Gcse history or gcse geography

I am quite torn between choosing history or geography. I'm great at both and plan on getting a career in art and computer science. Any suggestions on which i should choose and why?

Look at the content of both geography and history. For geography, it's physical and human while for history, it's a range of 4 topics - it depends on your school what they choose (E.g. I did Medicine through time, Queen Elizabeth, American West and America Home and Abroad, which basically was civil rights and Vietnam war). There's a lot of content in both but i would say History in my opinion has more. Then look at how the paper is structured: for history, you do source questions, 1 essay question and 1 evaluation question; for geography, i think you have to use case studies and interpret data and graphs and apply it to the course content. I didnt do geography so i have very few knowledge about it.

Reply 2

absolutelysprout

21

history's generally regarded as being more difficult than geography- a lot of content and you can't rely on common sense- you need to know the events inside out. i did geography at gcse and really enjoyed it, found it interesting and a good range of stuff on the curriculum- i could rely on common sense a little more especially with fieldwork and human geography :yep:

i don't think it matters which one you pick, just make sure you enjoy it and are willing to put the effort in to get a good grade.

Reply 3

hannahwrighttx

7

if you want to pursue science I'd say go for geography - purely because it is considered a more scientific subject, you do much more data analysis and such. when you get to a level geography is a facilitator subject which means universities really like it. I did both at GCSE and hated history and have applied to study geography at university though so I may be a bit bias

Reply 4

Kamran_hy_

2

Original post by PetitePanda

Look at the content of both geography and history. For geography, it's physical and human while for history, it's a range of 4 topics - it depends on your school what they choose (E.g. I did Medicine through time, Queen Elizabeth, American West and America Home and Abroad, which basically was civil rights and Vietnam war). There's a lot of content in both but i would say History in my opinion has more. Then look at how the paper is structured: for history, you do source questions, 1 essay question and 1 evaluation question; for geography, i think you have to use case studies and interpret data and graphs and apply it to the course content. I didnt do geography so i have very few knowledge about it.

did u do edexcel 2019 history? if u did, could u tell me the questions in american west and elizabeth. got mock of that paper in 2 days. thanks it would really help,

Original post by Kamran_hy_

did u do edexcel 2019 history? if u did, could u tell me the questions in american west and elizabeth. got mock of that paper in 2 days. thanks it would really help,

Yes i did and those exact two topics but I doubt anyone remembers anything, Just revise and practice normally - it's only your mock.

Reply 6

Kamran_hy_

2

Original post by PetitePanda

Yes i did and those exact two topics but I doubt anyone remembers anything, Just revise and practice normally - it's only your mock.

😭my future college sees the grade. U dont know the questions?

Original post by Kamran_hy_

😭my future college sees the grade. U dont know the questions?

Mock grades are irrelevant once you do your gcse exams. Just use your mocks to see your progress and if you arent satisfied with your results, you should use it to revise harder. Your gcse exams isnt a mock paper that has been done before so you should start to stop relying on these kinds of skills and be more confident with your knowledge and skills. Also yes i do not know the questions i did 8 months ago, which is already lost and replaced with as level content; i did a 19 or 21 tests on top so im not going to know a specific questions or topics on it.

Reply 8

Kamran_hy_

2

Original post by PetitePanda

Mock grades are irrelevant once you do your gcse exams. Just use your mocks to see your progress and if you arent satisfied with your results, you should use it to revise harder. Your gcse exams isnt a mock paper that has been done before so you should start to stop relying on these kinds of skills and be more confident with your knowledge and skills. Also yes i do not know the questions i did 8 months ago, which is already lost and replaced with as level content; i did a 19 or 21 tests on top so im not going to know a specific questions or topics on it.

Im getting 9 in all my triple sciences and grade 7-9 in everything else but i feel like i dont know all the stuff in history. Trying to find out the questions is like an insurance policy. Its the guarantee of a good grade

Reply 9

Gina leigh

11

look at what the teachers are like for each ones. A good teacher honestly makes all of the difference in how you enjoy the subject at gcse. Obviously look at what parts of the course your school is covering like people have said. But personally the history teachers at my old school where the really good and passionate and the geography teachers where a bit rubbish and boring.

