Does it really matter what subjects you take for GCSE as long as you get good grades?

[Freddorika]

Dd (year 9)has to take : English lit and language, maths, a humanity and a language. She wants to take
English language
English literature
Maths
Double science
Drama
Music
Spanish
Was thinking of history but teacher told me that the new syllabus is dull and with too much content! Even though she says dd is capable of getting an A. So thinking Classical Civilisation instead as it frankly looks quite easy!
Possibly RS

DH thinks these are too 'soft'. That she should do triple science and history or geography instead of classical civilisation.

Dd is clever and predicted a 7 or 8 in maths, and As in most other subjects.

I'd rather she did easier subjects that she found interesting. She wants to do drama, English and history a level.

Check with where she is planning to go to do A levels as they often won't let you study the A level if you haven't done the GCSE. So if she wants to do History at A level, she may need to take the GCSE.

If she doesn't want to do history, she shouldn't- but I'm a bit baffled because you say she wants to do history A Level? Surely that would argue that history at GCSE should be a given - if for no other reason than that she's really passionate about it?

Double science would be fine if she wanted to do A level. Plenty of pupils do double and go on to a level and degree level. Even medicine.

Is she absolutely sure about the history at A level. If she's put off by those topics at GCSE then it may not be a good a level option. Might be worth considering it at GCSE so she doesn't end up making a mistake with her a level options.

I just had a look at the syllabus and it looks quite interesting to me. I'd have real issues with a teacher saying they couldn't make it interesting. Some of the European stuff is a bit complicated but there's some great content too

Really? I think the unification of Italy would be really dull - and I did a history degree

All history can be made interesting. A teacher who thinks it can't be is a crap teacher. End of.

Kitty it's perfectly possible to study medicine with double science at GCSE. I know several people who have done so.

I agree that History is a really good subject to develop people's critical analysis and skills at developing an argument. That would stand her in good stead for History A level even if it's ok to do history A level without doing GCSE.

I think the important thing about GCSEs is keeping your options open as much as possible. Teens change hugely between Yr 09 and Yr 12. My ds always planned to do PhysicS, Maths and computing A levels until half way through Yr 12 when he realised he'd made a mistake... he ended up switching to Psychology and Philosophy, only sticking with the maths.

Oh I don't know. They didn't get anything lower than a B last year in history so she can't be that crap. The teacher did say she was trying her hardest with it. I agree it's an odd thing for a teacher to say though

I'm not saying she's crap in terms of producing results. I'm saying if she can't take something and make it interesting, she is crap. Sorry. There is nothing in history that can't be made interesting with the right approach. Teaching isn't all about getting results, it's about fostering an enjoyment of the subject.

Yes I agree. To be fair it is not at first glance the most interesting subject though. Whereas the classical civ syllabus was all the myths, the role of women, romantic theatre etc. Interesting and dare I say easy.

Roman theatre not romantic

Tbh dd2 herself said this morning she is concerned that her choices weren't string enough so she may end up doing it anyway

I think her choices generally look fine, but if she's set on doing history A level then I really can't understand the logic in not doing history gcse. I'd also be tempted to only choose one from drama or music, but depends what she'd take instead I guess.

I did RE A level having not done GCSE. You can do A level history or geography at our local sixth form having not done it at GCSE but I think they would expect the other subject to have been done.

I said this on another thread, but only choose Music if you are good at composing as it takes up 1/3 of the assessment marks. I fell foul of this many years ago and it is the same at ds' school (not sure which specification/exam board, I'd have to go and check).

My rules for GCSE options would be "what do you enjoy the most" and "what do you get the highest marks in". Hopefully those will be the same subjects!

And if you know you definitely don't want to do science A levels there is no reason to do separate science GCSEs. Double science will be fine - and lots of people have said it is sufficient to do A levels anyway with a bit of work to fill in the gaps.

I didn't know classical civilization was still an option, thought it was one of the "soft" subjects Gove had done away with. It's certainly disappeared from the A level choices at our local sixth form college.

As others have said, if she knows for certain that she doesn't want to do science A Levels then double science is perfectly acceptable. At my DD's school, you could do A Level sciences anyway, even if you had done Double for GCSE with the warning that you would have to work a bit harder in the first half term to catch up. A friend's DD got a place to do medicine at Oxford having "only" done Double Science at GCSE.

I also know that many places let you do History A Level without having done the GCSE. If your DD is going to drop it, do check that wherever she is likely to study A Levels will allow it. Personally, I would try and persuade my DD to do History GCSE if she was intending to study it at A Level.

DN is doing maths, eng x 2, double science, then drama, psychology, Philosophy, and business studies.

I don't know what he is is heading towards with those choices! They sound like soft choices to me, and I would have thought he would have gone more academic. Maybe I'm wrong though and these are difficult subjects. I don't know..

DS's school only offers double science and they get plenty into Oxbridge, including medicine courses.

Dds school doesn't offer philosophy psychology or business at gcse. It's a real shame theres no computer science as she's amazing at coding

As long as you have 5/6 key subjects the others don't matter as much as the grades obtained imo.

I think 9 is enough too.