GCSE options - History AND geography or

[winterrabbit]

Trying to decide options for DS1 who is in year 9. He is bright and sporty but also lazy/unmotivated. He'll be doing triple science, French, Geography and either History or PE. He can't decide between History & PE as his 3rd choice and I am not sure what to advise him. He used to love History but has gone off it a bit in year 9 owing to the teacher plus I am worried it will be too much work alongside Geography and that one of the options should be a bit lighter such as PE. He is sporty and does sports to a competitive level outside of school and will do well in PE but is PE taken seriously as an option?

History teacher (before becoming a SAHM) here! Think about him honestly. Will he revise? If not he will not do well in History regardless of ability (or at least not as well as he should). I've taught a few kids at A Level who haven't done GCSE but wouldn't advise it unless very very interested and academic. Get him to have a good look at the topics covered at GCSE - if they don't interest him it likely won't work out well.

My subject classroom is used twice a week for GCSE theory lessons.
All GCSE classes have 7 lessons a fortnight so 4 out of the 7 are theory at my school.

Having said that, definitely advise your DS to pick a balance of subjects. Practical and academic.

To get to the next stage (Alevels) English and Maths count the most followed by a range of other subjects with good grades.

After that, nobody cares what subjects your GCSE grades are in.

That should say GCSE P.E. Theory lessons.

@winterrabbit

Do you have to do GSCE History in order to study it at A-level? I reckon DS1 will want to do Maths and French A-levels but not sure what for the 3rd, possibly Geography or a Science. If he did want to do History would that be ruled out>

I didn't do GSCE history but did at a level and then as part of my degree.

It was a special conversation with school as they did not normally allow it. My saving grace was that i had done geography, media studies and had very good general knowledge so could demonstrate that my essay writing and ability to analyse things was sufficient to pick it up anyway. I was given an exception to the blanket rule as a result.

You don't need it technically as a prerequisite because you will study different periods at GCSE and Alevel.

So there's no definitive yes/no to this question and very much depends on the school and your son's ability. A 'no policy', may be contestable if his grades in English and Geography are good enough, and he is prepared to argue his case. Or he may be able to switch at college.

Personally, I am glad i didn't do it a GCSE to this day and I dont think it made any difference whatsoever to my Alevel.

It is a lot of study and writing though - there was more work than for Geography, which I found needed more maths ability.

Is it GCSE PE or Btec sport? PE GCSE is hard, at both of my last schools it had a high drop out rate. The main issue is that a lot of it is “new” information whereas other subjects build on what was taught all the way through school.

PE, no brainer. History is much more of a slog at GCSE: long essay writing, memorising huge amounts of information (lots revision). They literally can't write fast enough.

PE GCSE is not easy, but it requires very different skills from history GCSE.

My daughter is Year 10 and chose geography and PE. She is national team standard in one sport and good club level at another. To be honest PE requires a lot more parental buy in with all the recording and editing that is required for the physical moderation element and this only accounts for 30% of their mark- am actually finding it quite stressful !!

It's certainly not a easy option any more.

You don't need to consider how 'academic ' it is as he already has lots of academic subjects and his choices at sixth form are wide;Assuming he isn't going to choose humanities going forward.he has no creative subjects at all which seems a shame. It really needs to be his decision imo. It doesn't matter which he chooses as far as his future is concerned and of course if he drops out 9 subjects at gcse are plenty.
He should talk to the young people who are doing history and PE this year to see which appeals to him more.

DS is just like yours, sporty, reasonably bright but lazy/unmotivated.
He did Geography and History at GCSE, they didn't offer PE but he did a Cambridge National (I imagine a BTEC type thing) in Sports Studies. I don't know how that compares to the GCSE (but looking online it looks like 40% is practical assessment and some coursework)

He managed fine with the workload (in that he did none) in Geography and History and got good grades, but found the coursework in Sports Studies hard work and I only just scraped a pass. Coursework is not for the lazy haha!

History is fairly work heavy. My daughter did it at gcse and now at A level. It's her most work extensive subject by far (she also does art and psychology).
My son did PE and it's not a lightweight subject - lots of anatomy and physiology. But yes less academic than history gif dure. I'd says it's less common to do both geography and history, and PE is a good subject, and as your son is competing already that's part of it already in hand.

I did history A level, without the O level. School was OK with that because I was doing well generally and particularly in other essay based subjects. So it might be possible - though my experience is clearly dated!

The new spec PE GCSE has a lot of human biology, plus nutrition, sports psychology, nutrition etc. It's a more 'all round' and useful subject than it's sometimes given credit for. Though perhaps I'm biased as one DC did it!

I think there's a lot to be said for doing 'one for fun' at GCSE

I think you could do history A level at DD's school without having done the GCSE.
I don't think history relies on assumed prior knowledge like science or maths subjects because you need the basic building blocks to do them.

I'd make him decide for himself. It doesn't matter which he chooses so make him do it.

My daughter is in Year 10 and is doing History, Geography and PE. History is her humanity choice which she really enjoys. Geography and PE were her option choices and she enjoys both of them. The school were not keen on students choosing to do History and Geography but DD advises a significant number of students are doing both as they like both subjects and did not want to study some of the alternatives such as RS. As other posters have pointed out GCSE PE requires a lot of parental involvement if sports have to be filmed out of school and I would advise that you need to be clear exactly what is expected of you with the filming. Half of PE is theory based and their other lesson is practical and they are expected to do a certain sport for a half term (regardless of whether it is one of their chosen sports or not) in which they are graded (however, it doesn't count towards the final grade unless they decide it is going to be one of their three sports). Other schools may deal with the practical element differently though.

My son has exactly the same choice of options. We have chosen geography and PE even though the history teacher was fantastic and did the most amazing lobby for his subject last week at parent meetings. Writing is not my son's strong point so PE was the choice.

If he can't decide, maybe strike out all the pros and cons and just get him to concentrate on which one he thinks he'd enjoy more.

I'm struck by your thought that he might love History. It's good to respect his decision on Hist vs Geog, but maybe just check that he actually enjoys Geog. If he doesn't, and he's just doing it because he thinks it sounds easier, it might turn out to be a bit of a slog.

Thank you all, very helpful. Definitely leaning towards PE as a result of the advice but I am a bit worried by how burdensome the coursework/practical element is. As some posters have said, maybe it's harder to do well in coursework than in end of year exams, especially if DS is lazy and disorganised. I can't see him doing much coursework although he does do a fair number of competitions so presumably I could use those?

Now we're hopefully coming out of covid, PE might be easier. It's been hard for DS1 as all the team sports he played have been on hold for the last two years, no rugby at school, club matches and training cancelled for 6 months etc has left him turning to cross country and netball as sports... So no parental recording etc here

@winterrabbit

Thank you all, very helpful. Definitely leaning towards PE as a result of the advice but I am a bit worried by how burdensome the coursework/practical element is. As some posters have said, maybe it's harder to do well in coursework than in end of year exams, especially if DS is lazy and disorganised. I can't see him doing much coursework although he does do a fair number of competitions so presumably I could use those?

Why are you concerning yourself so much with your child's GCSEs?

Parents who do this are actually holding their kids back.

Step back, let him take charge of his own life.