GCSE Options - opinions and experiences please.

[CompleteMadness]

Looking for opinions, experiences and thoughts on choosing, the subjects themselves and which combinations are good or even which are don’t go there combinations.

Narrowed down to the following and he has to choose 3. (Deadline is 17th April so we have a few weeks).

GCSE Music
GCSE DT: Product Design
BTEC Engineering
GCSE Food and Nutrition
GCSE History^
GCSE Geography^

Will also do:
English x2, Maths, Science x2/3*.

^Must choose at least one of these, he’s leaning towards geography.
*Top set will do triple, the rest do double and it’s decided by the Y9 exams (he’s bounced between set 1 and 2 throughout Y8 and Y9 so it could go either way).

I don’t really mind what he does.

He’s really into music, spends a lot of time each day playing the piano or tinkering with it. Has achieved; grade 6 piano, grade 5 theory and grade 2 composition. All of which he asked to do and wanted to do. He pushes himself in his music.

He’s also into fixing things. He’s always tinkered with cars, some electronics and things around the house. He wanted to try and have a go at fixing pianos so we bought him a cheep £40 battered one that we found in a charity shop about 2 years ago and he’s half way through restoring it.

He likes food at school because he gets to make a lot of different foods he isn’t exposed to at home. Due to several different allergies in the house we have a very restrictive diet so I like the idea of him continuing with food.

He likes geography because he just does. He liked outdoors education which he’s done in Y8 and Y9 so geography seems to be the closest.

Histories on the list because he seems to think he should do history because he likes music and he likes music history.

Unfortunately, he can’t do them all and we need to figure out how to get it down to only 3.

The only advice I'll give is that if he takes more than one "coursework heavy" subject, it's a lot of extra work (especially in Y11). From that list, I know that Music and DT involve coursework (sometimes now called 'NEA', Non-Examined Assessment) but I don't know about the BTEC or the Food & Nutrition.

Music should be a breeze for him with what he has already achieved. The coursework is composing and performing, which he can already do so won’t be a problem for him.
Have you looked at the curriculum for History and Geography to see what each course covers? My ds enjoyed the physical geography but not the social geography so much.

Music should be quite easy for him with those qualifications.

Definitely check the history syllabus as some of them are deathly dull.

Product design might be interesting and useful depending on what he wants to go on to do - it’s becoming more relevant for a lot of different industries, some of which you wouldn’t necessarily expect.

I’d say music - he loves it and he’s in a good position to get a great grade without a horrible amount of work. I think your logic around food to support a wider life skill is sound and then dig into the syllabus of history or geography to make that decision.

@CompleteMadness
Only do Engineering if he’s really interested in Engineering. You don’t need it to be an engineer or study engineering at university. DT could be better for gcse.

Music seems very sensible. Geography seems better than history or food tech.

Sadly no MFL!

I'd definitely do music with those grades, and Food Tech, although I'm biased as I TA in food tech a lot and love it! It does have a coursework heavy Y11 and he will need to practice at home for his practical exams. It ties in really well with science too.

Out of geog and hist it sounds like he prefers geography. History is incredibly content heavy and there is so much to remember. Geography is also about applying skills as well as knowing facts.

I don't think there is a bad option here. It sounds like Geography is a shoo-in, and then whichever of the others he fancies will be completely fine.

Food tech is a bit marmite. They have to do a 3 course meal in a set time so it requires a good level of exec function.

I've seen music argued either way - one of my DCs' musical friends was advised against it because they do so much anyway. They pootled off to college on a music specialist course very happily without it. But then they might have enjoyed doing the GCSE if they'd gone that route. I think the question is how much he will enjoy it if it overlaps too much with what he has already done. Having done grades in composition is unusual.

I'd definitely do the music. It's nice to hang out with others interested in music and nice to have a subject you excell in.

My daughter loves cooking but was put off food tech by the time constraints- said it was more like a reality TV "bake x in 60min" type programme. That wouldn't bother others though.

Has he spoken to some older kids that are studying the subjects at school.

Definitely go with his interests.

Does he love essay writing?
If not he probably shouldn’t do History

My older son did geography and history and I wouldn't advise it. Too much content to learn.

My younger son has done DT which is very coursework heavy and quite a bit commitment. Although he's loved it.

Will have a look into the syllabi for History and Geography. I think he’ll go for Geography in the end, he just “thinks” he should do history because it’s usually the done thing for people who like music. I do think he would enjoy geography more though, and, as mentioned by a PP, he’s not really into writing essays. I can’t see him opting for both of them.

Good advice about engineering and DT. I have had a look at the syllabi for those and DT seems to over more and possibly gives the greater variety/exposure to skills compared to engineering which is narrower and focusses on manufacturing and CNC machining. If he did want to go down the engineering route then DT would still keep engineering open as well as being a good GCSE to have. As a PP mentioned, it’s useful for many different careers.

Thanks for the opinions and experiences about food. Nice to know. I didn’t realise it was so ‘TV show’ like and time constrained. Will make a note to have a chat with him about that. Again, I think this is a good one for him, but I’m not going to push it if, after looking into it a bit more, he says no.

