Which GCSE courses to pick?

[Blaasofapute99]

my dc needs to pick 6 gcse subjects from the following list: Mandarin, Spanish, French, German, Latin, Greek, Music, Art, Design, Computer Science or Drama.

Spanish, French, Music and Computer Science is pretty much a lock but undecided on the remaining 2. Atm DC most likely wants to study something business related, i.e. finance/economics/law/management etc...

What are are the best additional two subjects DC coud pick? Thanks

I'd discount Art simply for the volume of coursework on top of 11? GCSEs.

Latin will complement the languages

No humanities? I assume they’ll get allocated three on four of their selection - they’re not going to be doing 12 surely and still excluding Geog/Hist/RE?

Drama might be good.
A lot of business involves having to have "the gift of the gab" to get going and promote/sell the business so you need to be a confident spokesperson and sometimes "fake it till you make it".
Drama would also be good for law - if he/she becomes a lawyer that also involves confident speaking and body language.

Latin and drama for law IMO. Drama as PP said and Latin because an ability to follow a sentence structure through subordinate clauses is inbuilt into Latin and legal drafting. Its also quite helpful to have a bit of background knowledge if he ends up on a law course that includes Roman law. THe onlu caveat to that is that Music and Drama have quite a bit of practical/coursework and that can be quite the requirement if he's not done much composition and acting etc.

Drama is a good call, so much in life is about acting! Being able to give a decent presentation and having the confidence to ‘sell yourself’ are useful life skills. Given the other subjects will be heavy on the academic rigours, drama will be the ‘chill’ subject!
dont do art, dd did it, and it took up far to much time to the detriment of her other subjects.

Are there no humanities on offer or are they part of the compulsory subjects alongside these?
I’d say drama and Latin from this list.
Does it mean your DC will be taking 11/12 GCSEs? That’s a lot!

Latin is super helpful when studying law. (And a huge number of other things) he seems like he has an affinity for languages anyway? So it’s a helpful addition.

drama can be very good for confidence, public speaking etc.

Thanks a lot everyone for your replies so far - really helpful indeed.

Is that the entire list? Or has she already discounted some subjects?

I don't think there are 6 on that list I'd stand a chance of passing!!! I'd strongly recommend history for a law based future, and that would also fit the "have a humanity" box.

No history? That’s a very odd list and could make A levels for law tricky since there are no essay subjects there

Seems very unusual to be picking six from that list - what are the other GCSEs? Where are history and geography as options, or RE? If DC is doing maths, 2x English, 3x sciences, and one of history geog or RE, that’s 7 already, plus six more - 13 GCSE’s? Even if it’s the double rather than triple science, that’s 12. And if not doing any of history, geog and RE, I’d be wondering why any of them aren’t options alongside the ones you mention - they’re all v good options.

I agree that drama is a good shout, assuming of course that the DC in question is happy performing and good at group work, as that is a big element of most courses.

After that I would suggest (of course I would! MFL is my subject) a third language (so my beloved German obvs haha) as the structure of the GCSE courses is the same across MFL (assuming the school does the same board for all) so once you have got your head round the structure of the speaking exam or the writing one and what you need to do to tick the mark scheme boxes for French (opinions and reasons, range of verbs, different tenses, varied vocab), it’s the same for Spanish and German, which I think is helpful.

I am with others tho – firstly is there no option to take a humanity? Or is that among the compulsories? If so does that mean they are taking maths, Eng x2, science x 3, history or geog and these six? That’s 13 GCSEs? That’s a) more than you need b) a massive workload (and exam load in May/June of year 11) and c) a lot more than almost any school offers. The numbers taking 12 or more last year were tiny.

Or is this some kind of initial sift in year 8 with actual GCSEs selected later?

Also are none of these offered: PE, business, RS, food tech, design technology? Or it the DC not interested in those and they have already been discarded?

I would deffo not take art with that number of GCSEs btw. Unless it is an absolute passion (which I assume is not the case)

What are the other options they will be taking? I assume maths and English Lang and Lit and science (combined or triple?) but it's odd not to have a compulsory humanity. Also odd not to have the choice of Economics which would sound like the obvious choice for your DC!

