Gcse geography or gcse history

I do not need any for the future as i will be studying medicine. But i am currently picking my options and i am confused which one to pick

I am predicted A*-A in both subjects. I cannot say i particularly enjoy the subjects but i do find both of them interesting at times. My geography teacher is not as great as my history teacher. Also i am taking triple science and i wonder if i take History will it be very stressful or if i take geography it will be very boring.

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Reply 1

beeea

Personally I chose Geography as I really didn’t do well with History, and have ended up really enjoying the past two years out of luck as I got a good class with a good teacher, however have many friends who take History and they say it is really interesting but yes can be very stressful as there are wayyyy more detailed facts you need to learn. Maybe do some research into what you would be learning for both the subjects at GCSE and see which one sounds more interesting then weigh up the pros and cons, however if your history teacher is better than the geography that will have a massive impact. Also it may seem obvious but possible school trips really do help your learning so see if your school offers any
p.s. hope you enjoy triple science, for me i absolutely despise it now out of bad teachers and too much to learn that isn’t being taught clearly enough haha x

Reply 2

showaeski

Original post by Querene

GCSE geography is pretty straightforward and could be an easy A* but if it's something you find boring then don't bother doing it. Have a look at the history spec and see if the modules interest you. GCSE history tends to be more interesting than year 7-9 history (from my experience but ofc depends on your school and exam board).

Reply 3

Querene

Original post by showaeski

My exam board is Edexcel , History is said to be a heavy workload and I’m not sure if I could remember all of it with triple science thrusting in

Reply 4

showaeski

Original post by Querene

My exam board is Edexcel , History is said to be a heavy workload and I’m not sure if I could remember all of it with triple science thrusting in

Go for geography then. The human side of geography is basically common sense and doesn't require a lot of revision. Only really the physical side you need to properly revise for but still pretty straight forward.

Reply 5

JustACoincidence

I did both History and Geography; I got A*s in both of them. History was definitely more interesting than geography. The things like the wasteful world topic was pretty boring along with most of the human geography. Plus, remembering all the case studies is an utter pain.

I did triple science, alongside my history and geography. I got AAA* for biology, chemistry, and physics respectively. The workload want too much. If you revise well and stay organised you'll be fine.

Pick the one you find most interesting, as you may well work better in a subject you enjoy more.

Good luck with your decision.

JAC

Reply 6

elsaruus

I do both, and I love both! But, for me, Geography is far easier, as for me, most questions are common sense.

Reply 7

music468

i did both, history is really interesting but difficult and geography is boring but easy. Pick the one you like the most and you will be fine

Reply 8

hanna786

yay im not the only one!!

and yes im currently having to choose betweenGSCE history or GCSE geography

i also think that history will be stressful and thta geography is boring and my future career will hopefully be in medicine and so i dont know what to pick

right now im thinking of picking history because i find it interesting also my grades are both the same in history and geography

i think history will help you more because it helps in english too

hope this was helpful
pick carefully

Reply 9

Querene

Original post by JustACoincidence

How did you manage to stay well organised and achieve such high grades (well done btw)

Reply 10

Querene

Original post by hanna786

Thank you , but I just can’t seem to make up my mind

Reply 11

JustACoincidence

Original post by Querene

How did you manage to stay well organised and achieve such high grades (well done btw)

Uh ... for history I made Flashcards for each part the topics and tried to keep the information as short as possible that i could remember the stuff. I also looked at how to answer the questions and practised old ones.

Geography was mind maps and trying to remember all the information. I also used lots of diagrams and stuff for that.

Just try to space out your workload into manageable chunks. Pick a topic to do and work through it for each session. It's especially important to take more time doing the things you find difficult. Doing something you understand well over and over again isn't very helpful at all.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 12

LarissaAlves

I suggest checking BBC Bitesize for the two subjects. They have good summaries and it may help you choose between Geography and History.

Reply 13

Querene

Original post by JustACoincidence

I have decided to go with geography but I think I may change my mind

Reply 14

Reviser101

I'm in year 10 at the moment. I chose my options in year 8 so I've been studying GCSE for a year and a half now. I chose geography not history. From what I gather from my friends who chose History, it is quite stressful. There are 20 mark questions and most of them find it quite stressful because there are a lot of dates you have to remember. If you want to choose it, be aware of this. For geography, I enjoy it more because it is less stress. The highest marks for a question is only 9 marks. You have to remember dates, but not as extensive as in history. It's not that boring, trust me. The case studies are the best part, it's more fun. The most boring part is paper 3 (fieldwork). Hope this helps/

Reply 15

Querene

Original post by Reviser101

Thank you alot, that really helped.

No problem

I took both. I warn you not to make assumptions about the GCSEs; you may not "particularly enjoy them" now but you may come to love them at GCSE. Talking from experience here! I didn't mind Geography at Key Stage 3 so took that and came to loathe it at GCSE. History wasn't even one of my original options but I enjoyed it at GCSE (all except for this one module which I didn't revise for in Year 10 and had to resit).

It's not too much work to do both. I was a lazy lump at GCSE (didn't revise and had mostly B's). If I can manage the workload, you should be able to as you're presumably gonna revise. However, if the school only lets you take one then I'd say go for History (based on my personal experience and what you said).

If they let you take both, why not take both? It's not exceptionally hard and I know a few people who took both (also seen people on here who did both at GCSE).

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 18

indie.sxnds

I'm guessing other people have mentioned this but I'm too lazy to scroll up, but first question, which do you enjoy more?

If it's History, I'd strongly suggest looking at the course before you choose to take it, as GCSE History tends to be a lot different to KS3 History. I was going to take history, but last minute I changed because I realized how different the course was, and the whole writing thing didn't appeal to me. Probably the best choice I ever made.

If you prefer Geography, I guess I can help more with that haha. If you have any questions on the course, let me know.

I plan to study medicine too (I'm in Year 11) but at your stage, you should really be thinking about 1) which subjects do i enjoy? 2) whats the GCSE course like? and 3) How good am I at it?

To do medicine, as you're aware, you usually need a good set of A*/A grades, so taking something you like a lot, and are good at, is your best bet.

ps: A lot of my friends took GCSE history without realizing how the GCSE course would really be like, and now regret it. This isn't to put you off, but just make sure you know what the course will be like for both geography(doesnt change much) and History.

Also, I'm genuinely sorry for the typos, just in a huge rush at the moment! Good luck! :h:

Reply 19

Sam.T.

I’m currently in Year 11 and take both subjects. For me I definately o refers geography. The exam is easier than the history one, and I find it more interesting, however others are different, but I do encourage you to take GCSE Geography