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Subjects you chose for GCSE

What subjects have you chosen for GCSE's and why?

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Reply 1
I just completed my GCSEs and am nervously awaiting the results.

I chose:

ICT: because it was between that and Media, as a compulsory subject at school.

Spanish: because I enjoy languages and felt I could achieve good grades for it. Also because by doing a language, I could gain an English Baccalaureate Certificate.

Geography: I wanted to do a humanities based subject and felt geography was interesting and based mainly on common sense.

Business Studies: I enjoy business a lot and find it reasonably easy to achieve good grades in and I love essay based subjects.
Reply 2
I have also completed my GCSE's and waiting upon results.

I chose:

Spanish: because I was rail roaded into the idea of the english baccalaureate being useful when it isn't. I had done several years of it in my earlier years of sceondary school and year 5 of primary school and it was ok but i'd preferred to do ICT

Geography: I liked learning about different locations and is very enjoyable. I chose it without considering the english baccalaureate.

Computing: underestimated as a subject as I have always wanted to know more about computers and it is now considered as a science which was lucky for me.

Graphics: I wanted to do D&T subject and I thought it would be something else and it turned out to be dull.
I am in year 10, going into year 11 in september.

I took:

German - compulsory, but would have taken it anyway, I find languages easy
French - same as above, but not compulsory
History - favourite subject ever, not bad at it, so interesting
Art - relaxing subject, fun and mum said i'd be good at it
I "chose":

Art - Only thing in the block, and thought it'd be a way to chill out.

Geography - I've always liked geography, moreso the physical side.

French - Languages are amazing, if they had other languages I'd have chosen three and geography!

Business Studies - Originally I chose ICT but BS (quite aptly abbreviated:unimpressed:) teacher said I could do an AS early if I changed to business... I didn't get to.
Reply 5
French - recommend and looks good - and I actually really liked it
History - I'm good at it and I find it really interesting
Dance - it's my passion and I'm carrying it on at A level
Drama - I have no idea... I thought I'd enjoy it but helllllll no!


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French, German, triple science, art, economics

Then compulsory ones inc. rs and ict

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Reply 7
History - I love History. Doing it at A-Level and obviously have a real interest in it.

Geography - Again, I do enjoy Geography. More so Human Geography than Physical. Sadly, despite getting As throughout the last year, my exams went pretty bad. Missed pages and a lot was about Ecosystems. Which I dislike.

BTEC Business Studies - Hmm, I'd be lying if I said apart of me didn't take this because my friend did. But I'm good at essays thankfully and I'm looking at Distinction/Merit. So worth it in the end, and it wasn't bad.

ICT - Compulsory. Will get two A's in it.
Geography: I hate geography and history, but my school forced us to choose one of them. I am quite good at them both, but I chose geography over history because I have trouble following stories and history is basically just one big story. All of my friends picked history so I knew nobody in my geography class but I eventually became best friends with the girl I was sat next to and this actually made me look forward to my geography lessons :biggrin: ...I discovered during the course that I in fact really loved the physical side of geography (volcanoes etc.) so I'm studying A-level geology at college in September..

Spanish: my school forced us to choose a language, and spanish just made so much sense to me. Even if we weren't forced to pick a language, I certainly would still have chosen it anyway because it is a really fun subject in my opinion. I am doing this at A-level as well and I plan to continue with spanish at university.

Religious studies: there is just one teacher who takes this class at my school and she is fantastic. She makes what could potentially be a dry and boring subject into something thoroughly enjoyable. The modules our school does are 'religion and life issues' and 'religion and morality', meaning most of the course content is about philosophical issues regarding euthanasia, the death penalty, animal rights etc. and it is genuinely great and really teaches you to think in depth. Obviously religion was always going to be involved as well, but I knew that I'd enjoy class discussions and debates about deep questions and moral principles. I hate essay writing and this is something I was unsure about at first, and although the longer questions require lots of writing, I found that these essays were ones I could really get into because I love arguing my opinion :P ...none of my friends chose this subject at all, and I was the only boy who picked it! But since so so few people picked it at my school, it meant that there was only one small class for the subject so we all bonded quite well.

Triple science: science is quite fun for me and therefore I thought it would be worthwhile doing the 3 separate GCSEs in it. My sister also did triple science when she was at secondary school so I thought I'd copy her! I'm doing biology and chemistry at A-level :smile:

Computing (not ICT, computing. It's about programming etc.): I've been a technology enthusiast all my life so this was an easy decision for me. It seemed like it would be cool to acquire new skills and knowledge about tech. However, the teacher ended up being completely rubbish... I'm dreading receiving my final grade for this subject later this summer!


