Dt gcse

Hi, I'm picking my GCSE's soon and was thinking about Dt.I was just wondering what you actually do in Dt gcse or whether I should take art.Thanks xxx

Reply 1

Franco28

Original post by SR789

Hi, I'm picking my GCSE's soon and was thinking about Dt.I was just wondering what you actually do in Dt gcse or whether I should take art.Thanks xxx

Heyy, I did Art GCSE so I can tell you a bit about it✨ Well first of all, Arts GCSE its horrible😂. I’m really good at drawing realistic people and animals, as well as with painting, but that doesn’t mean you will get Grade 9 on it. Art takes A LOT of time. I’m telling you, you will have to do arts homework almost every day in order to give it at the right time. Also, art teachers only likes realistic stuff or abstract art (or whatever art they ask you to do) and rejects anime drawing or any other type of art that is not considered “artistic”. They just want to see always the common small range of type of arts rather than a large range of different and uncommon arts. The Art GCSE exam its also 10 hours, this only reinforces the idea that arts takes long. And if you get behind in one work, you will stay behind on every single work. Why? Because if you are late in a work, you wont have time to do whatever you left to finish, because you will already have another work and another and another work to do. My own experience was horrible. I had to stay till 3 finishing work. Imagine doing that plus ALL the other subjects. In my class the top grade was only 7. This girl was really good at arts LIKE AMAZING and got a 6. Is not about how good you are, but how all your work is done at time and the art of type you use.You also have to be VERY creative, or you will waste time thinking about ideas. You can’t just go on google and be like “okay lemme do this”. No, thats like plagiarism, you basically copying. You have to create your own ideas and then have images to help you do whatever you want to do. Like an eye image if you drawing an eye. Also think if Art is gonna be helpful in A Level, I’m in Sixth form preparing myself for Law so Art was kinda useless in a way. Also, if you are thinking in using the same colours and styles and art stuff then DONT DO ARTS. For every work you have to use different art material, pencils, water colours, paints. So Arts can be EXPENSIVE. Also for every work different art types, abstract art, geometrical art, realistic art, pop art, NEVER REPEATING ITSELF, always different. And also the use of different colours for every work. You just have to be very creative and think different ideas and how to use different materials. You can obviously do various works in pencils or paints, but how can you make them different from each other? That’s what you have to think. And when writing the information about your work, you always have to write imaginatively. You cant just do cute letters next to the work. Maybe add different paper shapes with the information, or the letters doing waves, or the words written by a white pen in a black background, things like that. A lot of negative things, arts can affects all your other subject Grades if you are not serious on working hard. Now the positive things. Arts can give you creative skills. If you thinking in doing a degree which involves creative skills then Arts can be perfect! Arts also show you can work hard if you get a Grade A on the subject. You can also explore new historical events you never knew through arts as well as find new art types and important individuals in the history of art. So you can get a lot of information from it! This means it can improve your reaearch skills. Do not copy and paste, because they will ask you for your own view. So you also have to be creative in how you write this information in your own way. Through arts you can also learn how to manage your time well, as well as how to work under a lot of pressure, as Arts can be really stressful, so it will make you ready for an A Level student life. If you would like to improve your art skills then go for it! Arts GCSE improved a LOT my realistic skills drawings. From only being able to draw a realistic eye to a whole face, or a realistic lion to a realistic baby. So Arts GCSE can improve if you put efforts and time on it. Its getting to long😂 but I wanted to give you as much info about arts so you are aware of what you getting into. Good luck!✨

Reply 2

SR789

Thank you !!! I am going to stick with dt then I think!

Reply 3

absolutelysprout

pick whichever one you think you'd enjoy the most. both have a significant coursework component though.
tagging @CoolCavy as she'll probably be able to offer some insight into both subjects :smile:

Reply 4

CoolCavy

Volunteer Team

Thanks for the tag Sprout :hugs:

I did both art and DT at alevel as well as GCSE so if you have any questions about anything am happy to help OP :smile:

Reply 5

SR789

Original post by CoolCavy

Thanks for the tag Sprout :hugs:

I did both art and DT at alevel as well as GCSE so if you have any questions about anything am happy to help OP :smile:

Hi.Thank you for willingly help! I like art and everyone says I am really good at it but also DT.I was just wondering what it is you actually do in DT GCSE and if you liked it more than art.(also which is easier?)

