gcse options??? HELP!!!

I have decided on my options but have not submitted them yet. Please let me know of any regrets, problems or experiences doing these subjects. I will mention the compulsory and optional ones.

Maths
English literature
English language
Biology
Chemistry
Physics

History
Art
Spanish
Religious studies.

I would like to be a lawyer. Are my subjects ideal?

Reply 1

karspider

as long as u got history which u do

Reply 2

Bobjim12

Are you honestly really good at Art? If you don't think you can get atleast an A don't bother. History and a language are good and perhaps RS for ethical views.

Reply 3

kajip00

Original post by Bobjim12

Are you honestly really good at Art? If you don't think you can get atleast an A don't bother. History and a language are good and perhaps RS for ethical views.

Did you do art?

Reply 4

karspider

its difficult to get an A* at art - u need 95%. so u could take something that is a bit easier and get an a* in that instead.

Reply 5

Black Rose

Original post by kajip00

Yes I believe that's fine for wanting to become a lawyer, you've got a good set of GCSE's.

For art, make sure that you're really good at it and that you enjoy it, it takes up a lot of time + work. Religious studies is good, for Spanish make sure that you can do well at it. History is useful to become lawyer and its a humanities subject. Make sure that you're good at it and enjoy it though.

Have a look at the Year 9 thread by the way, you can discuss GCSE's and other stuff with people like you :h:

Reply 6

wc01

Yeah they are very good GCSE's
You've got a mixture of everything
But i agree with Bobjim12, if you're good at art and enjoy taking it and are willing to put lots of time and effort into it then take it because art there is a LOT of homework
And i know some people who say it's time consuming

Reply 7

kajip00

I do really enjoy art. I don't know if i am good at it but right now my grade is an A :smile:

Reply 8

Bobjim12

Original post by kajip00

I do really enjoy art. I don't know if i am good at it but right now my grade is an A :smile:

i didn't do art but my sister did it and so do a few of my friends, and the thing they all said was it is a lot of effort. for starters the exam's 10 hrs, and from what i saw there's a lot of coursework (my sister's is still all around the house from 5/6 years ago!)

if you're already on an A and you enjoy it go for it, just be warned it will be a lot of work (from what i see that is).

Reply 9

kajip00

Thank you so much you were so informative. Do you think I need to add any other subjects to be a lawyer?

Original post by Bobjim12

Reply 10

Bobjim12

Original post by kajip00

Thank you so much you were so informative. Do you think I need to add any other subjects to be a lawyer?

well, i'm not sure what your choices are, but i think history is very good (and perhaps at A-level if you're interested). you're lucky that if you are starting gcses this september, you get to do the cold war in year 11! something i'd loved to have done!

but the history exams are basically analyzing your ability to write at length about a subject and express your opinion (e.g effectiveness of a decision in history). like in my mock exam for history one of my questions was do you think the treaty of Versailles was fair on Germany (or something like that).
it will be quite useful and your history course is rather interesting so it would be a subject you can enjoy getting an A* in!

if you want to dm me your other choices i could take a look and advise you on them..

Reply 11

kajip00

Original post by Mr...

What Universities want is A* and A
As many as possible don't worry about Subjects accept History and a Language

What if i get 1 B will it make a big difference?

Reply 12

Bobjim12

Original post by kajip00

What if i get 1 B will it make a big difference?

are you referring to A levels or gcses?

if gcses, they wll only regard A* and As unless competition for a course is that high!

what he means is say there is one place for law. with 10 people applying,

say they all got A*AA in their A levels, they will then look at each applicants gcses, so the better your gcses the more likely they'll take you.

if you had one more A* in your gcses than everyone else (assuming your interview went well) you'd be first choice.

Reply 13

shrn

Original post by Bobjim12

Its not just the grades that matter these days, sometimes universities including the top league ones choose an applicant over another due to their extra circular activities or what else they have done apart from academics inside of school.
I remember going through some personal statements and result grades with a uni recruitment guy and- Grades do come in first but when it comes down to picking 1 out of 5, they will look beyond that.

Reply 14

dasul

If you want to be a lawyer; it might be better to do something like R.S, History, Economics and a foreign language?
R.S at GCSE i think has gotten bit harder than when I did it (we only had to focus on Christians for all of our topics; and just spoon fed the examiner what they wanted to hear). History - for GCSE is about a medium difficulty, as long as you can write a solid argument then you should have no problem; its just remembering all the information - though the step up from GCSE - AS and A2 is huge with it being much harder - though it'll teach you solid structure for large essays.
Economics - really I thought is a very easy subject at GCSE level; with the A-Level being far more interesting and being about a 6/10 on difficulty and will give you a wider scope of lawyer areas to work in. However in my school, you didn't have to have the economics GCSE to get into the Alevel class. So this is a small suggestion - since its a fairly easy subject.
Foreign language seems more like the icing on the cake, it'll give you some flexibility. However its far from essential - if it were me i'd decide between art and Spanish - the GCSE is fairly easy; the A-level is far harder.

If you want to go really far down the road of a successful lawyer; you should be able to pick up politics as an Alevel which should help you decide further. Politics, Economics, R.S and history would be the ideal set of AS/A levels.

Good Luck with your options