History or geography gcse?

[36plus3]

Dd (year 9) had chosen geography as one of her options but is now reconsidering switching to history.

She thinks geography will be more content heavy? Though she's better with short answer style exams (very sciency, wants to do science alevels). She finds history more interesting and has "enjoyed" revising this more for her end of year exams.

She has to do RE as a compulsory subject at her school so already has one essay based humanities subject.

Please could anyone advise?

It honestly doesn't matter. They are equally as challenging as each other and both are teaching similar skills for gathering lots of different kinds of information to synthesise a conclusion they can defend and explain. She shouldn't switch just due to thinking one or other might be easier - neither will be easy but the process of doing a difficult thing is the main point of this stage of education. She should do whichever one seems most interesting to her.

I have DC who did Geography, History and RE GCSEs in recent years. All have a lot of content to revise and memorise. However, I would not say that Geog is more content heavy than History. Geog does benefit from a greater variety of question styles and this offers relief from the essay heavy emphasis of History and RE (and EngLit) during the intense GCSE exam period.

Mine went on to take Maths, a physical science and Geog at A level. The latter proved to be a good complement to the maths and science as it kept skills in extended writing alive and interesting fieldwork in the NEA component. It was also triggered, for one, some reduced offers for Chemistry degrees as Geog is regarded as a science subject by some. Some points to consider.

I am a Geog grad but love my history, as do my DC. I notice more schools seem to force a choice between the two at GCSE and I think that is a pity.

i did history. My exam was 6 essay questions. 2 short 2 medium 2 long. One of each type on a topic so 2 topics.

If she is not wanting long essay style questions, then history is not the choice. Not sure what geography exams are like. History not only has lots of content but also dates to remember. She also needs to analyze the evidence and make conclusions (similar to english comprehension but longer essays)

Science and history exams are very different. History is more similar to the RE exam.

If its between history and geography, then pick whichever she is most interested in. It wont matter in the long run unless she wants to study history or geography at university. If she does badly, then dont tell anyone you took the subject.

Having to choose between them is crazy. Geography tells you about the world and History tells you how we got here. IMO they should both be compulsory. HTH.

From watching my DD in history you have to formulate an argument and use evidence to support that position. Eg. Henry 8th was a good king because. I don't know about Geography, but the highest marks in history are not about what you, but about the exact way you formulate that answer. DD spent a lot of time training herself to formulate the correct answer.

Totally agree. I have one at uni and one just about to complete A levels and they both wish they’d done both.

FWIW neither are neeks they just liked both subjects and regret not doing both.

To get the highest marks in Geog (at GCSE and A level) you also need to marshall facts into a line of argument and counter-argument. This is also true of RE and EngLit.

There is a vast difference between saying you should be able to do both (which many schools allow) and making them both compulsory!

My eldest started History and dropped it, my youngest started Geography and dropped that! Both are content heavy and imo revision resources not as good for those who struggle to take quality notes.

Both are massively content heavy and require extended answers, I think History is still worse for this. Tell her to choose which she is most interested in and start making revision aids as she learns each topic in whichever subject she does. Get her to check which topics are covered in History GCSE to make sure she's interested in them, Geography is a bit broader.

We had a very similar discussion.
History was his subject of love (tho not necessarily the periods that were covered in GCSE), but Geography was much more straightforward for his dyslexic&dysgraphic brain to answer.
He is doing Geog, but still picks up books to read about history. His mate is doing history, and struggling with the longer answers. History appears more popular currently - at his school anyway.

It doesn't really matter which one they choose at this level. It can all be picked up later if required.

Lots of good insights thanks. Personally I think she should stick with what she chose - gut instinct and all. But of course it's not my decision. She wants to do bio, chem and maths alevel.

It kind of does because it’s hard to do the A level if you haven’t done the GCSE

Geography a level really helped sit alongside my biology and chemistry a levels back in the day. So if she's going down that route I do think geography will be helpful and interesting for her more so than history

I’d check the content of the syllabus, particularly for history. Mine has done both and the course has put him off history completely! It’s such a shame, but it’s been very dry and tedious, so it’s worth checking how interested she is in what they’ll be learning.

i would have thought geography would be more relevant to the sciences, as history would be more relevant to the humanities.

