GCSE options: MFL or not, and Business Studies vs Computer Science

[WeBuiltThePyramids]

Another options one I'm afraid! DS1 is yr 9 and in the midst of choosing options. For background, he is a bright student who will hopefully be aiming for Russell Group etc universities but has no idea what he wants to do! He does currently think he will go down a Maths/Sciences A level route.

He's been doing an MFL since yr 7, doesn't particularly enjoy it, although accepts it would be useful, and his class has had some unfortunate breaks in teaching so they're not in the best position generally. His last set of grades suggested he's on track for a 6, possibly a 7 if he works hard. If he dropped the MFL he would probably pick up a second humanity e.g. history where he's likely to get at least an 8. Anyone know whether it would be better to have a language at a possibly lower grade, or to have that gap with no MFL but a higher grade in another subject?!

Also, DS only has one completely "free" option for which he's trying to decide between Business Studies and Computer Science. I know very little about either and wondering which would be more highly regarded or more useful, or does it not really matter?!

His other GCSEs will be: English Lang + Lit, Maths, Triple Science, Geography, RS, and PE.

Would appreciate any thoughts

Why is it difficult to get a high grade in CS?

persiancatlady the exam board for Computer Science is OCR. It's EdExcel for Business Studies

Here is the OCR GCSE CS page -
www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/gcse-computer-science-j276-from-2016/specification-at-a-glance/

Here is the Edexcel GCSE BS page -
qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/GCSE/Business/2017/specification-and-sample-assessments/GCSE_Business_Spec_2017.pdf

Foxjar

your posts are quite enlightening into why CS has fewer high grades when you posted "something easy like CS" is part of the reason; too many student opt for the subject thinking that they have done some coding, family member is in the industry, is good at IT etc so it will be easy

The statistics over the grades achieved are telling that in in 2017 5.8% of entries for CS achieved A, whilst Geography 8.2% achieved A and History gave 8.3% A* statistics here

As I stated, I don't teach the spec, but from my experience of colleagues in my dept that do, their observations about the course are

a) by reason stated above, students think that because they can use scratch they are CS experts...
b) too many students are pushed into the subject when it is not the right 'fit for them'
c) to be successful in coding etc you need to have a logical way of thinking but this natural way of thinking can hinder a student when they have to analyse and evaluate (this is my personal view)
d) the specification is hard!
e) a lot of the spec is dull (and I say this as someone whose originally qualified within the field and whilst I took a different career path still hold a massive interest and is still a geek!)

There is a regular poster on secondary who teaches CS so hopefully she will see this thread and give you a more detailed reply

Definitely Computer studies - I'd only suggest MFL if he enjoyed languages, it's a real struggle otherwise - my two kids do it because they like it.

My ds would like to do Business Studies A level, he would have probably done it for GCSE if his school had continued to offer it but they've narrowed the choices because of the new GCSE.

If he doesn't change his mind again before sixth form which is entirely possible, he'll probably do it alongside History and Spanish.