This discussion is now closed.

Check out other Related discussions

ICT GCSE or Computing GCSE?

Hello

i am in Year 9, and we have to give in our GCSE choices on the 12th of Feb

I want to be a doctor when i am older so i am doing triple science, but what i have picked are@

1.History
2.German
3.Geography
4. ICT/Computing

I have a genuine dillemma here. Do i stick with the much easier ICT, or do i challenge myself with Computing.

If i do Computing, it is a huge risk and could backfire. I am new at Coding, although i have working knowledge of what happens inside the computer, i am still a newb.

they said that t=hey would teach the basics but it is still a great risk for me
:confused:

please could you help?

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

L'Evil Fish

Computing

a challenge is good!

Reply 2

Chlorophile

From what I've seen, you don't learn real coding in GCSE Computing (only Pseudocode) which really isn't that hard. Having said that, I've not taken the course so I don't know.

I don't think it matters a great deal since neither are particularly relevant to medicine.

Reply 3

L'Evil Fish

I'm guessing you'll have these then:

Mathematics
English Language
English Literature
Biology
Chemistry
Physics
German
History
Geography
Computing

Anything else?

If that's all, I would definitely recommend computing then :smile:

Reply 4

Gallifreyan95

I did OCR's GCSE ICT. Complete waste of time. I wouldn't recommend it.

Reply 5

CJKay

Neither of them are particularly useful for... anything, really. Same at A-Level. If you want the one with the biggest challenge though, that would be Computing.

(Doing Comp. Sci.)

Reply 6

Lunch_Box

Original post by AntOwnsOkay

please could you help?

If you're wanting to become a doctor then there is no real need for either. From personal experience, I can say that I hated Computing, and very few people in my school got A*s in it.

What's important is that you get A*s and As across the board in maths, science, and English.

Original post by Chlorophile

From what I've seen, you don't learn real coding in GCSE Computing (only Pseudocode) which really isn't that hard. Having said that, I've not taken the course so I don't know

This isn't all true. my course consisted of pseudocode, HTML, JavaScript, and Visual Basic (which are all very simple to be fair).

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 7

Mrkingpenguin

Computing, never go near ICT GCSE, waste of time, learn how a computer actually works rather than just learning how to use word and excel.

Reply 8

play_fetch

Do computing. Every time.

Reply 9

Sketch

ICT was abysmal when I did it.. I'd recommend Computing :smile:

Reply 10

AntOwnsOkay

But surely an A* in easy ICT would look better than a C in hard Computing on a college/uni form?

help please.

Original post by AntOwnsOkay

help please.

Yes it probably would. However I'm prettt sure you'd be able to get an A/A* in computing if you try.

Reply 13

BI0

I do ICT gcse.
It's really not that interesting and you don't learn much about it
60% of it is coursework (OCR) so it's easy to scoop up the high grades.
I personally think that in computing you'll definitely learn a lot more valuable information. Bearing in mind, a lot of jobs today are ICT based so a GCSE in ICT may impress employers.

Reply 14

AntOwnsOkay

Is the risk worth it?

I Don't really mind about not taking much in from ICT, because i want to go into medicine.

i just want the grades

Reply 15

Albino_muffin

Definitely Computing; I did GCSE ICT and it was the worst choice I made regarding subjects. It was unstructured, boring, repetitive, and little of what was in the book was on the exam, complete and utter waste of time. Just an awful choice. But don't worry, GCSEs hardly count unless you're planning on applying to oxbridge (I'm applying to Imperial and they assured me they hardly look at GCSEs if that's of any comfort to you).

Reply 16

Albino_muffin

More to the point, you can practically cram for GCSEs the night before the exams and get A*s; it's less knowing it and more memorising facts... all in all I think GCSEs are terrible preparation for what's to come.