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Please help me pick my GCSEs!

So, I know i'm taking Maths, English Lit and Lang, Triple Science. My schools minimum is 9 gcses but I want to take a bit more so just incase the timetable doesnt work out for me I need a backup plan of just 9/10. Which will be most valuable? I can pick 3 more:
Computing
History
French
German
DT
Art Textiles
Latin

Latin I can take as a twilight.Thank you!
(edited 6 years ago)
Original post by ooC
So, I know i'm taking Maths, English Lit and Lang, Triple Science. My schools minimum is 9 gcses but I want to take a bit more so just incase the timetable doesnt work out for me I need a backup plan of just 9/10. Which will be most valuable? I can pick 3 more:
Computing
History
French
German
DT
Art Textiles
Latin

Latin I can take as a twilight.Thank you!


Which subjects do you enjoy and find interesting? Picking subjects that you like and are good at is generally the best way to go, in my opinion. Back when I did my GCSEs, my school recommended choosing a language (e.g. French or German), a humanity (e.g. History or Geography), and a technology or arts subject, to keep our A Level options open :smile:
Original post by ooC
So, I know i'm taking Maths, English Lit and Lang, Triple Science. My schools minimum is 9 gcses but I want to take a bit more so just incase the timetable doesnt work out for me I need a backup plan of just 9/10. Which will be most valuable? I can pick 3 more:
Computing
History
French
German
DT
Art Textiles
Latin

Latin I can take as a twilight.Thank you!


Honestly I just finished year 11 and one thing I absolutely regret is not taking a language. Universities love it especially UCL as well as employers. I also learnt that your options don't really matter that much - sixth forms and universities will look very closely at your three core subjects so do what you think is going to be easy and enjoyable. My options were triple science, geography and ICT. Geography and ICT was so fun to learn and hella easy. Wish I replaced Geography for a language though so UCL would consider me.
Reply 3
Original post by ooC
So, I know i'm taking Maths, English Lit and Lang, Triple Science. My schools minimum is 9 gcses but I want to take a bit more so just incase the timetable doesnt work out for me I need a backup plan of just 9/10. Which will be most valuable? I can pick 3 more:
Computing
History
French
German
DT
Art Textiles
Latin

Latin I can take as a twilight.Thank you!


I did Computing, French and History in addition to Maths etc. They are all Ebacc subjects which is why I took them, as said above, these very academic subjects keeps your options open and does look good on an application (especially a good grade in a language).
Reply 4
in GCSEs subject choices don't matter that much, is only A levels where you got to be careful with your subject choices
Computing, history and a language is my best recommendation.

If you are more arty, then replace computing with art, otherwise, I think this is the best combination to teach you certain skills regardless of what others think.
Computing is honestly the worst subject you could possibly take. It might be 'useful' but it's very badly taught and even though they've cut down on the CA portion of the GCSE, it's still there and will still stress you out. The thing is, to do A level 'subject X', as long as you're doing the English Baccalaureate (something I recently discovered the meaning of), you won't be restricted from your A level choices.

The EBacc is basically English and maths (compulsory), double or triple science (most people do these), history/geography, and a language. If you are really just looking to keep your A level options open, I would suggest picking history or geography, a language, and then the third can be anything you want. To do an A level language I'm pretty sure you need the GCSE of that language so make sure the language you pick for GCSE is the language you are thinking of for A levels. I think A level history and geography can be applied for less restrictively, like you can do A level history with GCSE geography, just make the case to your teacher.
Reply 7
Original post by liam12345677
Computing is honestly the worst subject you could possibly take. It might be 'useful' but it's very badly taught and even though they've cut down on the CA portion of the GCSE, it's still there and will still stress you out. The thing is, to do A level 'subject X', as long as you're doing the English Baccalaureate (something I recently discovered the meaning of), you won't be restricted from your A level choices.

The EBacc is basically English and maths (compulsory), double or triple science (most people do these), history/geography, and a language. If you are really just looking to keep your A level options open, I would suggest picking history or geography, a language, and then the third can be anything you want. To do an A level language I'm pretty sure you need the GCSE of that language so make sure the language you pick for GCSE is the language you are thinking of for A levels. I think A level history and geography can be applied for less restrictively, like you can do A level history with GCSE geography, just make the case to your teacher.



