Critique my DS’s GCSE choices please.

[Thingsthatgo]

DS’s school are giving him quite a lot of freedom of choice, but not much guidance. He has to take statistics, further maths and three sciences because he is top set. I think they take statistics in year 10. He is likely to get good marks and would like to study history at university and maybe a law conversion (but he is open to changing his mind).
I don’t know if this is a good mix - seems heavy going to me, but not much coursework. He doesn’t play an instrument, so music is not an option. Thank you for your help!

maths
further maths
statistics
physics
biology
chemistry
english lit
english lang
spanish
drama
history
philosophy and ethics (or computer science)

It seems like a lot to me - but if he wants to take fewer he has to drop down a set in maths and science.
thank your for advice.

If he’s bright and hard working he’ll be fine. Assuming it’s a selective school? GCSEs are formulaic and content heavy. Drama will give good relief from the others and reduce exams. Looks like a good selection. If he’s interested in history and and law then the philosophy and ethics would be a great choice.

It seems like a lot to me. I did 12, I was doing 13 at one point but managed to drop

my ds school on the other hand only let them do 9, one of which is early so only 8 in year 12.

I think it’s mad that they make them do tripe science and maths and stats just because he’s top set is that right? If he’s not keen I would challenge the triple science.

i’d do Spanish and obviously history jr he wants to take that further. Is it an option to not do drama and Philosophy?

I think the school is going to create burn out... they only "need" 8...

But just on his "free choice" bits... History is good is they are good at longer questions. MFL a good choice for a bright child. Drama might be a bit of relief. Computer Science probably easy for him with all the Maths.

Great, thank you. Not a selective school, just a regular comp. I have been very impressed with the school so far, and DS is very happy there, but 12 GCSEs is unnecessary IMO and I think they get the bright kids to do more GCSEs so the schools stats look good.
Computer science seems a bit dry, and he doesn’t love it, but it comes easily to him. Philosophy and Ethics is much more interesting, but probably more work.

I would not do more than 10. (10 in year 11, plus stats year 10)

if no course work you’re looking at up to 3 exams per subject. It is utterly brutal. And infact unless he’s predicted all 9s I would be minded to drop down to 9 subjects.

far better off getting brilliant top marks in fewer subjects than lower marks in 10
or 11.

At the most demanding sixth forms getting a minimum 8 in English lit/lang will open the door to all required facilitating A level subjects for history / law

I agree it is too many, but he cannot select fewer than 12 unless he moves down sets in maths and science. He would never agree to

There is just no point in doing 12. At all.

If you look at 6th form entry requirements and university course specs, you can see that subject choices at gcse are not always particularly important, and that theu generally inky ask about and want to hear the top 8 grades. Doing more just dilutes your chances of your top 8 being stellar. What's the point?

@GloriousGiftBagyes, I agree. He doesn’t have a choice unless he moves down a set in maths and science.

Go for the one that is least time consuming - computer studies?

Unless you consider the value of doing a GCSE is what you learn rather just ticking boxes in which case the broader the study the better.

I agree that's a good selection, no worries. It's a lot (no need at all to take 12 GCSEs) but if he is bright and they do one early it should be fine. While I agree that 9 great GCSEs is better than 12 with lower grades, for those suggesting he drop some – I mean he won't just be able not to choose an option! How do you suggest the OP goes about telling the school he will sit out option blocks 3 and 4?

@Thingsthatgo has said he could only drop any if he drops a set in maths which he won't want to do. He is clearly in a high-attaining set.

Agree drama is a creative subject which may be an enjoyable change of pace. It does rely to some extent on group work so it’s good if that can work well (it was amazing for DD and her fave GCSE).

DS took comp sci and yes he found it dull; phil and ethics may be a better choice (and funnily enough was DS's alternative to CS).

I agree that, objectively speaking, 12 is too many, BUT it sounds as though Maths/FM/Statistics will be fitted into a single option block, so really he is doing ten - which is totally manageable - but Maths at an accelerated/higher level.

I think History/Spanish/Drama and either P&E or CS is a great combination in terms of skill development and keeping his options open.

If he’s likely to lean more toward Humanities at A level and university then I’d opt for P&E.

Seems OK statistics is done in yr10 and further Maths in year 11. So will only be doing 11 subjects at a time should be fine for a top set student. Unless he is having to work really hard to stay in top set

It’s very similar to my choices back in the day except I took French not Spanish and ‘Humanities’ instead of P&E. I did fine and it wasn’t too much!

Please stop overthinking GCSE choices!

Let young people explore subjects they are interested in.

Spanish, drama and Ethics don't sound really hard? It's the further maths and statistics I'd be scared of, but he's good at them so it should be OK.

If he wants to do History at Uni the maths heavy stuff isn't strictly necessary though is it?

