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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

GCSE's can you help me with this process?

54 replies

SoTiredNeedHoliday · 08/02/2019 10:19

Hi,
I don't know much about GCSE's however we are nearing selection time. I have advised that we need to select:

subjects that they really like
Subjects that they might need for any A levels that they want to do or any career that they are (at 14! ) thinking of.
Some are more difficult that others DEPENDING on the particular students strengths and weaknesses

What I was very surprised to hear is that Universities will look at GCSE results when reviewing student applications as the A levels are not yet finished. I am from a system where university places are offered after the results are in for the final year of school so you find where you are offered a place in the summer, & not before.

So can anyone particularly tell me about: I'd be forever grateful for your honest experienced comments as parents.

HISTORY GCSE - how was it ?

ART GCSE?

DESIGN GCSE?

GEOGRAPHY GCSE?

Most importantly, are there any pitfalls that I need to know before we have finalised our selection?

thanks!

OP posts:

TwoBlueFish · 08/02/2019 10:27

My son is doing history at the moment. He’s really enjoying it, it is a lot of written work and analysing facts and evidence.

I can’t comment on the others as my son isn’t taking them all I can say is that a lot of his friends took geography as the easy option humanity and say it’s boring.

The would avoid anything that involves you working in groups (like drama)

My son chose history, Spanish, computer science and food tech, he’s in Year 10.

MirandaWest · 08/02/2019 10:35

DS is in year 10 and doing geography, Spanish, music and PE. He enjoys geography. He says friends who are doing Art say it is a lot of work.

DD is in year 8 (they choose options in year 8 in their school) and will hopefully be doing history, geography, Spanish and drama.

steppemum · 08/02/2019 10:40

The most important thing is to get English and maths (compulsory) Then, if they like science, they need their science (2 sciences will be compulsory, if they are good at science, this is their best subject, then make it 3 sciences)

If there is a subject they like a lot, and may want to do it for A level, eg if they love geography/French

Then be aware that art GCSEs are a lot of work. great to to if you are artistc and enjoy art, but think about it due to the amount of work.

DT is less work intensive.
I disagree about group work, if they love drama, go for drama.
It is good to have one GCSE which is more practical, it gives them a variety in the week, instead of all book work.

Given all that, what is your dc good at, and what do they like?

Don't worry about universties looking at GCSE results. It helps to give them a sense of how clever they are and they basically look at the top 7 results and what the grades were, they are not intersted in the details.

my ds (year 11) did - 3 sciences, DT business studies, French, Geography
my dd (year 9) has just chosen 3 sciences, German, Drama and computer science

Both lean towards sciences/engineering

steppemum · 08/02/2019 10:48

by design do you mean Design and Technology?
Ds says that is easy, and his easiest GCSE, but if you mean design on the art side, that may be different.

Geography has a lot of content, but not hard, easy to understand, just a lot to revise. ds chose geography over history as there was less essay tyoe writing, so if you are good at English, History may appeal more

Original poster

SoTiredNeedHoliday · 08/02/2019 11:12

Yes I mean Design and technology, I think that the expectation of what they produce as their projects are pretty high but that will be ok as he is interested in that.

On History or Geography - he loves history, its a complete passion and always has been since he was very young. However he doesn't like essay writing too much so its a bit of a difficult one!

on Art the teacher did say he is more than capable and shed love him to return, she did say she expects a lot on the practical and it is time intensive, but then the is no traditional theory exam at the end its a practical, so that is a balancing factor sort of.

OP posts:

goldengummybear · 08/02/2019 11:35

History and Geography are both essay subjects. Together with English, there's no way to avoid essay writing so I'd pick History because he's naturally more interested in it. It's a good idea to check which period they study. My dd is doing the GCSE History this summer and she really enjoyed the 20th century bits but is much more meh about the Norman Conquest module.

TeenTimesTwo · 08/02/2019 11:46

If you read some of the threads on this board (e.g. the current y11 and y10 threads) you will see that Art is regularly given as a subject that eats into time, especially if your DC has 'perfectionist' tendencies.

There are essays for both History & Geography. DD1 did History, DD2 is about to do Geography. I'd go for the one that is most interesting as they will be more motivated.

No knowledge on Design Tech.

There is a choosing options thread running at the moment if you want to join in.

EduCated · 08/02/2019 11:48

Really do not underestimate the time commitment required for Art. Many schools require pupils to attend additional sessions at lunchtime/after school in addition to a significant amount of work at home. It takes a lot of motivation, which can be hard to come by if you only have a passing interest in the GCSE.

SoupDragon · 08/02/2019 11:49

be aware that art GCSEs are a lot of work

This! DS1 did it and he had to go in at weekends in the run up to the exam/coursework submission.

