Drama or Media?

Which is harder? (Just the written paper, ignoring coursework) OCR GCSE Drama or AQA GCSE Media.

Hi, I did both of these when I did my GCSEs with the same exam boards I believe.

I'm aware AQA media GCSEs has re-modified their course since I did it 2 years ago- now it is more reflective of what you would be learning if you took Media at A Level. The GCSE media exam I would say is reasonable; as its easy to predict what kind of questions will be in the paper as you are given set products to analyse which you learn throughout the course.

Addressing OCR drama, their exam is worth 40 or 30% (off the top of my head), and I remember the wording of some questions really threw me. I would definitely recommend it if you are going to invest in learning the theory behind drama as well as the practical parts. Say if you got two 9's in the practical and got a 4 in the examination this will likely bring your grade down to a 6. To back this I got 9's in both of my performances but got a 6 in the paper and got an 8 overall.

However I think both courses are good and build your analytical skills as well as confidence, if you can pick both of the courses I would highly recommend this if it aligns with what you want to do in the future.

I’m actually arguing with a friend over which is easier AHAHA. I think drama is harder because the questions are so multi layered? He doesn’t agree though...