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.

I do agree with you on the value of breadth and time for extra curriculars, but how did this work in practice for yours - how many “option” choices did they have?

Three maths, two English, and three sciences (or two if combined) leaves only 2 (or 3) “option” slots if they did 10 overall. It was the range of options mine were most excited about at gcse - one did computer science, astronomy, DT and history, the other did Spanish, geography, RE and business. Those options were some of the most interesting stuff for them, and especially important for humanities to have choices here given all the sciences and maths are obligatory.

(I did feel they were short changed for sport at school, but they did loads of d of e, scouting, other sport etc out of school, and we did the theatre trips ourselves of course).

Minus that stats, it's basically what my DD did - she did comp sci, and geog rather than history. Top set maths and they basically taught themselves the further maths having just a single lesson in each topic.
Be warned - drama is not a bit of relief. It's very similar to eng lit in some respects, plus the technical knowledge, plus the practical bits (also involving group work).
It's a good mix, and will allow a decent choice for A level too.

In my dcs school the top set of maths do the same (stats, maths and FM) all thought in one timetable slot but in reality some do opt out near the end.
Triple science is taught in 2 slots - same amount of teaching time as those doing combined. I have a humanities child who was in top science, so automatically triple, but only set 3 maths so no FM or Stats. Tbh, I think going onto humanities A-level and beyond you are much better served getting, for example, 78 in combined science rather than 667 in triple and it’s a lot less content to achieve it, but I appreciate a y9 kid doesn’t want to drop sets.
Given that without dropping sets the 6 maths and science are fixed, and he’s “stuck” with 12 then he should pick history and whatever he will get the best marks in. Drama is great as there is only one exam in “exam time” and the coursework is “fun”, but pre exam season it is time consuming. CS is very dry but if he’s naturally good at it he may get a decent mark without huge effort. RE/philosophy good for thinking/debating but don’t get carried away - it’s only gcse and many perfectly capable law students are without it. Spanish idk - a fluentish speaker will find it easy and get a good grade but a basic gcse doesn’t make you fluent or even very capable of ordering a drink 10 years later and there are a lot of exams.
It’s basically too much and unless he’s exceptionally bright and unusually hardworking he is at risk of getting 12 ok grades instead of 9 stellar ones. Stats and further maths gcse and triple rather than combined science won’t hugely help with a humanities career.

Only 2% of those sitting exams in the summer of 2024 sat 11 or more GCSEs in one go; so it is unusual. My children went to a comprehensive and took 11 of the reformed GCSEs (ie heavier content, more focus on terminal exams) in one sitting; I did 11 O levels in one sitting. It is a lot but doable.

My main observations are that:

you have to be prepared for, and comfortable with, possible grade dilution and the idea of really focusing on some subjects and a 'good enough' approach for others; my children actually found this experience and mindset to be beneficial practice for the world beyond school.

you have to keep lots of plates spinning in the run up to the exams, in terms of content memorising (for the humanities and the pure sciences) and for practice (for the maths and the pure sciences; this does help hone time management skills and general resilience.

When comparing my own experience to my children's, I would say the actual experience of sitting the exams is now tougher. I still have my exam schedule and compared it. In my day, each subject typically had fewer, longer papers. Nowadays, to accommodate those needing time extensions, there tend to be more but slightly shorter papers. This means you are more likely to have multiple papers on one day and few, if any, intervening 'rest' days.

Drama sounds like a good change of style and pace to the other subjects but do check the actual syllabus accords to preconceptions. There are not many advocates for RS/P&E on these boards. My children took this alongside History and Geog and, though content heavy, felt it to be a very useful GCSE in honing logical thinking and developing perspective.

How are they timetabling them all in for teaching time! The excess ones are all the extra maths ( not needed) and one extra option from drama or philosophy. If he’s not going to do maths or science a levels then all the maths stuff seems silly. What does he actually lose out on by going down a set? Can he still do triple science? He should still do fine in maths.

Mine only did combined science (with no penalty applying for science subjects for a level/6th forms so far)

So between them took options of History, Geography, RS, Drama, PE, Sociology. Both PE and Drama have course work elements, and with Stats out of the way a year early too this leaves a bit of breathing space.

Spanish idk - a fluentish speaker will find it easy and get a good grade but a basic gcse doesn’t make you fluent or even very capable of ordering a drink 10 years later and there are a lot of exams.

Oh I must defend the MFL GCSE. For one thing, the learning is starting now, it's verbs and grammar and vocab which he already does in KS3 – rather than reams of content like eg history. Yes of course GCSE Spanish doesn't make you fluent, any more than GCSE maths makes you a uni-level mathematician. Idk why so many people think the GCSE is pointless because it won't make you a fluent speaker. It's a step, that's all. It’s well worth doing. Yes there are four exams, but the speaking is taken in April/early May and the listening and reading are pretty short and sat on the same day, so the exam load is IMHO no worse than any other GCSE.