Yes, grades in composition, it’s an unusual one. It’s one thing I’m a little a bit worried about is music. It will be a walk in the park for him, but it might also be too easy? Alternatively, it might allow him to look more into music areas he hasn’t covered so far and play in bands/ensembles, which he has done, but not as much as other things. It’s a funny one.

I will get his to speak to some people in the year above and also will sit down with him and look over the syllabi for the various subjects.

To address the lack of MFL.

I would have liked him to have taken one, but I’m not going to push him down a route where he’s not going to pass.
He really has tried with MFL but he’s just not managed to make it stick. He really really struggles with it.
Had discussions between ourselves and with school and made the decision it was probably best long term to have decent grades in 8 subjects rather than 7 decent ones and French or German at grade 2/3. At least this way he can pick 2 open subjects rather than just 1.

@CompleteMadness
I don’t see the connection between history and music. History is of course great but geography might lead on to environment or engineering degrees with appropriate science A levels. History is definitely humanities leaning.

As an aside, I did “cookery” O level. Our practical exam was time constrained. Planning was time constrained too. And, yes, we had to cook a meal with courses.

DT product design is NEA heavy and has an exam
Food and nutrition has two NEA elements (design and make with portfolio) and an exam at the end
BTEC Engineering from what I remember is modular and must hit the deadlines for each module throughout the year.

It seems madness not to do something because you're good at it. We don't say to science lovers don't do science or to book lovers not to do English... The GCSE will cover music from different periods as well as analysis of music - it's not just performing. In some schools you have to have grade 5 to do music so it won't all be repetition at all...

I'm not sure of the link with history either? Does he happen to know some who have done both. It sounds like he's more geography leaning.

It would be unusual to do 2 "technologies" (they can't at my daughter's school.) So having DT or engineering or cooking as 3rd choice sounds good.

My ds did GCSE product design and is doing it at A level. He loves the variety of things they do and that it is both technical (CAD drawing), creative and practical

@TheWonderfulThingAboutTiggers I’m definitely not dissuading him from doing music, far from it. I can definitely see it would be good for him and I think he should do it. There are many additional benefits, as you mentioned. I just wasn’t sure whether he might find it too easy. I think there’s a point where something is too easy and it becomes boring which can sometimes be just as bad as something being too hard if that makes sense?
There are no graded music requirements to take GCSE music, one of the reasons I was questioning if it might be too easy. The options book says “The ability to play an instrument/sing is highly desirable. For those who do not current play an instrument or sing, it is highly recommended to learn to play an instrument/sing as regular independent practice is essential.”

We’ve worked out why he thought he “needed” to do music. He knows a couple of people who have taken music and history at GCSE and a couple who took music technology and history at A Level. He thought it was a needed subject combination. We had a look at some university music courses (just to look, we don’t know what career he will end up doing), but history isn’t essential or even recommended. One university does say they recommend an essay subject and history is considered. Possibly where this has come from? I don’t know, but its not essential which has made him a bit happier and he’s saying he’s going to do geography if that’s the case.

Our school seems extremely flexible with options subjects compared to others. Unless they’re doing the “Full EBacc” where they end up with only one open choice, it is entirely possible to do a CS, DT and Food combination, or, History, Geography and RE combination, or, both French and German, or, an Art, Creative iMedia and Performing Arts combination. Plus other combinations other schools seem to disallow.

We haven’t sat down and dug into the syllabi yet, will have a look at those later on or tomorrow.

He’s defiantly chosen Geography, so just need to choose 2 from DT, Engineering, Food and Music now.

If it helps my daughter is loving GCSE music - partly as its the same gang that do orchestra and other ensembles and partly as she loves playing. She's currently grade 6/7 and year 9 (3 yr gcse path, grammar school) and she's probably middling in the class - a lot are already higher grades and playing in the local Orchestra that is grade 7/8+. Our school don't require a level but do say they should be taking individual lessons outside of the class. I think it's nice having a subject you love.

Is he allowed to do 2 from DT/engineering/food? You cant do more than one "tech" at our school which might help with the choice....

Ah you did say - I didn't twig there were 2 posts.

Our exam board doesn't allow GCSE DT and Textiles for example as the "tech" part is similar. . If geog is in the bag and he wants to do music it would make sense to do that and then just pick a tech.

Sounds like he will do well :)

I would avoid more than one design subject as they are heavy on portfolios

That’s great to hear she’s loving it and it’s really reassuring. Thank you for sharing that.

Yes, he’s definitely allowed to do 2 tech subjects. School really aren’t that bothered. They’re really flexible with things. (I think they’re chasing passes in general rather than the EBacc/fixed combinations because historically they haven’t had the best of results).

Ours is super flexible in general too which I love (similarly could do all humanities if they wished) and don't have to take a language which we are all thanking our lucky stars for! I do think it works better overall.

My DS2 did music GCSE and was G6 in piano and G7 in violin and didn't find it too easy! In order to.score well.in performance your pieces need to be at least G5 so it's perfectly poss to do music gcse without that level of playing but you wont get the top score in the performance element. G5 theory was a massive help.
He loved it and is sitting A level music this year. Which he says is his hardest A level!
It really cemented his place in the music dept and he has a lot of friends out of it. And he is in every ensemble going from a string quartet to a rock band!