Gcse options: psychology

[Tiggles]

Ds is choosing his options.
He has to do
2x maths
2 * English
Welsh
3 x science
Re
Then he is definitely choosing computer science and dt
He is fairly certain he wants to do psychology. I did psychology as part of my degree but have no clue what it is like at gcse. Would it be similar to geography / history for writing essays? Do other people's DC enjoy it?
His current career plan is a software programmer, not sure that anything else would be more useful.

I took it and really enjoyed. There is slightly less writing than geog/history but still the same ideas around analysing and constructing arguments. There are bits of maths/stats/research methods in it, and quite a lot to memorise. Make sure he knows what it actual involves!

I didn't do it for gcse or a level but have a degree in it. So maybe just do it for enjoyment rather than usefulness.

Thanks
@pastaandpizzaplease that actually sounds like it would be right up his street. He is good at maths and research.

Good more traditional universities like students to have history or geography, if he's looking to study sciences it's less of an issue but history is the best regarded

Psychology would be a good choice to go with computer science - ties in to human / machine interfaces etc.

eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/1391/1/J_Taylor_Teaching_Psychology_to_Computing_students.pdf

He's got a good spread of subjects, including double maths which are the most important subjects for computer science

I don't know much about psychology at GCSE, but it's damned useful as an adjunct to computer science at higher levels (universities which allow a module of a different discipline within their CS degrees find high numbers choose psychology)

Could I ask what double maths at GCSE is? I'm familiar with this at A Level but I have not heard of it at GCSE. My son is also choosing options so I'm curious.

As others have said, it sounds like a great combination as long as he is aware of what the course involves.

It's the same thing - maths and further maths as two separate qualifications, either two GCSEs or GCSE maths plus FSMQ in additional maths

Sounds like OP is in Wales - so wouldn’t the two GCSEs be in Maths and Maths Numeracy?

Universities do not care what you studied at GCSE, so moving is wrong.

The exception is one uni who likes a language GCSE, and if you don’t have one you have to take an intro course in first year.

Yes in Wales everyone does two maths gcses normal maths and numeracy maths.

Hi @Tiggles! Our kids usually change quite a bit by the time they are 21 or 22, the age my daughter is now. Her target degree subject changed by the beginning of Year 13 and her career choice changed dramatically by the middle of her degree course. So something to bear in mind.

How will your son's Year 11 subjects lead to 3 or 4 A Levels and then those A Levels to degree and career options?

Maths, Further Maths and Physics a Levbels are really useful for Computer Science at University, which creates maximum options for budding programmers.

Psychology GCSE or A Level are not needed for that subject at University. Biology, Maths and an essay subject are handy, though.

And how to go from a Psychology degree to a programming career? ... Retrain? ... One of my old friends did just that.

Ah - thanks for the maths answers!
Good luck to your son OP.

DD is doing psychology GCSE in year 11 and absolutely loves it. It’s one of her favourite subjects. Surprisingly, there aren’t too many essays (the longest questions being around 4-5 paragraphs) with many short answer and multiple choice questions. Is very interesting and will help with understanding content at A level (or so DD tells me). Sorry if any of this info is wrong or different at his school/ exam board. This is just what DD has told me about it. Hope this helps :)