DD is going to do a Geography degree and has taken other humanities A levels as that’s where her interest is.

The nice thing about Geo is how broad it is. The physical side sits well with the sciences and the human side sits well with humanities. In human Geo there’s lots of overlap with economics, politics and sociology.

I think they are both good choices.

As you say, OP, the decision is DD's. If she decides to stick with Geog, then it is a useful 'plan B' route if Maths A level looks less tenable once GCSE results land; it would allow Maths to be dropped in favour of Geog.

Quite of lot of DCs' friends did Chem, Biog and one of Psychology or Geog precisely because with Maths GCSE results of 7 or below (even 8 or below), there was much less likelihood of a good grade in Maths, thereby compromising potential uni choices.

There are strong subject overlaps. Physical geography, after all, is really the spatial expression of chemistry and biology.

Both of mine did History and it is heavy with dates, events but also why this effected something. Find out which exam board they use (usually AQA for History) and look at the marks awarded for the questions. Mine did OCR so questions worth, 3, 5, 9, 12, 18 and 20 marks. The 18 and 20 mark questions required a specific way of arguing for or against agreeing with a statement and a conclusion. Both of my children got grade 9 but it felt a little formulaic. Content was heavy, 5 topics including the ever so depressing Living Under Nazi Rule so facts about numbers killed and where, concentration camp construction and everything that built up to WWII.

Where this benefited them was they did People's Health topic from 1250-present day and Elizabethans (when Shakespeare was writing plays) so when studying the poems/books for English Lit they knew what was going on in England at that time which comes under AO3 (Assessment Objective 3, the context of when a play/book was written ie Shakespeare and the role women had so Juliet or Lady Macbeth or A Christmas Carol written just after a report by government on the conditions of the working poor.)

The best advice I can give you is to look ahead over this summer and I mean both of you. Lots of videos on youtube from actual teachers on English Lit the poems, books, plays, and English Language. Get her to read/watch the books she will study. This also goes for History or Geography or anything else school related. If you have an idea of themes or what they will be teaching it makes it easier in class and therefore should be easier to get high grades.

Has she read what she will be studying in History and is ok with it?

I did Geography and History, DD is doing geography. If she's heading for science A levels and is better at short sharp answers geography is better suited. History is very wordy and requires lots of writing.

What I did to help DD choose is look at the exam board specification, the detail of what she would be learning, the past papers and the mark scheme to give her a realistic view of what would be required of her. All are freely available on the exam board websites.

GCSEs are about the end game and getting the qualification. That doesn't mean her interest in history has to stop though, she can pursue it purely for pleasure. DD is very talented at languages but knows she won't take it forward to A levels so hasn't chosen it got GCSE however, she continues to pursue it via Duolingo, watching programmes in Spanish etc.

Your dd should go with what she enjoys. Neither is easy, both content heavy but that's fine. I agree she might want to check out the syllabi to see (for example) which topics are studied in history. But I wouldn't choose history on the basis that it will be less content heavy tbh.

History can be picked up at A level more easily than geography I think but both are possible. Tho why would you not take one you love for GCSE?

DD took geography (but old spec so not that useful t your DD in terms of workload, exams etc). Her advice is to write up and revise your year 10 case studies in year 10 not year 11! DS2 took history and enjoyed it.

Funnily enough literary DD (Eng lit degree) took sciency geog A level (and enjoyed it) and history-GCSE boy DS2 was all about the sciences at A level. He was always going to take maths and PE. So go figure. Maybe a contrast is a good thing.

I think DS decided against geo bc he wasn;t keen on his year 9 teachers not a great reason.

Someone posts both should be compulsory? heaven help the hums teachers!

It is Pearson for History - she loves the idea of the history of medicine unit but if I understand the syllabus correctly this is one of 3 topics for the school to decide on?

Yes you need to speak to school to ask which topics they have chosen.

Yes agree, ask the school which topics they do. Maybe speak to DC in the year or two years above as well. Topics may not vary over the years and feedback is useful - esp for histoy (or eng lit imho) where choices can really affect enjoyment.