Year 9 Options - help with choice! Which GCSE subjects have more 'points' for Uni selection

[fimac1]

My daughter is in the middle of making her GCSE optional choices (4 subjects in total) and we are finding the info from the school not really sufficient to help her in her choices - she is G&T in many of her subjects which actually makes it harder to choose

• one of the questions is should she opt for triple (pure) science or is the standard double science which they have to take anyway enough? She is G&T in Science - would she be able to achieve a A or A* in the regular class?

For instance I believe Media studies does not weigh highly as an A level with Uni's?, as you can tell she is our eldest and we are struggling to help her - as she is bright we want her to achieve the very best she can, she is also very good at Drama and Design studies

Many thanks to anyone out there - parents/teachers!

Some universities certainly favour "traditional" subjects, like science,language, history, etc over the newer ones like Media Studies as they are perceived as better training for further studying. But unless she wants to do a science at University I don't think she'd get any more value from 3 sciences than double science.

ps I have asked her schools G&T leader to call me too to discuss but realise there is a wealth of knowledge on this site!

Actually, looking at the UCAS tariffs Here they don't seem to be interested in the GCSE results at all, only A levels.

So she'd be better off thinking which subjects she'd like to continue with, and enjoys, as that will be more important for sticking at them.

I think that it is better with academic DCs to make sure they have a good spread of traditional subjects, so 2 x English, Maths, triple science (if she might do some science at A Level, otherwise double science is OK), at least one modern foreign language (or one plus Latin), history or geography. One technology subject plus one cultural subject such as Music, Drama or Art would make a good mix.
DS2 (not very academic) took Media Studies GCSE in Y9, via after school club once a week for 2 terms and with a teacher who was ill for several weeks. He got a D, whilst aged 13. Enough said.

triple science isn't needed to do science A levels. Workwise you are as likely to get As or A*s doing double as triple (the papers are common between the two). However at some schools the more able students tend to do triple which may mean there is a less able group doing the double. There was one mumsnetter last year whose child was told (after having been assured double was fine for science A levels and having started the course) that as the double science group was less able they were only going to sit the foundation level exams (results capped at a 'C') so the child would not be able to get a high enough grade for science A levels. You should confirm with the teachers what the position is in your school.

And the overall choice doen't matter too much imo, as long as there aren't too many (more than 1 or 2) non academic subjects like photography, art, drama, media studies etc. One or maybe two is fine though - especially if your child enjoys them.

fimac1 - I have just been where you are and I posted a thread entitled 'Is scienceteacher out there, please' about a month ago and had some good advice. Sorry - I don't know how to link to the thread but I'm hoping someone else might!

For her 4 choices my daughter ended up choosing Geography, Single Sciences, Latin and Drama. We all agonised for ages but she seems very happy now she has made a decision. Good luck!

Can I add to the good advice already given? I'm at uni at the moment and although the UCAS tariff points are for A Levels, unis do look at GCSEs as well. Obviously it depends where your DD's skills lie, but as a rough guide, the greater the number of traditional academic subjects, the better chance of decent A Levels and consequently degree. This isn't academic snobbery btw, but is based on what admissions tutors have told me

my daughter is in a similar position. she has no choice over sciences - it's determined by which set you are in. her 4 choices were German, History, Latin and DT. The only real debate was between DT and French but given she enjoys DT and doesn't particularly like French we (her parents) decided that she should get her choice - as others have said it's getting a balance that's sensible not any specific options - I doubt any school would let you have a seriously silly set of options anyway.

DD is doing hers at the moment too. Currently she seems to be favouring opting for the third Science (as I think colleges see this and think "academic child" and in dd's school they have to be at least a level 6b I believe before they are allowed to do it) plus Geography, Art and French.

Her biggest area of frustration was having to choose between Art and Textiles but I think it's right that sheonly does one of the two, as she is academically very able. She can always do textiles in an evening class later.

My weekly post on triple Science...

Science - Biology, Chemistry, Physics - is made up of various modules, including practical work.

In Year 10, everyone takes Core Science - which is made up of 4 modules each of Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and the related practical tasks. This leads to a single GCSE in Science, if they decide to cash in the qualification then.

In Year 11, they all take Additional Science, which is a further four modules in each strand plus the practical works. If they cash in this qualification, they get a GCSE in Additional Science.