Reply 6

Mel6784

Original post by CoolCavy

Thanks for the tag Sprout :hugs:

I did both art and DT at alevel as well as GCSE so if you have any questions about anything am happy to help OP :smile:

im doing similiar alevels what are you doing at uni?

Reply 7

deadroseex

I have put 0 effort in my art work. I am good in certain aspects. However, my drawings are horrible. I have compared my work and I have seen such beautiful pieces. I hate art and my work. I will probably end up with a Grade 7. And I shall take it. I have an awful teacher too.

I do Triple Science, History, and Further Maths and I just want 9's in them options. And English and everything else.

Reply 8

CoolCavy

Volunteer Team

Original post by SR789

Hi, sorry for the late reply :getmecoat:

For both courses during the first year (year 10) will be just building your skills with shorter projects generally. In art you will be encouraged to use a wide variety of techniques and media to build up that toolbox of skills. DT is similar, ideally your short projects will cover a range of materials and machinery. Schools do tend to have their specialisms so you may end up leaning towards wood for example than things like metal or ceramics.
Alongside your practical lessons you will also be taught design theory in GCSE DT. Examples of GCSE content can be found on Technology Student. I personally wouldnt say the design theory is particularly challenging if you have quite a visual mind, its quite easy to remeber the processes by making sketches/posters etc. There are good resources for material properties such as MrDT as well as technology student. For learning manufacturing processes i personally found youtube videos (how stuff is made, inside the factory etc) to be great resources for helping visualise the process.
This design theory accumulates into an exam paper at the end of year 11, these papers will vary between exam boards and i can only speak for AQA but they are generally quite heavily weighted and not something you should ignore in favour of the practical side. Poor performance on the theory can and does drag people's grades down even if they scored highly for their project.
For the practical side in year 11 you have to take a project from start to finish, generally this will be a topic of your own choosing but general areas will be provided by the exam board. For example 'nature', 'teenage lifestyle' etc. Its good to get a client here and ask them about problems in the area they fit into.
Generally the practical element follows the following structure: Research > Design Ideation > Development, model making and feedback > Final manufacture > Conclusions and reflections. Usually this gets handed in around march or april time and you will sit your exam in june or july.
Year 11 art is similar in that you also do a project of your own choosing. However for AQA courses at least you do two projects in year 11. One is the coursework element (the topic you chose completely yourself) and the other is the exam portion. Although thisthread is targeted more at alevel the general structure is also applicable to GCSE. The main difference is your final piece in the exam project is 10 hours long rather than 15 and the weightings between the two may differ.

In terms of which is easier i think it depends really. If you like to have a more rigid structure of work and focus in a particular direction i would say DT would be easier but if you are more creative and prefer more room to choose your own direction i would say art would suit you better. There are still hoops to jump through in art but generally you can shape your project more yourself. Some people find this challenging as they end up stuck and unsure of what to do to fill their sketchbook, i would say art is more self led than DT. If you are poor at written exams and prefer coursework i would go for art since the 'exam' component is really just the coursework with a different name. If exams and revision are your forte but you still want some creativity and practical basis then DT would suit you more.
I think it also depends on your other subject choices, if you are doing a lot of subjects that also have a lot of coursework you might find DT better to have a break from that. Alternatively if you are doing a lot of academic subjects then something like art can help shake that up a bit. I dont recommending taking something like art and DT as a 'soft' subject (plenty of people do this then come unstuck because of the large workload) however i only mentioned other subjects as i found breaking up my time to be productive for my creativity. What i mean by this is when i was stuck for ideas with art for instance i could go and do some history work where stuff is more structured, when i got bored of rigid structured stuff i would go back to my art work and the ideas would flow better.

In terms of workload art is very intense and you will need to do a lot of work outside of your lesson to complete it. DT is also a lot of work but personally i found it to be less work than art, you do have to fill in a porfolio but generally that is around 40 ish pages and didnt feel a lot compared to art stuff.

Hope that helps, if you have any questions please just ask :smile:

Original post by Mel6784

im doing similiar alevels what are you doing at uni?