It seems to me that on TSR a lot of people are worried over which GCSEs to choose, and which ones are more respected etc. But, the truth is, don't bother worrying about that because GCSEs don't matter too much; it doesn't really matter which options you've chosen as long as you have 5 A*–Cs! Maths and english and science are what matter but you have to do them anyway! Choosing A-levels is where you've got to be strategic and think about what career you want, but that doesn't matter for your GCSEs.... Do what you enjoy!
(edited 10 years ago)
Triple Science: I really want to do Dentistry, and my teachers recommended that doing Triple Science would be a good foundation for sciences at A-Level. This is not to say that doing Double Science would hinder you, but I wanted to study science in more depth. Also, I've loved science from a young age, so why not? :smile:

French: This was compulsory for me. Only 30 people in my year started French GCSE in Year 9 (so I finished it in Year 10). I wanted to do French because I find languages easy, and I have close relatives who are native speakers. I also love most things 'French' - the country itself, the history, and even the language itself is beautiful!

History: I thoroughly enjoyed History this year, despite the fact that we had two modules on Medicine (My school followed the Schools History Project thingy). I also chose it because I hated all the other subjects that were on offer, as they weren't really me. Because I chose Triple Science and French, this was the only option I had left due to the option blocks in my school.

Overall: I chose the subjects I enjoyed / wanted to do an A-Level in (potentially!).

Good Luck for everyone getting their results :biggrin:
Studied:

English lit and lang (Compulsory) - Worst subjects ever, analyzing books is not my forte!

Maths (Compulsory) - Amazing subject loved it because of my teacher!

Double Science (Compulsory) (Did triple for a couple of months and dropped it as the exams scared the hell out of me, they had to do 6 science exams at the end of year 11) But I do regret dropping it because I hope to go into the science field!

RE (Compulsory) - Hated it it was so boring and we hardly learnt about religion!

Electronics - We have to do a DT in our school so I chose the most sciency one, wasn't too bad but the course work dragged, our teacher in year 10 wasn't very good. He got sacked so in year 11 we had to do all our course work and study for the exam in so little time (NOT FUN!)

Drama - Best 'mess about' subject but working records (OCR) are not your friend, I didn't like them at all. But the practical side was amazing and I had loads of fun

Media Studies - Was recommended and the course work was pretty easy, but when it came to the exam there was loads of theories we had to learn by heart. To this day it was the most stressful in the exam hall as you had so much stuff to do in so little time!

French - I blagged my way through french for 2 years! Chose it because it was a language and it would help me get into Uni! I didn't know anything about the conditional tense or any of that. When it came to the exam all I did was learn about 200 words of vocab which helped LOADS!

Overall I am happy what I chose but very scared for results I also regret not picking traditional subjects like Geography/History etc but oh well what can you do!
German: because it's good to do a language and I can't speak French!

Geography: because I find it easy and my teacher thinks I'm good at it. I was going to do product design but my geography teacher convinced me otherwise.

History: I find it interesting.
Reply 12
I've just finished my gcses and I chose:

Sociology - my sister did it and I thought it looked interesting
Graphics - I enjoyed the lessons and it shows you can be a bit creative
French - Just enjoyed it and it's a good gcse to have
Geography - Didn't like any of the other subjects, it was the best choice of the rest
Reply 13
My compulsory subjects

English language
English literature
Maths
French
Triple science

I've chosen

Latin
Music
German
History


Latin because they REALLY push classics at my school and besides I've liked it so far.
Music because I've been playing piano for ever and play euphonium at school too. :thrasher:
German well it was this or Russian and i've heard that is really VERY hard and although I'd prefer to study Russian and go to Russia Putin is a dick so I chose German. (because Hitlers niceties are well in the past now)
History I quite like history and hope its not a bad choice.
Well in my compulsory subjects are:
Maths
English
Science(all 3)
Religious Studies

I chose:
Spanish - because I love the language, i have always loved it and I find that I understand the subject quite well and I may go to lice in Spain when I'm older.

German - chose this because I like the language and I find it quite interesting with the unique words used for simple english words like Science.

Geography - I like learning about other countries and I like learning about physical factors of the earth.

Product Design - Design Technology is just natural for me, I don't even try in this subject and my grades I on the higher end of the scale. I realised I love making things when I helped my dad do the staircase, I like designing and I love making my designs. I would have liked to do Graphics as well or Art as well but there weren't enough students in my year group for Graphics to proceed and I just thought I was crap at art but then I realised I was passionate about the subject by then it was too late.

I don't know if all schools offer Duke of Edinburgh or Sports Leadership but my school does.