SoupDragon · 08/02/2019 11:51

DS2 did DT and that seemed to involve less work than art. It still involved lunchtime /after school sessions in the run up to the exam to ensure everything was finished and well presented.

lljkk · 08/02/2019 11:54

DD did history & geography (G as a one year course). Her mate did Art as well. Mate was always copying homework from DD coz mate couldn't keep up with other subjects. DD reckons she dodged a bullet by not doing Art. Total TimeSuck.

Tonnes of memorising for H&G, and writing. G slightly better for kids who don't like writing or can't write fast.

I would have loved DC to do DT. It's not the timesuck Art is.

Seeline · 08/02/2019 11:58

Ds did both history and geography. Both have a lot of content. geography didn't seem to involve quite so many essays as history - quite a lot of research though for case studies etc.

Ds also did DT (it was called resistant materials) This involved a lot of coursework that seemed to be never-ending. There was always something that had to be added to it. And then the actual piece to be built which involved extra time at school. But it was the majority of the mark and over and done with before Easter which did ease the pressure.

DD started DT (hers was art and design) and was a very different course - loads of artwork all the time. She swapped it for something else after the first half term and is much happier.

GSCEs are more important these days for uni offers as most schools no longer do AS levels the year after GCSEs but head straight for A levels after 2 years. Unis therefore only have GSCE results and predicted A level grades on which to base their offers.

Shimy · 08/02/2019 11:58

DS is doing both History and Geography as well as Music. He loves all three but says music is a bit boring.

Shimy · 08/02/2019 12:01

Just to add, there was a lot of nail biting over Art as DS is very very good at it and school was kind of hinting they expected him to choose it . Luckily DS1 had already been down the ‘Art’ route and warned his brother about the workload.

Vargas · 08/02/2019 12:03

Have a look at which History GCSE the school offers. My son's has coursework which really helps break it up a bit. He is also doing Geography and RT so very essay heavy, but so far it has been fine. I think it is always nice for children to have one 'creative' subject but my ds didn't want to do one.

I think it's really important they do something they enjoy, much better to get an A in a 'lesser' course than a C in something the parent prefers!

steppemum · 08/02/2019 12:19

We have just had options evenign and many discussions with dd abotu options, and we spent some time talking to the school. They are a superselctive grammar, and they overwhelmingly said, try and let them choose things thy want to do, they are more likely to enjoy it and be successful.
(I should say that unless there is a particular reason for doing particular subjects ,eg they want to be a medic, so need sciences)
It was refreshing actually!

We have insisted on both ours doing a langague, but that is because of our family etc, not necessary for all

ChoudeBruxelles · 08/02/2019 12:21

History and geography will be a lot of written work. We’re doing this now too (ds is only 12!) and he’s debating whether to history and sociology because of the amount of written work.

Original poster

SoTiredNeedHoliday · 08/02/2019 15:17

I can see the work load is going to increase massively from year 9 to year 10!

OP posts:

Original poster

SoTiredNeedHoliday · 08/02/2019 15:18

Also on the 2U science how is that graded? Is there a paper in each chemistry, biology and physics? then how do they calculate the grade one two GCSE's only?

OP posts:

TeenTimesTwo · 08/02/2019 15:47

The combined science has 6 papers, 2 for each science.
Scores are collated and a 'double' grade assigned
99, 98, 88, 97, 77, 76, 66, 65, 55, 54, 44, 43, 33, 32, 22, 21, 11

TeenTimesTwo · 08/02/2019 15:49

It is clear which topic number will be covered in each paper so they can focus last minute revision.

Hoppinggreen · 08/02/2019 15:51

Dd wants to do all 3 sciences, Spanish ( which she can already speak reasonably well anyway), history, Business and either Art or Music.
After reading this I might steer her more towards music !

TeenTimesTwo · 08/02/2019 16:08

87 not 97 obviously.

Bimkom · 08/02/2019 16:18

I would third, or fourth the warning about art. DS is just finishing off GCSEs, and Art has been a lot of pressure and a lot of time (especially now, when one is trying to revise for the others). DS is still glad he did it, and truth is, his art has come on an enormous amount, but definitely your child should only, only do it if they really, really want to, not because somebody thinks it is a good idea. DD is making her GCSE choices and she is avoiding it (despite being very talented), because she has seen how much stress it has caused DS

Bimkom · 08/02/2019 16:40

My DS was torn between history and geography, as he was interested in both, and went for geography as he tends to do better in the sciences and worse in essay writing. But there was a genuine interest there (also because the history that interests him is more classical - he would have loved classical civilisations if it had been offered at his school, and the school was doing more twentieth century, which interested him far less).
DD has never liked history (always complained that it was boring). I wish she did like it more, but given her attitude, think geography over history is a no brainer - she is genuinely interested in most things geographical. Even if one struggles with the essays, if he has a passion for history I would suggest he goes for it.

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