Easiest and hardest GCSEs?

[jennylamb1]

My son is just choosing his GCSE options, looking at the core plus history, geography, computing and Spanish. I'm a little concerned about computing because the school has had issues in recruiting a computing teacher and it sounds like they haven't covered the whole of the curriculum but he wants to do it. I was wondering which GCSEs are considered hard and which easy?

I read exams for students who have sen.

Oh right, a reader- sorry. I don't know why exam in front of it confused me.

Guess it depends.

Some people might consider 'DT' easier than 'Physics, but I think it's quite hard to get a 9 (if that's what you're aiming for) in DT.

Heard Latin was hard and think Biology is hard for some as a lot of content. I wonder, though, if the content for things like languages is similar, i.e. if you're good at remembering lots of facts maybe Biology isn't so bad?

Generally speaking, I've heard Art is very time consuming and extremely difficult to get top marks in.

Presumably subjects most kids take will have more of a range of abilities so it's perhaps relatively 'easier' to get a higher mark with lower scores in those.

If he's 13 they have yet to cover gcse syllabus material. Is there a coding club?

The Maths and comp science connection hasn't been true for my DCs. They are both very good in maths, top of the class, but really struggled with comp science, bottom of the class.

That's strange. DS's computer science teacher was v picky about who he took (they only offer it to 30 kids). Wanted excellent Maths. To be fair, what they did in Y7-9 (when they had a geography teacher teaching them) was zero to do with coding.

she's found the subjects she's genuinely interested in to be the easiest

Not sure. My DD loves reading and devours books, loves English but finds Maths easier to do well in. She wishes English was like that as she genuinely loves the subject. I was similar with History. I needed tutoring to get a B at A level but was determined to do it for my degree! French and English were easy As. Loved History enough to do it for 3 years - even though it was difficult.

@PrincessOfPreschool not all mathematicians or physicists managed to get the hang of programming. It's a very specific type of logical thinking and problem solving that many who excel in the physical sciences have. That's why many of the graduate programs are open for anyone with a physical science degree, not just computer science.

It could also be that they are taught badly and no one managed to explain to them algorithmic thinking.

From when i was at school in 90s for me
Languages easy As
Maths top set but ok B
Science ok B
History B (but actually mock C and only 54%..)
RE easyish but still only B
English lang C
Lit B

So you can see English i found harder than Mfl and maths subjects. Yet my actual English isnt bad. Imo im not imaginative or descriptive.

Additional maths then an AS but now would have been simular to gcse level...

So current gcses
Maths i expect. It is sooooo hard its harder than my Alevel!!!
In facr my y7 11yo is doing my stuff i did first year alevel. Like sequences.

However the advantage of making it harder is it probably puts some off alevel.

At y7 level i think dd has found biology easy as she knew skeletons etc and can remember stuff. But the ohysics and chem has been harder

However she did worst so far at art (though is good at it)
Then RE
geography
history
Science
Spanish
Maths
IT
English

But it isnt necessarily reflective of the subject but the organisaton of the work. Because the science teacher didnt tell them about test 1. Geography about 2 tests.
Technically English couldnt prepare either.
And RE we havent seen any info on tests.
So i conclude DD does better if they can prepare...

Don't think there is hard or easy as will vary on the child's skills but some subjects have similar skill sets so combined can be easier. For example, someone excellent at maths there's maths, further maths, statistics as well as subjects which require maths skills like computing and physics which combined can be easier than more differentiated subjects. Similarly multiple languages have some overlap. You do need to consider subjects with teacher shortages sadly unless your child is capable of teaching themselves or you can get a tutor to plug gaps.

That's true.
When DD1 did her GCSEs under the old system she did Spanish and French. Once she understood the requirements for one of the MFLs she knew it for the other too. That definitely made our lives easier. (Though occasionally she cross contaminated the words!)

After spending some time helping DD revise her geography, she sat down to tackle a pair of past papers, and I asked her if I could have a go as well. She marked them both from the markscheme, and I got a 6. Not bad, on a bit of reading the revision book, ordinary adult general knowledge, and remembering about ox-bow lakes (and practically nothing else) from school. I didn't do geography beyond year 9.

Geography is only easier than history if you are interested and motivated to learn it. Otherwise it will be a slog (DD dropped geog as soon as she was able and is currently studying A Level History).

RE is only "easy" if you are good at writing essays- the exam involves writing multiple long answers at speed.

DS is in Y10, and I totally agree with this.

The GCSEs and A levels with the highest pass rates are often the most "difficult" because only those who are really good at them - rather than just finding them fun/interesting/thinking they are a walk in the park - actually take them.

Further maths is the hardest by a street, none of the others come halfway close.

DD did the pre reform one, they had a single after school class per week and that was her best result because they awarded A^ (double star) grades then. English lit and German though... 🤷‍♀️

As others have said, it mainly depends on the pupil's aptitudes, with teaching being a significant contributing factor.