So a bunch of compulsory plus the following:
spanish
drama
history
philosophy and ethics (or computer science)

Sounds fine.

Secondary lead practitioner here!
This choice of subjects is excellent. He has drama as a creative subject which will add some variety. I do agree that it is a lot, I would maybe drop philosophy and ethics as it won't add additional skills and will just add additional workload. He is ticking the humanities box by doing history, so without philosophy he still has an equally impressive range of subjects. Best of luck to him.

I would consider how much time each subject requires. If he is good at maths, doing maths, further maths and stats probably will take little time. I would have thought he would be better off studying the three with the top set students, than just doing maths with the lower ability students. Similar for science. Triple science will be taught in the same time as the double science but have the highest achievers means you get through much quicker. I would look at how time consuming something like drama is - for subjects like art if doesn't matter how good you are it still takes a lot of time to produce the work - some of the best art students take many hours to produce their work.

It does seem pretty unusual for a school to be encourage a broader range of study these days, Normally they are focus on minimising the number of subjects so that as many people get top marks as possible. 20 years ago only the lower set kids would have doing less than 10 subjects.

That is a crazy amount when written like that- but if you look at it as all the maths together, then sciences(which tend to be non negotiable). A language-standard for higher tier students. Humanity-again non negotiable, as are Lit and Lang. Usually students then pick two electives, as he has. So its the extra one that may cause pressure. Is there an option to drop it early on? Does he cope well with academic stress and pressure?

DD in her comp is doing very similar and is in year 10. Top Maths set do Maths and Further Maths in same time as everyone else does Maths, they don’t do statistics on top though - it’s in the option blocks (she discarded it as it didn’t look like it would stretch a decent mathematician.) She is also doing triple science. (Other options are Geography, German, Music and Philosophy and Ethics which she is really enjoying!)
Workload is fine, they started the science and maths GCSE spec in year 9. I think after the year 11 mocks if they struggle with the further maths, then in discussion it can be dropped but just stay in that set anyway and revise.

DC did a similar number last year but FSMQ instead of further maths. Exam in that was completely optional and right at the end. Didn't do statistics but options were a similar mix to those you have listed (MFL, humanity, creative). Triple science was useful as now doing stem A levels. There were a lot of exams including a couple of triple exam days due to clashes so this is something to consider.

I would ask him to reconsider triple science and/or the extra maths if he is considering humanities subjects at A. 9-9 in combined science is better than 8-8-8 in triple.

RS (philosophy and ethics) goes well with history and law. Look carefully at the computer science specification before deciding. There is some legal knowledge in it too.

I very much believe in breadth and wider learning experiences.

That's why I would study less structured subjects and have some time and space for travel, theatre trips, reading for pleasure and sports.

My experience of GCSEs so far (2 teens studying them) is that they can be prescriptive and suck the joy, and that depending on who else is in the class leave little room for reading around or discussing tangential links.

I've got one who did Stats a year early and FM in yr 11 and did 10 overall. I genuinely can't see that 2 more subjects would have benefitted at all and would only have eaten into the time spent doing things like DofE, reading for pleasure, playing sport and her PT work.

If he's good at maths then statistics and further maths won't be a lot of extra work (he will effectively be fast tracking through the maths syllabus). I will check that his objection to moving down is because he thinks he won't be challenged by the set below, rather than for "prestige" reasons - otherwise it might be better not to put additional stress on him, as his future plans don't need maths.

Minus the statistics and further maths, this is basically what my DD did - although she did combined science and Art rather than triple science, and I think most people on here will agree that Art is a lot of work, although it helps to balance the stress.

So, I see no problem with your DC's options; drama is also a less full on academic subject. If he wants to focus on History, there are lots of good A Level possibilities.

Agree with this. My kids school does the same - though you don’t have to drop down a set if you’re not taking stats.

At our school, maths and further maths are squashed into the time it takes for all the other sets to cover maths alone - they’re going at a faster pace, and it’s fine. Statistics is offered as an additional optional after school choice but loads of them do it. It doesn’t take as much time as the other GCSEs though.

So basically for the ablest mathematicians, it doesn’t take a lot more time to do all the extra maths. I think it’s a little unfair that they have to do it or drop down a set, but I guess this comes from restricted timetabling options. And aside from that, everything is compulsory, with 4 choices - I don’t think they should have fewer than 4 choices really, it’s restrictive enough already. His option choices look great.

Just wanted to reassure you that although 12 sounds a lot, for the able mathematicians it’s probably fine - both of mine did this and lots of their friends - probably about 1.5-2 classes worth across an 8 form entry comprehensive high school will have done 12 in this way. My youngest is also going for languages and humanities at a level but probably alongside one maths, as he loves it and is really good at it. And all the extra gcse maths helps too.