Do not pick GCSE Art. Please.

Art was one of my favourite subject at GCSE, yes there is a lot of hoop jumping but that is with all subjects that are examined. I studied it at A level (enjoyed it less at a level because it was more stress but wouldnt have wanted to do a different subject) and now am doing something art based at uni, some people will like the way it is taught at GCSE and some won't. My friend who was good at art dropped it because they found it restricting whereas i liked having that direction and focus. Most of the people who hate GCSE are the ones who are shocked by the workload because they pick it as a 'soft' option.

I like art, fortunately I didn't do GSCE's haha

I agree however it was the limiting factor of freedom that ticked me off rather than the workload, if it was something I enjoyed I would have loved to do it at home. This is true for my favourite subject Media, just to list an example. Thanks for your input!

Can vouch for this, did Photography at GCSE. Nobody cares how good you are with a camera; what you take a picture of; how good you are on photoshop.

Can you make a similar piece of work by some random artist and can you talk about the differences and similarities. The coursework is just showing how you went from your mood board to your final pieces and annotate everything you do. The exam is literally the same thing but can you do it in a different book in a shorter time, given a theme you choose and plan for?

Got an A in photography GCSE didn't even hand in my coursework and it was meant to be moderated. Best thing about Photography was that I could watch Twitch live streams during every lesson and go on trips to take pictures.

This probably goes for some other Art&Design GCSEs too.

i feel like i could've written this post !! i felt the EXACT SAME WAY !! my biggest pet peeve about art GCSE is that they attempted so hard to teach it like a traditional academic subject, that it poured all the imagination and creativity out of it. i absolutely hated producing studies of other artists' work. why would i want to draw or paint like someone else?

i worked really really hard for art, poured in hours. i was such a perfectionist that it took me ages to complete the work. i ended up getting an E instead of an A*, no joke. not going to lie, sometimes i wished i'd just buckled down and gotten on with it, because now if anyone looks at my GCSEs it just looks as if I'm terrible at art - which is quite the contrary. however, ive tried to forget about all the pains and trauma of art GCSE now good luck with it!

I love drawing, I also love the fact that art is a creativity outlet that can calm you down and make you feel happy. This however is NOT GCSE art. When I first wanted to pick the option in year 9 I was very glad to hear my teacher say that she would give us themes and we can draw whatever we want to around that particular theme.

I'm now in year 11 and this is not true at all. Every term we get 3 really boring and abstract artists to 'study.' What art means by study is copy their work, create a presentation on them and then take pictures to create an art piece in their style. This repeats through all of year 10 and 11. It's hell, if you're not good at ONE of the styles your grade will suffer a lot.

Not only is that a factor in your final grade but also ANNOTATION. let me explain why this is utter crap. If you draw this amazing art piece that is incredibly skillful and detailed but you have not annotated it, I'm sorry buddy the most you can expect is a C or a D. This may not sound bad but think about it like this: Say you've drawn the most wonderful art work your school has ever seen and not annotated it saying how it links back to those crappy abstract artists you don't care about. Now let's take a look at a student who's drawn a pile of crap but has fully annotated it. Guess who gets a better grade? Yup the crappy art with annotation. Art is also one of those subjects you REALLY have to love or you will crumble down into a depressed state like me. I love art, just not like this.

I could tell you how many hours I've poured into art pieces that have made me cry because of how much I hated doing them but I'm sure you'd rather hear more reasons for not picking GCSE Art. Here's another fact, do you like drawing anime or manga? Well you can forget the art GCSE then. Teachers WILL shame you for even mentioning it.

So there you have it. The truth about Art as a GCSE. Please don't take it unless art is necessary for your career. Save yourself.

Nothing destroys someone's passion for academia/arts quite like secondary school. I can only think of one subject at school that really made me enjoy it more, everything else was aids

If you draw this amazing art piece that is incredibly skillful and detailed but you have not annotated it, I'm sorry buddy the most you can expect is a C or a D. This may not sound bad but think about it like this: Say you've drawn the most wonderful art work your school has ever seen and not annotated it saying how it links back to those crappy abstract artists you don't care about. Now let's take a look at a student who's drawn a pile of crap but has fully annotated it. Guess who gets a better grade? Yup the crappy art with annotation. Art is also one of those subjects you REALLY have to love or you will crumble down into a depressed state like me. I love art, just not like this.

Honestly I think self taught artists have the best time :P