GCSE R.S or Latin for medicine?

Hi
I'm choosing GCSES this year and I wanted know whether I should choose R.S or Latin for GCSE.
My main goal is to (hopefully) study medicine at university (bit early to say for sure but I guess you gotta have a dream :P)

I enjoy R.S and writing essays is OK for me. I'm also doing History and Geography so it would "complete the set" of humanities, if you know what I mean. From a medical perspective, someone told me it was good for ethics, so it seems like a pretty straightforward option.

Latin on the other hand (please don't judge aha) is a bit more of a gamble. I''ve already chosen French as my compulsory MFL so my main worry is whether I'll cope with all the vocabulary. However, someone else told me it was better than R.S for medicine, as a lot of medical words are derived from Latin. Whether this is particularly advantageous when it comes to applying, I have absolutely no idea. Some have said that it doesn't really matter, it's just the actual grades that they look for, and others have said that universities that consider GCSES do take it into account...

So I guess what I want opinions on is whether I should take the risk with Latin in order to make my uni applications stand out later?

Thanks 🙂

Reply 1

whowannadate

Will literally make no difference

Reply 2

2384911

Original post by aesthetix

You're better off doing whichever one you can get a better grade in

Reply 3

Kwaks

I agree with AshEntropy

Reply 4

aesthetix

Original post by AshEntropy

You're better off doing whichever one you can get a better grade in

Thanks for your advice
🙂

Reply 5

Tea2345

Original post by aesthetix

Hi

I enjoy R.S and writing essays is OK for me. I'm also doing History and Geography so it would "complete the set" of humanities, if you know what I mean. From a medical perspective, someone told me it was good for ethics, so it seems like a pretty straightforward option.

Thanks 🙂

2 humanities is already A LOT of work - do Latin, taking 3 humanities will be loads of revision and might stop you from fully focusing on the sciences/maths which are most important for medicine anyway

good luck :smile:

Reply 6

Emma:-)

Entertainment Forum Helper

Original post by AshEntropy

You're better off doing whichever one you can get a better grade in

I agree

Reply 7

aesthetix

Original post by xxxsbxxx

unis aren't gonna look, I did GCSE RS and latin and AS latin and am applying for medicine now. latin hasn't been particularly advantageous but I LOVED it so much!! I'm not a very language-y person and found it much easier than french gcse as all the vocab is latin to english and you don't have to speak. It really isn't like doing two languages (I also found RS pretty boring but you don't have to work as much for it, so go with what you enjoy)

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Thanks for your reply!
Yeah I do love Latin and my teachers are really dedicated so I think I'm swaying towards to taking it over R.S right now. Oh that's great that you don't have to speak aha I HATE the speaking tests but which one (of R.S and Latin) did you find you had to revise and spend more time on?
I feel like I ENJOY Latin more than R.S but it's just the idea of taking two languages that freaks me out... But seeing as the vocabulary is from Latin to English, that might not be the case?
And also, how did you find the literature/analysis bit in Latin? I'm kinda worried about that as well because I can barely do that in English Literature aha

Good luck for your application! :smile:

Reply 8

aesthetix

Original post by Tea2345

Thanks for replying :smile:

Can I ask whether you or someone you know took three humanities? How was the workload? (To be honest, I might just start a separate thread for this)

Reply 9

Tea2345

Original post by aesthetix

Thanks for replying :smile:

Can I ask whether you or someone you know took three humanities? How was the workload? (To be honest, I might just start a separate thread for this)

my friend took geography and history and she was drowning in revision

I took 2 languages on the other hand (french and german) and had much less revision as languages revision is a lot easier imo

(im in year 12 and hoping to study medicine too haha!)

Reply 10

sophieannie1515

Original post by aesthetix

Hi, I do both Spanish and Latin (although on the old GCSE spec). Because Latin doesn't require speaking, listening, writing, as French/Spanish require, you get a very different outlook on the two languages and the way they are taught. Latin does involve a lot of hard work, for example, knowing and learning vocabulary and grammar is a must. I find Religious Studies a lot easier, and it does give you a good perspective, especially on medical issues such as abortion and euthanasia.
I have friends who do all three humanities, and while it is manageable and go for it if you love it, at GCSE, you want to have a varied timetable so you don't get bored quickly.
As for the Latin Literature- it's nothing like English Literature for me! You basically need to remember a passage of Latin, and you answer a mix of comprehension questions on it, and also a small essay-style question, talking about features in the passage, such as word order, word choice, lengths of sentences. I should imagine there is something similar for the new GCSE.
I hope this helps in some form :smile:

Reply 11

Classics_Teacher

Do Latin... not that I am biased!

I agree with others that you should do the one that you think you'd enjoy most/get the highest grade in. I would say that most places aren't going to be *too* concerned with GCSE grades, but obviously you'll want to get the best that you can do in order to get onto A-Levels in a couple of years.

Find out which specification your school offers for Latin and for RS. Some schools enter candidates for a 'cultural background' paper, so it doesn't necessarily have to be all language - there can be some history in there too.

Reply 12

aesthetix

Original post by Classics_Teacher

Thanks for your reply!
The specification my school offers is purely language based (it's the OCR board if that helps) so I think there'll be a large emphasis on vocabulary.
Unfortunately, though I would like to study Latin further (and the classics department at my school is really friendly and consistent), I think I MAY be choosing RS purely on the basis of the fact that it'll be easier for me to remember. However, I've got until Easter to decide, and even then, I can still switch in the summer holidays before I start the actual course.
Do you think you would find taking an MFL as well as Latin very challenging in terms of volume of vocabulary which is needed to be learnt? The literary analysis is good in English, but as I've said before, I worry if I'll be able to replicate that in Latin.
As well as this, I may be taking Spanish GCSE a year early, whilst keeping French as my core language to take in year eleven, but this will depend on whether I take Latin or not.. (Because two languages is my absolute maximum). (I.e. I take Latin = I only do French, I don't take Latin and take R.S instead = Spanish a year early and French is kept as a core MFL)
Do you think it's worth it?
(I might just create a new thread actually)

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 13

mez_merising

Hey I'm also choosing x
I'm doing my RS this year and am also taking Latin but it honestly depends on where you want to go within the medical field. You said you enjoy essay writing so RS would be a good option and since you are already doing French another language wouldn't hurt

Reply 14

MezmorisedPotato

I know many people who did triple humanities and trust me at GCSE level it is not a lot of work providing you keep up with it.
RS is actually very helpful in medicine because it teaches you about controversial parts of the field such as abortion euthanasia, IVF NHS etc. It develops awareness of a religious,ethical and moral upbringing as well as helping general knowledge from further reading. Latin is useful as well but I would advise choosing one you find as at GCSE level, universities don't specifically state which optional subject is better regarded or worse. I for one loved RS and I did history, computing and French for my options.

Reply 15

JickDee

It honesty does not matter at all.

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Reply 16

LunaNotLoony

RS is easily the most boring subject I'm taking. You can mostly get through with common sense - just memorise about 10 bible quotes and remember that Catholics utterly disapprove of it and Anglicans or CoE are sometimes okay with it (whatever "it" is). Science normally has enough ethics without RS too.

Reply 17

ethistu7

Do RS. I did RS, and whilst it is admittedly boring and hard in places and ridiculously easy in others, it's pretty sound and mentions some medical topics - I'm hoping to go on to medicine too and I definitely have a basis understanding that I might not have had before. In whatever you choose, you've got to like it. Really that's all that matters at GCSE and through most qualifications you do, else you won't have the motivation if you're not enjoying it. :smile: