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Secondary education

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GCSEs - music or drama..?

52 replies

MusicOrDrama · 15/05/2024 08:10

DD has to choose an option now at the end of year 8, which they will continue to GCSE. For her, it boils down to the choice between music and drama, they can't do both. She is struggling to choose. I'm wondering if anyone has any insight into GCSE music or drama as subjects?

She is naturally academic and is on course for some great results. She does both music and drama out of school. So, she is set up to do well with either but obviously wants the best mark she can get too!

School have suggested an instrument at grade 2-3 will allow them to access the performance element and the rest. But what sort of grade are we talking to access the top few GCSE grades? She is currently having a break from piano grade exams to just enjoy playing while settling with a new teacher and working her way through early theory grades. She's likely to start preparing for grade 4 soon. She's a good but not exceptional musician who practices but probably not as much as she should. Is this likely to be enough, or is she going to struggle?

Drama she loves and is going to do her first LAMDA exam this year with her drama class run by her dance school (she does a lot more dancing than drama!). She's a confident performer. I have read that drama as a subject is a lot more than that though, and can be quite hard going?

Anyway, any advice or opinions would be very welcome! I'm trying to get a better sense of what they both actually entail and which she's likely to do best in to help her decide, as I'm getting a bit bored of "I don't knoooow" and "it's not fair they make us chooose"! 😆

OP posts:
TizerorFizz · 19/05/2024 23:16

@Comefromaway

My DDs continued with 5 of those to end of y9. They had a broad education.

SnobblyBobbly · 19/05/2024 23:21

We had the same choice and DD went for Drama and is now doing it at A Level.

For her it was the subject she enjoyed the most and grades were good across the board so seemed an easy win. I'm also a massive advocate for drama be it school or something outside if that doesn't fit, because the communication skills and confidence it gives around speaking and presenting themselves well is just invaluable for young people these days.

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