GCSE choices help/ advice

hey
I have to choose my gcses in a couple of week and have four I am considering, history (definitely going to do this) drama, rs, and business, but have to narrow it down to three
in the future I'm aiming to go to med school so not sure if any of these choices would help with that?
anyway, does anyone have any experience with these subjects/ have any suggestions

Reply 1

Squiggles1238

20

Hello, to go to med school you will need to take chemisty and i think biology. Other people on here will be much more knowledgeable on this than I, but its worth having a brief look at entry requirements for medicine degrees

Reply 2

Smallix

11

if you like drama i guess go for it (i am also in year 9 and this is some advice i got from my threads because i like drama but though it was a soft subject but it doesn’t really matter at gcse) then i would go rs purely because i feel like it would be more interesting than business, though if you want a career in business you might want to choose that as you already have a “fun” subject?

EDIT- just realised you want to go to med school! so choose whatever you want and have fun! i would highly recommend triple science but it isn’t a necessity!

(edited 2 years ago)

Reply 3

dbhc2411

13

If your school offers Further Maths GCSE then that would be a good choice. Otherwise, you'll just need to ace your Maths and Core Sciences (Biology and Chemistry in particular).

Perhaps use your choices to do what you want, as med schools are only really interested in the Maths/Sciences.

Reply 4

bethany_gribble

5

Original post by ls311353

hey
I have to choose my gcses in a couple of week and have four I am considering, history (definitely going to do this) drama, rs, and business, but have to narrow it down to three
in the future I'm aiming to go to med school so not sure if any of these choices would help with that?
anyway, does anyone have any experience with these subjects/ have any suggestions

I would recommend taking triple science as well! Drama’s good if you enjoy it, but the passion has to be there.
I have no experience in the other subjects as my school didn’t do them, but if you are considering med school, an introduction to higher level science is a good thing to consider :smile:

(edited 2 years ago)

Reply 5

Smallix

11

Original post by bethany_gribble

I would recommend taking triple science as well! Drama’s good if you enjoy it, but the passion has to be there.
I have no experience in the other subjects as my school didn’t do them, but if you are considering med school, an introduction to higher level science is a good thing to consider :smile:

what gcses do they do at your school?

Reply 6

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

Unis don't care what GCSE subjects you choose provided you are doing the core national curriculum subjects (English, maths, combined or triple science). The medical schools that care about GCSEs only care about overall grade profiles (i.e. number and proportion of 8/9 grades) or specific minimum grades in the core subjects (e.g. minimum B in GCSE maths and science).

Triple science will not improve your chances of getting into medical school directly. It may indirectly make the transition to A-level biology and/or chemistry easier but those A-levels are not designed assuming you have the knowledge of triple science, only that you have the core background from combined (double) science.

Pick whatever you enjoy and/or you think you will do well in. This might be your last chance to take certain subjects so take the opportunity to pursue them if you enjoy them a lot.

Reply 7

teddybear4444h

20

Original post by ls311353

hey
I have to choose my gcses in a couple of week and have four I am considering, history (definitely going to do this) drama, rs, and business, but have to narrow it down to three
in the future I'm aiming to go to med school so not sure if any of these choices would help with that?
anyway, does anyone have any experience with these subjects/ have any suggestions

The majority of my friends want to go to med school and they took some random choices
At GCSE it doesn’t matter as much but at A level I would advise thinking about biology chemistry and maths
Some examples of subjects they took which have nothing to do with med is art business sociology spanish french geography
Really no one cares about which GCSE’s you took just the grades you get

Reply 8

edjc123

13

Original post by ls311353

hey
I have to choose my gcses in a couple of week and have four I am considering, history (definitely going to do this) drama, rs, and business, but have to narrow it down to three
in the future I'm aiming to go to med school so not sure if any of these choices would help with that?
anyway, does anyone have any experience with these subjects/ have any suggestions

im in y11 and out of them, do history and rs (ive got friends who do the other two so i can give a bit of info on them too?).