And if you do it and 10 years later cannot ask for a beer or suggest going to the cinema, that's bc you’ve not practised it. Same as if you don't use pi or percentages in the meantime, you may forget that too. But no one suggests not taking maths GSCE.

I think GCSE Spanish is more potential use 10 years down the line than many GCSEs that aren't continued with past 16.

Agree with the value of gcse languages. No it won’t make you fluent, but it does burrow into your brain for use later! About 15 years after I’d done gcse french, my DH and I were staying with his French friends and I had to drag it all back up from the depths - I was extremely rusty to start with, but it does come back and it’s much easier to re-remember than to learn from scratch. I got quite good by the end of the week!

OP I think the subject combo looks good. Philosophy and ethics sounds like a great companion to history, and good for argument construction and learning how to time essays / long answers. And as for drama - if he likes it do it! It’s probably the only one that’ll spill over to loads of extra stuff - mine had DT which did similar with lots of coursework etc, as long as there’s just one like that it’s probably fine.

Quite. I have been to France and spoken some French that I learned at GCSE. I have never used the Tie making skills I was taught in textiles....

Those are very standard and GCSE always includes a wide range, so it's not as big a decision as is sometimes made out. It doesn't get narrow until A level. The timetabling will be organised so that all have to have a balance of subjects and won't shut down any options particularly. As long as there isn't something he definitely wants to do in the future that doesn't fit (or the flip side, as you say, where music really isn't for him and that's already established) there just won't be a problem.

Thanks all. DS would find the pace of set 2 maths too slow - he is predicted a 9, so maybe the extra maths won’t be too much. (Or perhaps he can drop out towards the end, if it is).
Thank you all for your thoughts.

@op

@Thingsthatgo my DD is year 11 top set but they only do two sets so covers people at 6 and above she has found maths too slow and boring this year as lots of repeation she is predicated a 9.

Comp Sci will be very easy for him... I think the subjects are very doable though I might drop drama as can be time consuming and I've heard it's hard to get top grades in. If he'll love it then maybe for fun. My DS did all heavy subjects but only 9 subjects (no further maths or stats at his school). I would keep the Spanish and that's the only one I really wouldn't drop.

I don’t think it matters at all for a bright child aiming for a humanities degree.

Look at the content of the gcse syllabus and decide if it seems interesting. Don’t force yourself to do something easy if it look boring (like comp sci).

I did a history A level and then a history degree without having done GCSE history. It made absolutely no difference whatsoever that I’d missed two years of history.

That's relatively unusual tho @ObladiObladah - I mean taking history A level without the GCSE. It can be done (obvs) and many schools will be happy to facilitate it (with a good GCSE grade in eng lit perhaps or phil and eth).

And for a lot of possible A levels, the GCSE is essential. Maths, MFL, science ofc but also geography, art usually, CS, PE, DT and others.

Just didn't want anyone thinking you didn't need GCSE for A level in many subjects. Things like psych, sociology, politics, philosophy, economics, are not often offered at GCSE so it's not an issue there.

Unless he’s on track to get all 9s I’d cut it back to English lang and lit..
maths
sciences
history
Spanish and one more

He can't take nine GCSEs at this school, unless he drops the extra maths and moves to double science; and even then he would still have to choose four options. What would he do in the spare option subject slot?

Thanks all. He cannot cut back on the number he is doing. Sorry, I thought I had explained that. Well, he can cut cut back but he would have to go down sets in maths and science, and he is working at the top end of his classes, therefore he doesn’t want to. So we are working on the assumption that he cannot drop any of the English, maths or science. He has to do a MFL, and he enjoys Spanish, so that makes sense.
In reality his actual choices are only really History, drama and Philosophy & ethics (or possibly CS). Seems like they are a pretty good selection, so thank you 🙏🏻

It was quite clear to me @Thingsthatgo that he either did this number or dropped down in maths. No idea why some PPs have suggested he do fewer option subjects when he clearly cannot do that.

It is very unusual to do this many subjects though! Especially in a state comprehensive. Round here they're dropping to 8 in a lot of schools as a cost saving exercise (and because the gov and unis judge on 8 best grades).

I wonder what their rationale and motivation is as it will be costing them a lot to offer so many subjects and risks grade dilution among the less capable or less committed.

Why on gods green earth are schools and stealth boasting parents pushing kids to do 12 GCSEs? Who does it benefit?

https://ffteducationdatalab.org.uk/2025/05/grading-severity-at-key-stage-4-in-2024/#post/0
If looking at top grades then RS is "easier" than computer science. Remember that lots of schools make RS compulsory.

It sounds like he may have already covered a lot of the GCSE maths syllabus and the extra maths should be achievable especially if some exams are taken in year 10. I would ask the head of science the grade range achieved in the highest combined science set and when the final decision to sit combined or triple science is taken.

Assume this school has well above average attainment and progess 8 scores?

@BitOutOfPractice I assumed that they did it because it pulls up the school’s overall record. They’re not stupid - they must know that it’s not in the students’ best interest.
@ConBatulationsthank you for the link. I think RS is probably the way to go - more useful, more enjoyable and potentially easier.