Choosing GCSE options - guidance needed please?

[Celeriacacaca]

DS, yr 8, is choosing options this month. Along with everyone else he will do english (incl eng lit), maths, double science (poss triple, depending on progress), CPSE, games and French and then has to make the following choices

1. history or geography
2. citizenship or RS
3. choose two from art & design; business or economics; computing or ICT; engineering or food prep or textiles; drama; geography; music; PE, psychology, Spanish.

We're totally new to this so would welcome advice. For background, he is very artistic and wants to pursue that as a career so out of 3. will put art as first choice. He's also very good at drama and loves it but equally good at music but not passionate about it. DH thinks music more solid option (partic. as he plays two instruments via home), I think he'd do far better in drama as it really is his thing and he excels at it. DS is torn between both. What do you think?

Also what about 1 or 2 - what are the main considerations when choosing between them please and what bearing on A level choices?

Lots to think about but your thoughts and experience will be invaluable to us. TIA.

Does this mean he is doing a 3 year GCSE course or does he get to make more choices in year 9 and maybe drop a subject (which is what my ds school did)?

1. Geography and history both solid subjects. For a level I guess History goes more with arts subjects and geog could pair with either, but I would just let him pick which one he likes. Check out what the areas are that are covered by his history syllabus and see if they interest him.

2. is this a GCSE or just the lesson a week to satisfy the need to teach RE. If it's the later I would just let him pick, if it's the former I think RE is the more academic subject and citizenship is for the less academic children (for example when I was at school you took French unless you weren't able enough then you did European studies which was certainly looked down on)

3. Art if it is his passion, but be prepared for lots of course work. I would pick music over drama as I think it is very hard to get a high grade in drama and you are dependent on the rest of your group working as hard. In music although there is a group piece ds1 is doing it with his music ensemble (who are mainly 6th formers) rather than classmates so less chance to go wrong. They practise to perform anyway and have just picked a piece where he has the lead part for this terms concert and he will record it to. If he took history as option 1 he could do geography here also.

For information mine are doing

Ds1: maths, 2 English, 3 science, Spanish, history, geography, music and ict/programming (not sure what it's really called)

DS2: maths, further maths, 2 English, 3 science, French, history, music and DT.

Both do RE, PE/games and PSHE as part of the non examined curriculum. I would rather ds2 did geography than DT as I don't think the project work will suit him, but he currently hates geography (as he doesn't like his teacher and can't be persuaded he is likely to have someone else next year!)

Find out what subjects the courses follow for history and geography. My DD has always put everything into history, but she's really not interested in the course content her school are following GCSE, so she's opted for geography. All schools are different, but we were told she would haven't to do a history GCSE to be able to take A level in their sixth form.

My DD's school don't do citizenship so I can't comment on that. When she spoke to an RS teacher, he asked her if she likes listening to the facts and everyone's opinions and acknowledging them, but putting a case together for what she believes and the reasons why (not necessarily religiously).

Agree he needs to do art bearing in mind he's interested in persuing something artistic in the future. I may be wrong, but if music might be an option, I think they need to be capable of achieving a Grade 5 in an instrument, so is he likely to be at this level for one of the instruments he plays. Also, is he interested in the theory behind it, not just being able to play a piece perfectly? It's not necessarily a bad thing just to do something for pleasure (even if you don't think it can lead somewhere), so don't make him rule out drama if he's passionate about it - it will help with confidence if nothing else.

Drama is surprisingly well thought of as it gives kids confidence and helps prepare them for all sorts of stuff work wise. Interviews, presentations, speaking IP in meetings, etc.

Dds head of year said she should do what makes her happy when it came to choosing options within the constraints of thinking what she may need for her possible career. If your ds doesn't want to do a music degree/career then I don't see any benefit of doing it as a gcse unless he wants to. So Id be more swayed towards whichever he'll do better in and/or enjoy more.

Thanks both. Very interesting points which is why it's so useful to post on MN about these things!

In answer to questions:

It's a 3 year course so no dropping or picking up goes on after this;
RS is a GCSE;
He plays two instruments outside of school - one currently doing Gr4 but doesn't enjoy practise etc.

Silas - that's interesting re drama mark - is it a group mark then - and how much does that count for the overall mark please? He's currently in top three for year in drama but not sure how coursework now will differ from GCSE.

History/geog - whichever he prefers or is doing better in

Citizenship or RE - they have to do some of each anyway. As GCSEs, RE is a proper academic subject, I've never heard of anyone doing a full GCSE in citizenship.

Drama or Music - according to my DD (from observation of her classmates who do it) Music is really hard, lots of assessment. She does drama - AQA is 60% on the controlled assessments, 40% exam but apparently Excedel is all assessed, no exam so you might want to check that. As to group work - yes, you are to some extent dependent on the other pupils. However the comment 'as I think it is very hard to get a high grade in drama' does not seem to be true at DDs school - she's ok but not great at it and seems to be on track for an A. For all the subjects it's worth looking at the track record of your DS's school.

Bump for the evening crowd!

It is perfectly possible to get A in drama but an awful lot depends on the teacher, the track record of the school, and the quality of who you are working with. As I said on another post, only one girl got an A in my DDs drama GCSE, everyone else was A. So no-one was dragged down to an A! It was AQA. If he does not want to practice his music, I would just keep that as a hobby. Definitely do Art but you have to accept it is time consuming, as is drama by the way. My DD did both, but you have to work. Drama was very popular at DDs school and if your DS enjoys it more than music, he should do it. No university will worry about music or drama, to be honest, unless he is applying for those degrees!

I think drama over music, his heart is for drama. Is he any good at writing essays?

History is more writing+analysis & geography is more doing & interdisciplinary.

Picking up the comment that drama is a hard one to get a high grade in, I suspect music is the same - only 4.8% taking a music GCSE got an A or A* last time. If both are hard to get a high grade in, as I said before, if he wants to do one just for pleasure then he should.

Not saying your son shouldn't do music, but if he doesn't want to practise?! They are all different, but my DD has just chosen to do music and is attached to her violin and every other sentence is about music, ie she has a real passion for it.

Looking at the results from DD's school (which is a very good one), the majority get A* or A in Drama, music was more spread (though A the modal grade). But a lot of these kids are doing grade 5 or more in their instruments.

I second the point about checking the History syllabus. They don't always study a time-period (eg WWI and its causes) but weird things like the history of medicine.

What is CPSE? Is it Citizenship / Personal / Social Ed? Doesn't that make option block 2 a bit of a double-up.

Thanks all. Really useful feedback. He's gone for geography, RS and then Art and drama, after considering all the options. Thanks again.