GCSE options

Hi, im in year 9 and my GCSE subjects form need to be submitted in 4 days. So far, i have decided to take mandarin, history, geography, and art, with french and computer science as my backups. however, i have some doubts about whether i should take art.
For students who have taken art GCSE, what was in the theory exam?
Was the workload to much/ was there too much pressure?
Will it affect my other GCSEs, as history has quite alot of work as well?
Would you recommend it overall, and why?
I would be really grateful for some external ideas because i am still unsure!
thanks

Hi, im in year 9 and my GCSE subjects form need to be submitted in 4 days. So far, i have decided to take mandarin, history, geography, and art, with french and computer science as my backups. however, i have some doubts about whether i should take art.
For students who have taken art GCSE, what was in the theory exam?
Was the workload to much/ was there too much pressure?
Will it affect my other GCSEs, as history has quite alot of work as well?
Would you recommend it overall, and why?
I would be really grateful for some external ideas because i am still unsure!
thanks

Do whatever you think you’ll enjoy most

art's a lot of work so i'd only pick it if you're interested in it.

History and Geography? There is no theory exam in Art - look at the specification - you get a topic released and then a couple of months later 10 hours to work on a piece.

i did my art gcse in 2019 (I got an 8) and the experience of most of my class was that it was exhausting. I used to love art and was constantly drawing/painting, but art gcse really did strip that away from me I think. It's a lot of work - probably more work than most of my other subjects combined - and it was always art stuff that i'd be stressed about doing on Sunday nights. The course is 60% portfolio 40% practical exam. The portfolio you can work for however long you want on it (but another annoying thing about art, at least for my school, was that it was really structured and so there wasn't much freedom to do things you wanted). The exam is 10 hours long, which you normally do maybe over the course of the week? (i think i did 5 hours one day and then the rest in my timetabled art lessons). You get given the topics for the exam around January time and from then on focus on building towards your final exam piece (i did a portrait). There's no theory exam. I think another important thing to consider is the teachers you have. No one in my year got a 9, because the teachers had a very specific idea of what kind of art they wanted to see from us; again there was very little freedom. I personally wish I didn't take it and took something like RS instead, because it was a very big source of stress in my life at that time.

Thank you so much! this reply is really useful! I was just wondering, did art affect your other gcses?

not really only because we finished the exam and finishing touches on our portfolios before we went on study leave. i only revised for my gcses once study leave started so my art was out of the way by then (I got 9s in all my other subjects). However I did stress quite often with homework because i'd have all my other subject work to do and had to finish an art piece on top of that so i'd often have to stay up late. I guess if you're a more organised person (unlike me haha), you wouldn't find this as much of a problem if you organise your time well.

Thank you so much! this reply is really useful! I was just wondering, did art affect your other gcses?

The problem with the final piece is you miss lessons at a key revision time ...

Hi! I did art gcse and got a 7 in 2019. Art gcse was the bane of my existence, required the largest time commitment and stress and still it was one of my lowest grades. I found that the amount of time I had to commit to it did impact the time that I could put into my other GCSEs to an extent. However, I did have a lot of fun and built some fantastic time management and creativity skills, and I always welcomed the change from academic subjects. If you are organised I can imagine your experience could be better, but don’t take art gcse on a whim because the workload is much more than anyone thinks! Hope this helps

Oh I didnt realise that. Did you do art gcse? If you did, did you struggle alot with time?

No - I'm a teacher and have seen sttudents missing key lessons near GCSEs and there's little tie to get them to catch up what they missed.oh

Thanks for the reply! I dont have great time management but i am prepared to work hard and improve my organisation! Art will be the only creative subject i am taking, so did you find it relaxing or stressful, and why?

Hi, im in year 9 and my GCSE subjects form need to be submitted in 4 days. So far, i have decided to take mandarin, history, geography, and art, with french and computer science as my backups. however, i have some doubts about whether i should take art.
For students who have taken art GCSE, what was the subject like?
Was the workload to much/ was there too much pressure?
Will it affect my other GCSEs, as history has quite alot of work as well?
Would you recommend it overall, and why?
I would be really grateful for some external ideas because i am still unsure!
thanks

Hey! I personally quite liked art, my teacher doesn’t mind when coursework is sent in/completed. There is quite a lot of work, as long as you stay on time though, you’ll be fine

A good mixture of relaxing and stressful. The lessons were normally very chill, especially as a break from intense, content-heavy subjects. We would usually paint, chat and talk about art and it was a very nice, relaxed atmosphere. However, I found that the homework often took a really long time which was stressful, and close to coursework deadlines everyone was very stressed. I think that taking at least one creative subject is a good idea generally as it engages a different skill set and makes your overall timetable a little more interesting- I took music and art