Original post by Kamran_hy_

Im getting 9 in all my triple sciences and grade 7-9 in everything else but i feel like i dont know all the stuff in history. Trying to find out the questions is like an insurance policy. Its the guarantee of a good grade

Congrats on getting those high grades for your other subjects btw. However, although you might guaranteed a good grade, that’s only for your mock and not your real exam. Your college won’t care for your mock grades after your real exam and your other mock grades are enough for you to be accepted to your college. Don’t rely on things like this and just do the best you can. I didn’t know much of the content but I played to my strengthens and used the content I already knew to answer the questions when I didn’t even learn half of the content when my mock happened. What guarantees a good grade is your knowledge and exam techniques; if you did find the questions, which most people will not likely remember, how will you answer it if you don’t know the stuff for that exact question - you will only use your information from your revision guide or something, which you won’t have in the test, than your own knowledge. I'm sorry if I sound rude I just dont really want you to rely on things like this, if you get what i mean.

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 11

dbr126

2

Original post by lollipopblaze007

I am quite torn between choosing history or geography. I'm great at both and plan on getting a career in art and computer science. Any suggestions on which i should choose and why?

If you’re confident in both subjects my advice would be to go for whichever you enjoy the most, I did Geography for gcse and just didn’t enjoy it as a subject- had a bit of a breakdown before my exam cause I hated it so much. Realistically you’re going to have to study this subject for the next 2/3 years and you don’t wanna slowly lose your will to live every lesson. History is probably viewed more positively by unis and stuff because it’s meant to be more difficult, but both teach you skills that are applicable elsewhere.

Reply 12

lollipopblaze007

OP

8

Original post by Gina leigh

look at what the teachers are like for each ones. A good teacher honestly makes all of the difference in how you enjoy the subject at gcse. Obviously look at what parts of the course your school is covering like people have said. But personally the history teachers at my old school where the really good and passionate and the geography teachers where a bit rubbish and boring.

Thanks my geography teacher doesn't really teach the stuff we should be learning and often sets it as homework for us to do ourselves whereas our history teacher is quite good.

Reply 13

lollipopblaze007

OP

8

Original post by hannahwrighttx

if you want to pursue science I'd say go for geography - purely because it is considered a more scientific subject, you do much more data analysis and such. when you get to a level geography is a facilitator subject which means universities really like it. I did both at GCSE and hated history and have applied to study geography at university though so I may be a bit bias

thanks is history also a facilitator subject?

Reply 14

tubphonecase

13

Unless you plan on doing history or geography at A-Level either one doesn't make much difference. I'd always recommend history, but that's just because I love history.
Maybe you could ask your teachers what's on the course to see if you find it interesting? Or you could ask which course the GCSE will be so you can look it up yourself. Then, just pick the one you think you'll like the most.

Reply 15

Angel Amenze

5

Geography and sciences tie in together a lot so it’s much easier, especially if you’re good at science. I personally think Geography is much easier than history but your have remember a lot of case studies (they’re usually 9 markers with 3 extra spag marks). You have to be able to retain a lot of information for both but if you know you are ready to be doing 20 mark questions at most pick history, I think geography is better though.

Reply 16

hannahwrighttx

7

Original post by lollipopblaze007

thanks is history also a facilitator subject?

I believe some places consider it a facilitator subject and others don’t - it is a lot more subjective than geography

Reply 17

FloLemon

11

Biggest regret was taking GCSE Geog instead of History. I would say look at the syllabuses in detail, I didn['t

Reply 18

Charl_Noot

6

Original post by lollipopblaze007

I am quite torn between choosing history or geography. I'm great at both and plan on getting a career in art and computer science. Any suggestions on which i should choose and why?

As someone in Year 11 who takes History, don't take it unless you're good at memorising a lot of content and are prepared to do a lot of writing for coursework

Gcse history or gcse geography

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