history - i really love it and will be doing it for a level. the content is really interesting, just only do it if you dont mind essays (for my exam board, aqa, the longest is 16 marks which is about 2 sides of A4 give or take) - if you arent the biggest fan of that sort of thing though, dont let it stop you if you enjoy the subject. ive got a friend who struggles with that sort of thing but she still enjoys it (as does literally everyone else i know who takes it)

rs - most people from most schools find it okay. i say most because personally, my teacher is awful, but as long as yours does their job, you'll be fine. if you are considering grades as part of your decision (grades are the least important thing when you decide, but it might be helpful for me to say) rs is quite easy to pass in since in many schools its compulsory so a lot of people doing it wont want to, but its quite hard to get 8/9s, but that could just be my experience. parts of the content are really interesting, just know that you'll need to memorise bible quotes and stuff like that

buisness - i dont do it so take everything with a grain of salt. from what ive heard, its a lot of common sense and can be boring, but i also know some people who like it so consider if you personally enjoy that sort of thing, or are doing it as a filler or it 'sounding good' (its gcse, dont worry about subjects sounding good). i know people who took it as they thought they might go into buisness in the future, and if thats the case, dont - you can pick the subject up later + its not necessary.

drama - again, i dont do it, but all my friends that do really like it, so go for it if you enjoy it. just consider that there are also a lot of essays in it? im not sure how long they are exactly but i think they are worth more marks than the biggest ones in history so im guessing they are longer too?

if you are wanting to do medicine, its better if you do triple science rather than combined but at some schools (like mine) its not up to you to choose, so all im saying really is, choose it if its an option, if not ignore this bit. just make sure you do well in all your subjects and the ones you are doing for a level (for medicine, im guessing sciences + maths)

Reply 9

ls311353

OP

2

Original post by Smallix

what gcses do they do at your school?

triple science is mandatory so i’ll definitely be doing that, other than that it’s the usual geography history ect, they don’t do psychology, sociology, media or childcare and have just this year added in buisness as an option

Reply 10

ls311353

OP

2

Original post by edjc123

im in y11 and out of them, do history and rs (ive got friends who do the other two so i can give a bit of info on them too?).

history - i really love it and will be doing it for a level. the content is really interesting, just only do it if you dont mind essays (for my exam board, aqa, the longest is 16 marks which is about 2 sides of A4 give or take) - if you arent the biggest fan of that sort of thing though, dont let it stop you if you enjoy the subject. ive got a friend who struggles with that sort of thing but she still enjoys it (as does literally everyone else i know who takes it)

rs - most people from most schools find it okay. i say most because personally, my teacher is awful, but as long as yours does their job, you'll be fine. if you are considering grades as part of your decision (grades are the least important thing when you decide, but it might be helpful for me to say) rs is quite easy to pass in since in many schools its compulsory so a lot of people doing it wont want to, but its quite hard to get 8/9s, but that could just be my experience. parts of the content are really interesting, just know that you'll need to memorise bible quotes and stuff like that

buisness - i dont do it so take everything with a grain of salt. from what ive heard, its a lot of common sense and can be boring, but i also know some people who like it so consider if you personally enjoy that sort of thing, or are doing it as a filler or it 'sounding good' (its gcse, dont worry about subjects sounding good). i know people who took it as they thought they might go into buisness in the future, and if thats the case, dont - you can pick the subject up later + its not necessary.

drama - again, i dont do it, but all my friends that do really like it, so go for it if you enjoy it. just consider that there are also a lot of essays in it? im not sure how long they are exactly but i think they are worth more marks than the biggest ones in history so im guessing they are longer too?

if you are wanting to do medicine, its better if you do triple science rather than combined but at some schools (like mine) its not up to you to choose, so all im saying really is, choose it if its an option, if not ignore this bit. just make sure you do well in all your subjects and the ones you are doing for a level (for medicine, im guessing sciences + maths)

thank you so much, i choose next week and think i am going to do history rs and drama, triple science is mandatory at my school so i don’t have to make a decision with that :smile:

Reply 11

ls311353

OP

2

Original post by dbhc2411

If your school offers Further Maths GCSE then that would be a good choice. Otherwise, you'll just need to ace your Maths and Core Sciences (Biology and Chemistry in particular).

Perhaps use your choices to do what you want, as med schools are only really interested in the Maths/Sciences.

thanks, im not sure if they do further maths but will talk to my maths teacher on monday to find out :smile:

Reply 12

Emma:-)

Entertainment Forum Helper

19

Original post by ls311353

hey
I have to choose my gcses in a couple of week and have four I am considering, history (definitely going to do this) drama, rs, and business, but have to narrow it down to three
in the future I'm aiming to go to med school so not sure if any of these choices would help with that?
anyway, does anyone have any experience with these subjects/ have any suggestions

Id do whichever ones you think you would do best in and enjoy most.

Reply 13

Emma:-)

Entertainment Forum Helper

19

Original post by Squiggles1238

Hello, to go to med school you will need to take chemisty and i think biology. Other people on here will be much more knowledgeable on this than I, but its worth having a brief look at entry requirements for medicine degrees