GCSE Options: History vs Food Tech

[purpleyellowred]

DS (y9) is very academic, so he is aiming for high grades in his GCSEs and potentially Oxbridge or one of the Russell Group universities. He is inclined towards maths/computing/science/engineering for his future career direction. He's choosing his GCSE options and the following are either compulsory or settled:

• Eng Lang/Lit
• Maths
• RP Short Course (they sit this in Year 10)
• 3 Sciences
• Spanish
• Geography
• Computer Science

Then he has one more option and he's deciding between History (Edexcel) and Food & Nutrition (AQA).

His history teacher has been very encouraging (he does very well in her class) and he's generally very good at analytical essay-based subjects, so it's a reasonably safe bet that he'll do well in it.

He also does well in Food Tech and enjoys it, so he is seeing it as light relief from other more academic subjects. It still does have some academic elements though - there is some written project work as well as practical work. But is it seen as a soft option? And does that matter given that he is doing lots of other more academic subjects?

Advice from school is to do what he enjoys most (likely to be food tech) but I'm not so sure. I dropped history at GCSE but as an adult felt that left an occasionally-embarrassing gap in my general knowledge, which I've never got round to filling by reading popular-history books. I see history as a fairly basic element of a good well-rounded education and it seems too soon to drop it. In contrast, I don't suppose not doing food-tech GCSE has ever held anyone back from being a confident cook if they had a basic interest in it (and he does, so he will still cook for pleasure even if he doesn't do the GCSE).

Any advice?

[TreePeepingWatcher]

I would say that as he has geography in his list as well I wouldn't do History too. Too heavy in the essay writing department. If he loves food tech then take that. He can ace that and add it to his overall GCSE grades.

I would also say that Computer Science is NOT a soft subject. My sons's school offered both CS and ICT and ICT is the softer subject. Ds got a 9 in CS for his GCSE this year and was the only one who did. It helps that Dh writes code for a living.

History for Ds was OCR and the revision guide has all the topics in but Ds did 5 topics over 3 papers. They did, People's Health, Elizabethans, Living under Nazi Rule (truly gut wrenching horrific facts) The Making of America (fascinating) and studied a local site, it can be Liverpool Docks or The Tower of London, just something that has changed over huge periods of time. It is a lot of facts, figures and dates. Alongside Geography is might just be too much.

[Comefromaway]

My son is really struggling in Food. he chose it as it was one of his favourite subjects at his previous schools and the teacher said he should do very well. But a change of school, syllabus and exam board and he HATES it. It's very sciency and he's finding the assessment practicals really hard to organise.

[BlouseAndSkirt]

“We went to an open day at Cambridge last year, the Admissions Tutor told us they really couldn't care less about rounded - they care about what your interest is in the subject you wish to study and the skills and aptitude you have to complete your course”

Same here. And Oxford.
And they were emphatic at Cambridge that they don’t give a Stuff about what you out in your personal statement in terms of your extra-curricular ‘rounded-ness’.

They wanted top grades in your chosen subjects and evidence of a serious extended interest in your degree subject.

There is no way that with the list of other academic and STEM subjects that admission to Oxbridge / RG would hinge on history v food and nutrition.

Let him do what he most enjoys.

(Is he not doing Further Maths?)

[Lovingmumof4]

It depends food tech is much more of a practical subject where about 60% (depending on where you are) of the grade is practical and course work and only a small test however history is all theory exams and require alot more writing paragraphs such as "peace" paragraphs

[mumsneedwine]

For medicine this year the Unis did not even look at AS, as most didn't have any ! Know it's only one subject but an indication of how things are. Some Unis don't even look st the PS - but then for medicine there is the joy of UKCAT and/of BMAT to get through.
For GCSEs do what you will get good grades in as this is what counts. My friends DD is at Cambridge becoming a vet with no humanities and textiles. No language either.
And Food is a life skill - being able to cook will save them a fortune as a student (& make them v popular).