I must have been lucky because I had a fantastic Computing teacher, but I do understand what you mean because there was one teacher at my school whose class I was put into, then I just left, after what I experienced and got timetabled to the better teacher, who was brilliant. And yes it is unfortunate that now instead of 2 pieces of CA and 1 exam, it's 2 exams and 1 piece of CA (on OCR anyway), and there's a bigger focus on algorithms and the more technical stuff so it is harder, so I suppose unless you (ooC) really enjoy it then take if not then don't. Maybe, ask ex-students (if you know any) about the teachers, just be careful who you ask.
(edited 6 years ago)
I would suggest you to pick the subjects you are good at. But picking one from humanities and one from languages will help you more. However, doing computing does give you an advantage from what I have read so maybe, it would be wise to pick that. However, keep in mind that there aren't many teacher who are good at computing so you might have to work extra hard yourself.
Original post by ooC
So, I know i'm taking Maths, English Lit and Lang, Triple Science. My schools minimum is 9 gcses but I want to take a bit more so just incase the timetable doesnt work out for me I need a backup plan of just 9/10. Which will be most valuable? I can pick 3 more:
Computing
History
French
German
DT
Art Textiles
Latin

Latin I can take as a twilight.Thank you!


Don't do Computing, it looks good but the A level is crap and it's terribly taught across most schools. Do History, Latin and a modern language
Computing
French
DT

Are all good optoins.
Original post by ooC
So, I know i'm taking Maths, English Lit and Lang, Triple Science. My schools minimum is 9 gcses but I want to take a bit more so just incase the timetable doesnt work out for me I need a backup plan of just 9/10. Which will be most valuable? I can pick 3 more:
Computing
History
French
German
DT
Art Textiles
Latin

Latin I can take as a twilight.Thank you!


Do History (because it's so interesting, and as long as you are ok with lots of essay/long mark questions it's relatively easy) Latin (because it's easier than a modern foreign language, and in terms of the GCSE far more useful than French/German because you actually learn how the language works, rather than the memory test that GCSE modern foreign languages end up as- It's literally just memorising vocab and sentences, rather than properly learning the language & grammar- and it somehow counts as a mfl so you can still get the Ebacc) for the final one I would just pick the one you are best at/ enjoy the most of computing/DT/art textiles; remember that arts subjects are A LOT of coursework (not sure if that changes with the new GCSE) 2 of my friends just did computing GCSE and I think they did enjoy it, but found the coursework part pretty hard, and it took up most of the two year course so there was not much time to learn the content for the exam, on the plus side, they said the computing exam is a breeze (again, not sure if this will be different with the new 9-1 gcses).

Even if you ignore this advice completely, in the long run GCSE's are not the most important thing in the world, the key thing with them is to make sure you don't close any doors when it comes to choosing A-levels. The worst thing would be to decide, say, that you wanted to study an architecture degree, and realise that you need an art&design based A-Level, but you can't study said A-Level because you need the GCSE to take it. So obviously if you're only in Y8/9, you probably don't know what you want to do yet, and that's absolutely fine, some people in their final year at uni don't know what they want to do! The best thing to do is to get as broad a spread of GCSE's as you can, to keep your A-level options open as a result.

PS Sorry for the essay! I didn't realise how long it was ahaha
Original post by ooC
So, I know i'm taking Maths, English Lit and Lang, Triple Science. My schools minimum is 9 gcses but I want to take a bit more so just incase the timetable doesnt work out for me I need a backup plan of just 9/10. Which will be most valuable? I can pick 3 more:
Computing
History
French
German
DT
Art Textiles
Latin

Latin I can take as a twilight.Thank you!


I just finished year 12 but my GCSE options were history, French, German and Latin. This was the right choice for me and I'm really glad I chose these subjects so if you are interested in languages I think doing all 3 would be a good challenge for you. But I'd say to at least do one language and if you have to choose between a modern language and Latin, I think a modern language would be better but it's be great if you could do the Latin twilight class :smile:. Latin GCSE was amazing!

I'd also say to do at least one humanities subject, you don't have to but I loved GCSE history so I think you should do it if you enjoy it. Just be aware that there is a lot of writing involved.

And if you wanted to do a practical subject just be aware that it will be very time consuming, I didn't do any of them but I have several friends who chose those subjects thinking they would be easy and they just ended up having no free time. So I wouldn't recommend doing a practical subject like art, textiles or DT unless you really enjoy it and are willing to spend a lot of time and effort on it :smile:
GCSEs are more of just a step to A Levels, I don't think it may matter that much, provided that the field you want to enter in the future (i.e Computer Science, etc) isn't part of the option.