I'd pick the favourite out of Drama/Art/Design to add something less academic. I wouldn't want to add another MFL, but could choose Latin if they find it easy/enjoyable.

Presumably he already has Eng Lang, Eng Lit, Maths, a humanity and at least two science? Does he have to pick 6? That's a lot of GCSEs.

Apols, I see design is mentioned. Is that DT or graphic design?

If law is of interest, history is important. Law as a subject isn’t needed. Economics is interesting. Many schools just suggest one art - so one of music, art or drama. Drama is useful for public speaking but don’t do it if the school gets low grades. If they mostly get high grades, it’s good. Agree with others, a choice of 6 is high.

Less than 400 students in the country take 12 or more GCSEs (and some would be doing a language that they are fluent / have family ties with) which would be the case assuming that your DC is doing Maths, English Lang, English Lit and 3 sciences.
As others have said, the number of GCSEs combined with the absence of a humanity makes the list of options rather skewed.

This is very odd if it’s presumably in addition to 2x English, 2 or 3x science, maths.

surely there are humanities/social science options too?

three languages would be hardcore. I’d be arguing to do the four mentioned and no others. That could still be 10 GCSEs which is plenty. Nobody at DS’s school does more than 9.

I actually agree three MFL is excessive haha (language nerds only 🙋) but I suggested it because otherwise there's a lot of creative – arts and music and drama and tech would be a bit much I suspect.

And yes it's true that very very few students take that many GCSEs - because there is no need and there would be a super-massive exam workload. Someone taking Eng x 2, maths, 3x science, history, 3 x MFL, drama, computing and music would sit (depending on board) more than 30 exams in May/June, as well as a number of non-exam pieces (like the drama and music practical assessments). That's a lot over a five-week period – 6-7 exams a week, so two on several days.

I would recommend not doing any more than 10. My DS is predicted all 8s & 9s. He is doing 8 GCSEs and already has an A* for HPQ. It's more than enough, won't rule out any university and means he still has time for super/extra-curriculars (and life). Narrow it down to things that will actually be useful.

I think once you know Latin, it's v very easy to learn at least three more languages 😁

I wouldn’t pick another language because it might be too much on top of Spanish and French (but considering what he wants to study dropping one and picking Mandarin instead might be a good idea).

Latin would complement the languages and be a good pick for law.

Art or design depending where their talents and interests lie, lots of coursework though.

Drama would be good and complement the music, as long as they are interested in that and are ok with performing.

To those saying don’t do more than 10 – while I agree that there is no need to do any more than 10 (or even any more than 8 tbh) – that’s fine, but presumably if this is an actual list of GCSE options, @Blaasofapute99's DC cannot choose to take 10 if the rest of the school is taking 12/13. As a rule you don’t get the choice of taking fewer GCSEs than your school peers (SEN excepted obvs).

At my DC’s school it’s very normal to take 11 GCSEs if you are triple-award science.

I get the feeling your dc isn’t obsessed with art and I think you need to be, to tackle gcse. My dd was adamant one of her options would be Art - the workload is known to be absolutely huge, but in honesty my dd likes it a lot and spends many of her lunch breaks hanging out in the art-department working on her pieces. It is many, many hours of effort per week to get the top grades plus topping up in vacation time. If you don’t love art or if you have a lot of time consuming hobbies like music or teamsports, I wouldn’t recommend it.

If your dc is aiming for a business/finance/law degree, I’d recommend Economics, Further Maths and Latin. But you do need a less academic subject for balance and if Drama appeals that’s a better option than art.

You are correct. My dc was permitted to trade one of her 11 gcses for a non-examined certificate in something by random like Healthcare or Child Development , but typically the 65 most academically able kids at her school all cheerfully tackle 11 GCSEs. It’s a lot of work but it’s fabulous for their ability to demonstrate resilience and organisational skills. My dc is targeting all 8s and 9s and I expect she’ll get mostly 8s with a few 7s and 9s - perhaps with only 8 GCSEs she would be almost “guaranteed” all 9s - but I like that she has this opportunity to get greater depth in such a broad range of depth, which after all is the point of a high school education.