing as a good all round sportsman so the physical work will be OK for him and he will enjoy it!
Thanks in advance!

In our exam board, PE is 1/3 sports science, so about 1/3 nutrition-physiology-psychology. 2/3 performance in 4 sports of their choosing (1 mark for each sport). If he loves sport & wants to excel, it's an ace choice.

History is lots of essay writing & analysis. hth.

PE GCSE is not a dossy subject (in my humble opinion!)....far more in depth than most people think. Big cross over with Biology as they study a lot of anatomy/respiratory stuff. Good for organisational skills as they have far more kit to organise and take in with them on different days. ds once had five different kit bags for just one day due to PE lessons/PE practicals/lunchtime training/after school training! Good for developing preparation skills as well. Plus it does give them a break from yet another essay based subject - which isn't bad thing in my opinion as they all seem to have so much on their plates at this stage in their education.

Ds got A in biology last year but only an A in PE - he was one UMS point off an A despite getting full marks in his written paper and v high in his practical assessments - the coursework he'd done in Y10 was marked v toughly and ds stupidly didn't talk it seriously enough as he thought the A* was a certainty

Having said that he really enjoyed the course and made a good change from the rest of his solidly academic subjects

tickling don't get me wrong-I'm not under the impression it is easy now! I was talking about opinion when it was first a GCSE many moons ago! Having read more around the subject it seems some national level sports kids can't get top grades in it. My son has competed in regionals for a couple of sports but is by no means top level at any sport-just developing into a good all rounder. Is a bit of a science geek too!

It makes sense to me that national top athletes tend not to get highest marks at GCSE PE because to get A* they need to excel at several sports. Not nationally top at several sports, but very very good. Whereas top athletes tend to excel at just that very one sport & can't take (can't afford to take) any others as seriously.

I have a feeling that the requirements might be to include at least one individual & at least one team sport. So a cyclist might enjoy rugby to get assessed playing it, but just not excel at it not least due to lack of practice. Or a footballer might enjoy swimming but really not be up to date with implementing top technique.

So if very top marks is what you're after, PE is good for all rounders rather than national champs.

Under our exam board the choice of subjects was quite broad - and the teachers are used to managing to get a students chosen sport to work in with the criteria. My youngest did no team sports as part of any of his GCSE PE practicals. His teacher managed to get his individual sports (that he competes at regionally and nationally) as part of his four-sport practical assessments - but he was lucky as they are all pretty mainstream sports with nothing out of the ordinary and so expected to be on such lists of possible sports to choose from. So if your son is not that good at rugby, for example, they can usually manage to find one of his more 'chosen' sports to tick that box instead of rugby - or at least you could under the exam board our school uses. But I guess all the exam boards are different with different criteria. He really enjoyed it - and took it seriously right from the start and did not get distracted by those students in his classes that treated it as a doss subject :)