If the do a further module in each strand, ie Biology 3, Chemistry 3, Physics 3, the can put together their Bio 1 (from Y10) and Bio 2 (from Y11) and Bio 3, to give them a Biology GCSE - and the same for Chemistry and Physics, giving them a total of 3 GCSEs for Science.

The big decision if they take three Science subjects is what they are missing out on elsewhere in the curriculum. The curriculum should be broad and balanced, and they soon narrow down when they get into sixth form. Is it really wise to narrow their subjects before they've even finished Year 9? The choice is personal, according to the timetabling (option blocks) in your school.

Traditionally, bright kids only ever did two Sciences (I did Physics and Chemistry). When the National Curriculum came in, it was still standard to get two qualifications in Science, but broadened to cover the whole spectrum (can't argue with that). It is only in relatively recent times that Triple Science has been put on a pedestal.

I love my subject, but would not promote it if it meant dropping a foreign language, for example.

Core/Additional is sufficient for A-level - the A-level courses start from where Additional Science leaves off.

Dd1's school is a very trad academic grammar school, and they only offer double science rather than triple or separate. I think some schools see the triple/separate option as a selling point for ambitious parents?

At dd1's school they HAVE to do: English x 2, RE, maths, double science, one MFL (dd1 doing French), one of History or Geography (chosen History), and then seem to end up with three extra options.

For her extra options she's chosen German, Latin and Geography.

She is quite academic, so she's playing to her strengths. I'd be fine with her choosing a non-academic option instead of one of those options, but would encourage her to steer clear of the really fluffy 'fashionable' subjects like media studies (anything with 'studies' in the title really).

Science Teacher - that is v helpful re: the triple Science option, thanks.

Science teacher: At my DCs grammar school they all do triple science, no-one is allowed to do double science! Why is that?

I did three sciences at '0' level (showing my age) and so did DH (who then did Nat Science at Cambridge).

So when did it change to double science being the best to do?

NO one at DS' school either has ever done double science - only three separate GCSEs. They have now moved onto iGCSE science as the teachers don't think the GCSE is sufficient preparation for A2 leading on to degrees (lots of natural science and medical students).

Thanks Science Teacher. I was unaware of the triple science option.

Agh - now I'm confused again! My initial assumption was that she should do the triple science as I know that's what the 'brightest' pupils at the school I teach in do. It would mean she wouldn't be able to do a second language but, although she's good at them, it's not something she seems to want to push. Soooooooooo complicated!

At my DCs school they can do triple science and two languages, I think.

At my DD's school they are banded when it comes to Science so only the top band gets to do the triple sciences. From what I can gather the top band has 6 lessons a week and the other bands 5 lessons for Science.

We don't really pay a great deal of attention to GCSEs when selecting students. We're more interested in the predicted AL results, and we like those to be in fairly traditional subjects that show they will be able to tackle similar work to the degree course they will be applying to.

We particularly like Maths, English, Science, Music, Drama, Modern and Classical foreign languages, Psychology, History, Geography and things like that.

Students who have studied the half course in IT, Media Studies, Travel and Tourism vocational equivalents, Business Studies, Textiles, DT etc tend to struggle at degree level in our experience. This may be because less able students are pushed towards these courses by their schools.

We recently turned a student down because although she had an enormous number of UCAS points, these were mainly for low level dance courses and it wasn't a dance degree. Similarly someone with three A Levels and Grade 8 on an instrument will look on paper as though they have four A Levels to us.

I should clarify that we like to see 5 As at GCSE on applications where possible, but the subjects are less important at this stage.

Boffin - is it ok to have one fluffy subject in amongst the serious subjects? I just think its good for students to have exposure to different subjects, and if they love a subject, they should take it to try it.

As an English and Drama teacher, I agree that Drama is not seen as a 'fluffy' subject at GCSE because it proves that pupils can communicate, cooperate, team-plan, meet deadlines, analyse texts etc): it looks good especially for those who plan to do English or Lit A level.

Think she's going to stick with the triple Science and French and give up Spanish.

At GCSE I don't think we'd mind a fluffy subject being there in the spread, because we really do like people to have a broad education at that stage. But you still usually need mostly meaty academic GCSEs and A Levels if you want to do a meaty academic degree course. So it's generally a mistake to substitute highly academic courses for vocational-type ones at school, unless the degree course you're applying for has a similar vocational bent, for example studying fashion design or something like that

We see Drama as non-fluffy, by the way! In fact any core subject from the National Curriculum would be seen as non-fluffy.