Awesome

good luck with your courses :smile:

I've graduated uni now (this year) but i studied product design, I now work for a defence company that specialises in manufacturing safety products

Original post by deadroseex

Dont be discouraged :smile:

its not so much about the actual pieces, its more about the process of your sketchbook and ideas. There are a lot of people who are absolutely phenomenal at art that get lower grades than other people. The main reason for this is usually a lack of experimentation, people who are good at art generally have a specific area they excel in and it can be hard to want to use a different medium outside your comfort zone.
The examiners dont want to see 25 beautifully drawn drawings all in the same medium, they want to see messy sketchbook experimentation and reflection on what mediums and techniques worked and what didnt.
You'll get there :hugs:

Reply 9

CoolCavy

Volunteer Team

Original post by SR789

Hi, sorry for the late reply :getmecoat:

For both courses during the first year (year 10) will be just building your skills with shorter projects generally. In art you will be encouraged to use a wide variety of techniques and media to build up that toolbox of skills. DT is similar, ideally your short projects will cover a range of materials and machinery. Schools do tend to have their specialisms so you may end up leaning towards wood for example than things like metal or ceramics.
Alongside your practical lessons you will also be taught design theory in GCSE DT. Examples of GCSE content can be found on Technology Student. I personally wouldnt say the design theory is particularly challenging if you have quite a visual mind, its quite easy to remeber the processes by making sketches/posters etc. There are good resources for material properties such as MrDT as well as technology student. For learning manufacturing processes i personally found youtube videos (how stuff is made, inside the factory etc) to be great resources for helping visualise the process.
This design theory accumulates into an exam paper at the end of year 11, these papers will vary between exam boards and i can only speak for AQA but they are generally quite heavily weighted and not something you should ignore in favour of the practical side. Poor performance on the theory can and does drag people's grades down even if they scored highly for their project.
For the practical side in year 11 you have to take a project from start to finish, generally this will be a topic of your own choosing but general areas will be provided by the exam board. For example 'nature', 'teenage lifestyle' etc. Its good to get a client here and ask them about problems in the area they fit into.
Generally the practical element follows the following structure: Research > Design Ideation > Development, model making and feedback > Final manufacture > Conclusions and reflections. Usually this gets handed in around march or april time and you will sit your exam in june or july.
Year 11 art is similar in that you also do a project of your own choosing. However for AQA courses at least you do two projects in year 11. One is the coursework element (the topic you chose completely yourself) and the other is the exam portion. Although this thread is targeted more at alevel the general structure is also applicable to GCSE. The main difference is your final piece in the exam project is 10 hours long rather than 15 and the weightings between the two may differ.

In terms of which is easier i think it depends really. If you like to have a more rigid structure of work and focus in a particular direction i would say DT would be easier but if you are more creative and prefer more room to choose your own direction i would say art would suit you better. There are still hoops to jump through in art but generally you can shape your project more yourself. Some people find this challenging as they end up stuck and unsure of what to do to fill their sketchbook, i would say art is more self led than DT. If you are poor at written exams and prefer coursework i would go for art since the 'exam' component is really just the coursework with a different name. If exams and revision are your forte but you still want some creativity and practical basis then DT would suit you more.
I think it also depends on your other subject choices, if you are doing a lot of subjects that also have a lot of coursework you might find DT better to have a break from that. Alternatively if you are doing a lot of academic subjects then something like art can help shake that up a bit. I dont recommending taking something like art and DT as a 'soft' subject (plenty of people do this then come unstuck because of the large workload) however i only mentioned other subjects as i found breaking up my time to be productive for my creativity. What i mean by this is when i was stuck for ideas with art for instance i could go and do some history work where stuff is more structured, when i got bored of rigid structured stuff i would go back to my art work and the ideas would flow better.

In terms of workload art is very intense and you will need to do a lot of work outside of your lesson to complete it. DT is also a lot of work but personally i found it to be less work than art, you do have to fill in a porfolio but generally that is around 30 ish pages and didnt feel a lot compared to art stuff.

Hope that helps, if you have any questions please just ask :smile:

Original post by Mel6784

im doing similiar alevels what are you doing at uni?