[BubblesBuddy]

I think universities have had to change tactics regarding A levels now. They don’t necessarily have AS results and some universities are very much looking at GCSE results. Also the PS. When aiming high for university, it makes total sense to go for mostly academic subjects on top of science, maths and English. But, not every subject had to be academic. DD did Drama GCSE for example. She did History but not Geography. Others did Geography and not History. It really doesn’t matter but I would suggest the majority of subjects should be strong academic ones. 7 or 8.

[mumsneedwine]

Open days are your friend - listen to Admissions tutors not people on weird Internet forums 😁 when you come to Uni applications. We learned lots when DD started the medicine trek, most of which contradicted what we had been told.
All stated they only counted 3 A levels and didn't care what GCSEs were in after core ones. My favourite moment was a v posh mum asking if her DDs work experience with a top Surgeon would help. Admissions tutor said maybe - but they would prefer she worked at McDonalds (as anyone can shadow daddy😂😂).

[Orangettes]

We went to an open day at Cambridge last year, the Admissions Tutor told us they really couldn't care less about rounded - they care about what your interest is in the subject you wish to study and the skills and aptitude you have to complete your course. They feel that GCSE favours all rounders but they really are after specialists - and they appreciate some students really don't develop and excel till they reach A level and it is the A level subjects that would carry most weight. Surprisingly they were not interested in DofE or level 8 in Music or your extra curricular activities - unless of course your course was directly related. Quite refreshing really.

[mumsneedwine]

Universities do not care what your subjects are !!! Schools really shouldn't peddle silly advice - core subjects aside it does not matter. For an example my DD has 4 offers for medical school this year and her A* in textiles is worth the same as her one in History. They just count the grades. My friends DS at Oxford did maths and no one cared he had PE, Food and no humanity, they just liked the grades. I'd say do what he enjoys most as it's the grade that matters most and the new Food is very sciencey. The plonker that is Gove removed the more vocational Catering.

[chocorabbit]

We recently attended a meeting set up by the school to advice us about applying to top universities. There were 5 boys who had conditional offers to study medicine at Cambridge and one more at UCL. The school adviced to choose a Humanities subject if you want to study sciences as universities want a well rounded personality and if not all, most of these boys had studied History as their Humanities subject at A-Level.

[7DaysAWeek]

I did and thoroughly enjoyed both History and Food GCSE not very long ago.

I would say let him pick whichever he enjoys the most. Food was enjoyable in practical lessons whilst also being academic in Theory. I found some of what we did in food gave me a real boost in biology as well and vice verse so there is cross over but also there is no doubt that it is also an academic subject. Also, with 9 other fully academic subjects it was nice to know i had 60% of my grade already in the bank when i went into the exam and took a little pressure off at the end of the year.

However i love History and studied it at A level and now do it as part of a joint honours at university. That being said there was no cross over between the A level and the GCSE, even the essay techniques were different, the only advantage those of us who had done the GCSE had was we were used to remaindering dates and writing under time pressure but those who hadn't taken the GCSE quickly caught up. I would say carefully look at what the school studies, not just the exam board, for example: both my school and the one on the other side of town studied the same History GCSE, however whilst my school chose to study america in the 1920's which was fascinating, the other school opted for the cold war which, speaking to my friends at that school, was incredibly boring and really ruined their enjoyment of the subject and they were therefore less motivated to revise for it.

Overall i would say study the syllabuses carefully so that you know exactly what he will be studying. But overall let your son choose what he wants to do, i did 9 strong academic subjects and food and could still have been an oxbridge candidate if i wanted and had no trouble getting 5 offers from red brick universities so there is no problem doing one 'softer' subject, but equally history is a fascinating subject that i would never discourage anyone from taking

[mymatemax]

Just let him chose, don't over think it. Thare are positives for both subjects. History was by far my ds's favourite subject, chose it for GCSEs and it really put him off. He still has a love of history but found just studying a limited range of historical areas at a superficial level so boring. He enjoyed food tech and it taught him some good basic skills. Honestly it really doesn't matter he has all the important areas covered with the other subjects, just let him go with his preference.

[AugustRose]

DD1 took Food Prep and Nutrition as her other options were Art or Music and she didn't want to do either.