Let me say straight off the bat, Unis REALLY don't care if you have the Ebacc, don't do it for that reason, do it because you enjoy the subject.

I personally took French, Geography, and Computing for my GCSEs. I absolutely hated French, however if you gel naturally to languages, then I say go for it! Humanities are always a good way to round up your GCSEs so you get a good spread of different subjects, History or Geography, dependant on preference.

At the end of the day, unless you intend on going to Oxbridge, the GCSEs don't matter as much, of course, try your absolute best, but remember they're just really needed in order to help you get to A Level.
Reply 14
Computing - very hard alot to learn (a hole book) about 15% is coding then 75% is test and i didn't have the greatest of teacher so we were F* for the test luckily i did revise a little and did like CS so i done well in my controlled assessment and tried my hardest in the test but alot of people across England did just flunk it or sleep

French - good to have a language - did it 2 speaking and 2 writing ,i had a tutor which made it easier so she helped my write all i ended up with 3's C's and a B (predicted) and if you know your french the test isn't that hard BUT you have the new specs so all this could change also it was 30/35 to pass on foundation
Reply 15
Avatar for ooC
ooC
OP
Original post by sophia_ah3
Do History (because it's so interesting, and as long as you are ok with lots of essay/long mark questions it's relatively easy) Latin (because it's easier than a modern foreign language, and in terms of the GCSE far more useful than French/German because you actually learn how the language works, rather than the memory test that GCSE modern foreign languages end up as- It's literally just memorising vocab and sentences, rather than properly learning the language & grammar- and it somehow counts as a mfl so you can still get the Ebacc) for the final one I would just pick the one you are best at/ enjoy the most of computing/DT/art textiles; remember that arts subjects are A LOT of coursework (not sure if that changes with the new GCSE) 2 of my friends just did computing GCSE and I think they did enjoy it, but found the coursework part pretty hard, and it took up most of the two year course so there was not much time to learn the content for the exam, on the plus side, they said the computing exam is a breeze (again, not sure if this will be different with the new 9-1 gcses).

Even if you ignore this advice completely, in the long run GCSE's are not the most important thing in the world, the key thing with them is to make sure you don't close any doors when it comes to choosing A-levels. The worst thing would be to decide, say, that you wanted to study an architecture degree, and realise that you need an art&design based A-Level, but you can't study said A-Level because you need the GCSE to take it. So obviously if you're only in Y8/9, you probably don't know what you want to do yet, and that's absolutely fine, some people in their final year at uni don't know what they want to do! The best thing to do is to get as broad a spread of GCSE's as you can, to keep your A-level options open as a result.

PS Sorry for the essay! I didn't realise how long it was ahaha


Thank you for this!! :smile:
Original post by ooC
So, I know i'm taking Maths, English Lit and Lang, Triple Science. My schools minimum is 9 gcses but I want to take a bit more so just incase the timetable doesnt work out for me I need a backup plan of just 9/10. Which will be most valuable? I can pick 3 more:
Computing
History
French
German
DT
Art Textiles
Latin

Latin I can take as a twilight.Thank you!


wow! Im amazed you get so many options, we were only allowed 2 out of a very basic range : french, spanish, art, wood tech,history , geography and IT, so most students ended up doing 7 or so GCSEs and I cant help you decide. The school isnt small either with about 2000 students total, which region do you go to school to?
Reply 17
Original post by ooC
So, I know i'm taking Maths, English Lit and Lang, Triple Science. My schools minimum is 9 gcses but I want to take a bit more so just incase the timetable doesnt work out for me I need a backup plan of just 9/10. Which will be most valuable? I can pick 3 more:
Computing
History
French
German
DT
Art Textiles
Latin

Latin I can take as a twilight.Thank you!


I took a few from that list so I can tell you how I found them. Computing was difficult for me but the coursework side definitely pulled up my grade, although coursework I believe has been abolished so take it if you think you will do well/enjoy coding. History I took and didn't enjoy so swapped to art which for me was a good move as art was a subject I really enjoyed. French I found very difficult whilst learning I did enjoy it but the listening section I found difficult. I also took Latin as an extra and I loved it! It required extra work but it was okay. Overall I'd say take what you enjoy and depending on what you want to do in the future, most employers only care about english/maths grades. In terms of most valuable the more academic subjects may look better on a cv but to be honest I dont think many people actually care which gcses you took as long as you did them and get good grades
good luck :smile:

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