Which GCSE options?

[Leoparddrawer]

DS likes most subjects. Favourites are probably science, history and PE. Least favourite is computing.
He gets excellent marks in all, especially geography and German.
He can only choose 3 and can’t decide between:
German
History
Geography
RE
PE
DT
Photography

Getting good marks is important to him (and he seems pretty good at exams so far) but I worry he will put himself under a lot of pressure to get them.
He has no idea what he wants to do after school. Possibly some sort of engineering.

History, PE & German

I was going to say exactly this

Thanks-is that because German is ‘easier’ than Geography?

I would suggest the DT or photography there's no exam only course work. So he will start his GCSE with one complete and therefore less exams to study for. The pe will mainly be a repeat of his biology too. Then history. Unless he thinks he will need German. We have 4 kids we made the mistake of encouraging her to do all academic subjects and she was bright. It was a slog, we should have let her drop a language and do a 'fun' GCSE. Dd2 did this got a 9 in photography.

There is an exam in DT GCSE tho I assume photography is like art and had the exam as an early practical.

Is he sporty OP? If so PE is a good choice.

He surely must have a preference between history and geog? If not maybe ask about the periods covered in history and see if they are interesting.

MFL is always good so German would be a tick for me. It’s not easier than geog nor harder than it, but it’s good to have an MFL and a humanity for breadth.

So I would say, other things being equal, German, history or geog, and one of the practical ones: PE if sporty (I mean outside school – football, athletics, tennis, swimming) or if not, DT is good.

He is sporty so I think PE is a good choice.
He loves History but also really likes Geography. In some ways I think he’d like to do both but I wonder if that would be a bit heavy.
I’m not sure on German. I’m probably a philistine but it seems a bit irrelevant to me. He does like it though.

Unless he has to do a language, I'd say do geography, history and also P.E. History is a good respected subject, good wide knowledge and also good skills built - worth while having. Geography because he likes it and enjoys it as well and then P.E if he's really passionate or switch P.E for German if he wishes. Geography is also useful for understanding the world, good skills as well.

If he’s thinking of engineering then a DT may be good for developing some practical and design skills.

Geography and History are very content heavy. I speak from experience.
Either History, or Geography, PE and German or Photography.

I am surprised to see so many suggesting German. I get it from a breadth point of view but the content and knowledge of the world from the other subjects is what he loves.
Totally get the content heavy issue though and what I’m trying to avoid is him having so much to remember.
I think it will be history, PE and German (as the first poster suggested!)

I would have a list of top 3 and then back ups, because often the way they put the options in blocks you aren’t always able to choose the 3 you want

History, PE and….

Personally wouldn’t encourage both History/Geography, most kids do one as part of the baccalaureate.

Choose a third subject he enjoys, only German if he enjoys it as it sounds like he’s too focused on the grades!

I was going to say DT. Its listed by Rolls Royce as one of their preferred a levels for their engineering apprenticeship.

He is too focussed on grades! But also enjoys most of the subjects including German. I’ll see if he might prefer photography as pp was right- it would be nice to have one in the bag before he even starts written exams.

I’ll speak to his teachers but they will all say he should do their subject!

Or DT yes! He does like that too-especially the design side of it.
It’s a nice problem to have I guess

If he enjoys German and gets good marks in it, it could be that he's one of the DC that genuinely find it easy, in which case it would be very easy to get good marks at GCSE with relatively little effort because it's more about having a skill than learning lots of content.

Geography, German & DT - if he wants to go into engineering then I would have thought that DT would be useful. We trade a lot with Germany & so it could be useful to have a working knowledge of the language.

If he’s academic & not interested in media I can’t see the value of photography.

Does he play sport outside of school?
If yes, History, PE, German.

If no external sport (that meets the requirements of the exam board), history, German and either DT or Geog.

He should choose the ones he enjoys most. Dd1 is one of the few kids in her year that chose art & drama as options instead of double language or double humanities - they get to do 10 - but is very happy as those are the double periods she most looks forward to. She also does a language and a humanity so I'm happy with the balance.
Assuming he is already doing triple science which he would want for engineering, a good balance would be a language, a humanity and something fun.
So German, geography ( if he prefers that) and PE/photography/dt.

I think PE is tricky to get high marks in.
It may just be DS school but it was the lowest grade for many of the kids, sometimes 2 grades lower than their other subjects.
If I had my time again I would encourage DS to play his sports to relax and to do RE or DT instead.
So in this case, I'd do German, Geography and DT.

He plays cricket & rugby & runs but interesting to say leave them for relaxation outside of school especially as he probably excels academically more than in the sports.
So History, German, DT maybe.

I missed the bit that he wants to do engineering - as an apprenticeship or uni? If it's degree (or even an apprenticeship) he needs a complete overhaul of his A-levels. He needs maths and physics and then you could do German and geography. It does slightly depend on what type of engineering he wants to do - biological, chemical, aerospace but I'm guessing not those and more civil or structural or mechanical is his aim. If he wants to do chemical or biological, he may also need A-levels in that. That's what most universities have as requirements and definitely RG.

This question is about GCSEs options, not A levels. The required subjects for most engineering degrees (maths, physics, chemistry for chem eng) are already included in the mandatory set.

however this does prompt another thought - if he’s good at maths and the school offers an fm qualification at this stage, maybe as a twilight class, then that would be well worth considering as an extra. It can help the transition to a level maths particularly if they’re maybe going to want to do FM A level.

Yeah we’re nowhere near a levels yet!
And engineering is a very vague idea-he’s equally interested in anthropology (that sounds wanky but he’s always interested in natural explanations of human behaviour etc.) but probably fewer careers related to that!

I think his school do further maths for some of them. I’d say he’s near top of his year in maths but more by hard work than natural ability. Whereas the subjects he has to remember & analyse information he’s naturally taken to.

Anthropology is very interesting, though as you say probably a bit niche long term. Looking a couple of stages ahead, I think anthropology is sometimes included in various joint honours or broader titled degrees so it may possibly be worth taking a look to get an idea of which subjects support it. Probably more relevant at a level.
it does sound like history should be one of his gcse options.