The Food prep is quite involved as others have said, it's not just baking cakes and bread. DD recently did her 3 hour practical exam and it was quite stressful to cook a 3 course meal in that time. This is a meal that they have to plan, research and make sure is nutitionally balanced. There was a lot of cooking with different techniques and flavours to practice beforehand but they couldn't make the dishes for their final meals until the day of the exam - in class at least, they could practice at home.

It also costs a small fortune in ingredients for two years! I'm glad that part is over but at least DD is now fairly proficient and could easily cater for herself and others.

If your DS enjoys it then let him do it, I'm sure his other subjects with be enough for him in the future.

[purpleyellowred]

AyeAyeFishyPie I agree with others that CS is not soft, and you must be confusing it with the old ICT course. One of the Oxford courses that most caught DS's eye when he recently visited was Maths & Computer Science so CS GCSE won't harm his chances for that.

[Orangettes]

AyeAyeFishyPie Are you aware that GCSE Computing science is now a very maths orientated challenging subject - it is no longer ICT - I cannot see how if you had knowledge of the course content it could be viewed as soft and one would hope the admission tutors at Oxford would have kept up with theses things if they put so much store by them.

[Teenmum60]

@ayeayefishypie I'm really surprised that Computer Science is considered a soft/not soft subject by Oxford and Cambridge when you can take a degree at both Oxford and Cambridge in the subject and Cambridge is one of the pioneering Uni's in that field....If you had said ICT I would have understood but totally surprised at CS.

[AyeAyeFishyPie]

If he is looking at oxbridge then History. Computer science is on the line of soft/not soft - he would be in a better position for Oxford, though Cambridge don't tend to look at GCSEs quite as much. If he has a significant preference for either one then go with that.

[Ebeneser]

I'd let him choose whatever he feels he would enjoy the most.
Personally I'd go for food tech. I'd imagine it would offer far better life skills than history.
I did history A'Level, I never studied it at GCSE. It was enjoyable, but I can't remember much of it at all. If he's also studying something like English Lit then his essay writing skills etc can be developed through that.

[InspiredByIntegrity]

Whichever he will enjoy. English literature and RP will provide plenty of analytical essay writing. On DS's info it says 19th C American West/history of medicine/1918 - 1939 Germany/early Elizabethan Engand would be the topics covered.

[Orangettes]

I did GCSE Food Home Economics years ago - got an A, really enjoyed it - it slotted in well with my very strong science background. I did History too and I can remember embarrasingly little of it - I still cook though, a lot and I still love it.
My dcs have also chosen GCSE Food Prep and Nutrition and the standard of cooking required is a fantastic challenge - it's thankfully not making a Chocolate Brownie 15 different way! They are developing excellent knife skills, pastry skills - not just the basic shortcrust, filleting a fish, churning butter, jointing a chicken - they are learning about skills that are often better taught by an experienced cook than read from a book. He should be aware that cooking just at school will not be enough to develop his skills properly - and here's the really good bit, they'll have to cook at home to practice!

[itstimeforanamechange]

I think either would be fine.

Even if he did Food and then wanted to do A level history he could (at least at our local 6th form college as they allow you do so if you have decent English and another humanity at GCSE).

[flissfloss65]

My son took Food Tech gcse in Year 10. He loved the cooking part but disliked the project section. He felt he was ticking boxes to pass the exam rather than learning anything new.

He also took history in Year 10 too and enjoyed that far more.

[MsHarry]

My very academic DD chose Food tech. She really enjoyed it and got A. she decided she wanted to do History A Level but had done Geography at GCSE. School let her as she had got A in it. She found that Food tech helped her Biology and Chemistry too.

[Allthebestnamesareused]

Yes the school choses which options they will teach.

DS has taken history and at A level they will then have a choice as the school basically teaches 2 sets of options as it is a high take up subject so the students have a choice of which topics to take but within a block (if that makes sense).

[BubblesBuddy]

Also, one so called “soft option” is allowed in the mix. Even for Oxbridge! He will have to work hard for whatever he takes so it won’t affect his chances of a science/engineering future at the best universities.