Because I'm gonna do Duke of Edinburgh outside of school I chose Sports Leadership. AlsoI like sports I would have chose Physical Education if I didn't take German.



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My options (not inc compulsory):
Triple Science - went for the safe option of all 3 sciences, if I went for double would have had to choose another full subject and nothing particularly took my fancy. Enjoyed it!

Higher Project Qualification - the extra we could take with triple science, i chose the 'Create & Design' section which consisted of jewellery making and for my final project I produced a seashell bra out of aluminium! loved this was great to relax in.

Dance - enjoyed the first year so much, a hobby of mine I've done for years however our teacher passed away in the first year. Second year we got a not so nice lady and that ruined it for me, was no longer as fun. It is probably the option i regret the most.

Art - my favourite!!!! art was like a release for me and a subject where i would input and see a visual improvement. the teachers were so lovely and continuing for a-level, for sure.

French - compulsory to take a language at my school, was either this or spanish for me. went with french as I knew more!

History - loved this subject so much too, continuing for a level. the teachers made it wonderful and i learnt so much. definitely the best!
Reply 16
I'm in Year 10, well, Year 11 in September, and these are my options:

French- at our school we have to do at least one language, and it was either this or Spanish. While I liked Spanish and was quite good at it, I preferred and was better at French (I've done it since the start of primary school). Also, I found Spanish too similar to Italian. I'm enjoying French at the moment and plan to do the A-Level.

Italian- it was offered in Year 9 and because I really like languages, I decided to do it. Best decision ever :biggrin: I've finished the GCSE now and am starting the A-Level next year :smile:

Triple Science- I really like Science, and at our school, Triple Science is really recommended if you want to do a Science for A-Level (I want to do Chemistry). It's quite challenging and it means we will have loads of Science exams, since we do it as well as Core and Additional Science, but I think it was a good choice.

History- when I chose my options the E-Bacc was offered, and you had to take either History or Geography to get it. I chose History, and while I sometimes feel like I should have chosen Geography, I generally enjoy History. However, I won't be doing it for A-Level.

DiDA (basically ICT)- this is the only option that I really wish I hadn't done- it isn't even a proper GCSE, it's not the most exciting thing in the world and we have to do multimedia next year :eek: Unfortunately this was the only type of ICT qualification that my school offered (although they are bringing proper ICT in next year, grr). I think that the actual ICT GCSE would have been better.

Additional Maths- this wasn't really an option, as I'm in top set Maths and am being taught all the Additional content, but it's an extra qualification. It's decided in the middle of Year 11 whether we are put forward for the exam or not- I hope I am, as I really like Maths and want to do the A-Level :smile:
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 17
French - We had to do at least one language and I thought it was a prettier language than German... Wish I picked German now because I think I was better at it >_>
Geography - Randomly picked it but ended up loving it and I'm doing it at A level hopefully!
ICT - I knew it would be easier than something like History... I was really lazy when I picked my options, but I think I did well in it.
Dance - I love dance and I do it outside of school, it was fun but a lot of work ngl.
Double Science - Never been much of a Science person... You had to be at a level 6 to do triple and I was at a level 5 or something idk

I've finished them now but thought I'd post anyway :biggrin:
This was 3/4 years ago that I picked but I did: Geography, History and Computing in my first year of options. Then Graphics, Business and Spanish NVQ2 in the second. I ran out of options haha, but the year below me had to do two more options in year nine.
Reply 19
I've just finished my GCSEs, but this is what I took:

Triple Science - I've always really enjoyed science and it was reccomended if you wanted to take it further. Though, they did say that it wasn't compulsory if you wanted to do it for A level.

French - Our school encouraged us to aim towards the English Baccalaureate, so my mum was really keen that I took it. I would have taken it anyway though, I really like languages, though the aural exams were terrifying and so stressful! I also wanted a language as they can increase your employment chances.

Graphics - Back in year 9, I was really interested in Graphic Design and so thought it would be a good idea. It was kind of rewarding at the end, but I had no life at all during this summer. I was going in every lunch time for over 3 months to try and get my controlled assessment done. So unless you're willing to put the hours in, I wouldn't reccomend it.

Geography - I found it easy and before the GCSE course, I also really enjoyed it. However, the course my school followed was really dull. If you are good at it, take it, I found that having a subject I was confident in during the exam season helped take the pressure off.

Art - I just adore the subject. Though I was no where near prepared for the amount of work you have to do.

LikeEmyJ14, I was also in top set for maths but I took my GCSE early. From November 2012 I was learning the first module of the A level, though that wasn't really an option.. Everyone in my set did that.

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