GCSE choices Art or PE?

[alaskacoby]

DS can't decide on Art of PE for option choices. He is good at both but concerned that the Art will take up too much time. Also he would do double PE (so 2 GCSE's) instead of 1 within the same timescale, and his teacher predicts A* in PE. I'm concerned that PE won't be looked upon favourably by Universities, and they may prefer Art. His other options choices are French, German, Statistics and Geography.

I think many people assume PE is an 'easy option', but it certainly isn't. Having said that, I don't think it's as time consuming as Art or DT.

Just my thoughts.

Which does he enjoy most?

PE might be more useful in that the course usually opens up coaching opportunites for students which is good for uni applications and for earning a bit of pocket money too.

I believe Art has a big requirement for work outside the classroom time, so it would be more likely to impact the time he has for his other subjects. So I'd say go with the PE - double PE would certainly outrank single art in any admissions mind, I'm sure.

My DS did art and it was very time consuming even at GCSE, but if I remember correctly it was the first one to finish so it was done out of the way, and so left more time for other revision.

Another DS did PE. People might think it's an easy option but it's not. It is quite hard to get an A grade. PE isn't just more games lessons there is a lot more to it than that.In fact DS complained that there wasn't enough practical PE and they spent too much time in the classroom.

IME I would say only do art if he is very good at the subject - its quite tough if you don't have much in the way of natural ability and it is a heavy workload.
My DS took it as a option in yr 10 as he enjoyed the subject but quickly found a lot was expected of him that he found quite difficult.

Apparently GCSE PE is notoriously hard to get a decent grade in. There was another thread about it which spoke about it at length - evidently it is very harshly marked.

I think your son has a lot of very academic subjects, art might be a nice break away from more written coursework and exams.

DD's options which she has taken is triple science, geographjy and history. They are all quite intensive so took art as her 4th choice to give her something a bit different to do. yes, the workload is just as much, but is just different. Afaik GCSE PE exams are quite intense.

The PE GCSE contains a great deal of theory and human biology, so is not any easy option at all.

Art has its own demands with a large amount of coursework and the preparatory work for the actual exam is very time consuming.

Neither subject would be any easy option. If it were me, I would go for the one I enjoyed the most.

Thank you for all your comments. I know that Art is time consuming as my dd is doing it at the moment, she does find it relaxing although the pressure is increasing to finish all the Y10 work and yes the exam will be over before the other exams start which is a bonus.

My concern about dropping art is that he does have natural ability and it narrows down future choices for example Architecture at Uni, however, he is a perfectionist and I can imagine him getting irritated unless its just right.

As for PE, thank you for advice about coaching that's a good point about Uni application forms and extra cash. He does enjoy sciences and will probably be taking Biology at A level with a possibility of studying Sports Science at Uni He already knows a fair amount from his out of school sports interests, but I still can't help thinking the Uni admissions will disregard the PE GCSE's as 'soft GCSE's'.

same here for DD cat - none of the options would be her choice

Re PE - my brother is a professional football coach for Major League soccer in the USA - his GCSE PE, A level PE and degree in sports science were utterly useless in getting this - the one thing which set him on his way in coaching were his FA coaching certs, which he organised himself outside school anyway! So if he wants to do that either professionally or as an amateur I don't think a GCSE pE would make a blind bit of difference.