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history or geography or both GCSE?

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Reply 20
Original post by CoffeeAndPolitics
Hi, May. Don't let others influence what you want to do for GCSEs. Personally, I did History GCSE only but it's not rare for someone to do both History and Geography GCSE because there's many people who will do both. In terms of workload and the difficulty of the subject, it shouldn't be too bad (I did the old spec) but should you need help just post in the Study Help section and someone will reply. :smile:


thank you
Just take the subjects you enjoy and do well in :-)
I do History and absolutely love it. Research what your exam board's curriculum will be, as it will be really boring if the topics don't interest you.
That being said, it is a lot effort and work, but if you are considering law, history is useful. History A level is also very facilitating and respected, especially for law.

I know many people who take both Geography and History, and are not struggling. It really isn't as bad as you think, and in fact it has probably got a far smaller workload then say, two creatives.
Reply 23
Original post by StarWinchester
Just take the subjects you enjoy and do well in :-)


Fully agree. :wink:
Reply 24
Original post by surreal01088
I do History and absolutely love it. Research what your exam board's curriculum will be, as it will be really boring if the topics don't interest you.
That being said, it is a lot effort and work, but if you are considering law, history is useful. History A level is also very facilitating and respected, especially for law.

I know many people who take both Geography and History, and are not struggling. It really isn't as bad as you think, and in fact it has probably got a far smaller workload then say, two creatives.


thank you and im just not sure as many people say the new spectrum is hard i don’t even know what the new spectrum is
I'm in year 11 and have taken both, I would recommend both since they are quite easy 9s.
History requires barely any actual knowledge as long as you can just come up with really general points in an essay.
Whereas geography is literally just memorising the textbook and if you take edexcel, you can also write generalised answers as well.

Basically it depends on how good your memory is for geography or how well you can make up rubbish for history - this will also help you in english literature.
Reply 26
Original post by Jman10101
I'm in year 11 and have taken both, I would recommend both since they are quite easy 9s.
History requires barely any actual knowledge as long as you can just come up with really general points in an essay.
Whereas geography is literally just memorising the textbook and if you take edexcel, you can also write generalised answers as well.

Basically it depends on how good your memory is for geography or how well you can make up rubbish for history - this will also help you in english literature.


thank you and can you explain to me what the new spectrum is
Geography is slightly more maths and statistics based whereas history is more heavy on the essays and you will need to have good literature skills, pick whichever is your strongest
Original post by may :)
thank you and can you explain to me what the new spectrum is


9 a**
8 a*
7 a
6 b
5 c+
4 c-
3 d
2 e
1 f
I would say don’t pick Geography and pick History- i dont do geography but most of my friends chose it and there is A LOT of workload, way too much information and concepts which are difficult to understand. History also has a lot of content too but it can be broken down a lot more easily, and personally I find it easy to revise and understand because its more of knowing and engaging with the key things. I wouldn’t recommend picking both because that would be too much
Never pick both, go for Geography if you like memorising and doing set things for marks rather than essays.
Original post by May :)
im in year 9 and am going to pick my gcse options. i want to pick both geography and history but everyone is telling me not to do it and that it will be hard please help


I'm in year 11 and do both. Please don't do both. Because of the amount of content, I have to revise everyday because I have to focus on those but without letting my other subjects suffer.
If you do take them though, start revising for them in year 10, not year 11 (you can ignore revision for most other subjects till year 11 though, except English literature. With English literature, read whatever books you are doing. Read one and read for maybe 15 minutes a night, then once you have finished that book, go onto the next a. This way you will know all he key quotes as you will have read each book between 8 and 12 times before your GCSEs. I wish I had done this).
(edited 6 years ago)
I do both, have no regrets and am doing both for A-level. If you like both subjects, do it!
Reply 33
Original post by Baza2002
I'm in year 11 and do both. Please don't do both. Because of the amount of content, I have to revise everyday because I have to focus on those but without letting my other subjects suffer.
If you do take them though, start revising for them in year 10, not year 11 (you can ignore revision for most other subjects till year 11 though, except English literature. With English literature, read whatever books you are doing. Read one and read for maybe 15 minutes a night, then once you have finished that book, go onto the next a. This way you will know all he key quotes as you will have read each book between 8 and 12 times before your GCSEs. I wish I had done this).


wait could you go into more detail as to what i should do to revise in year 10?
I do both and get similar grades in both but I prefer History as it's more interesting. Geography is split into Human and Physical so make sure you like the volcanoes stuff and the economic world stuff etc.
Original post by May :)
wait could you go into more detail as to what i should do to revise in year 10?


Each day when you get home from school, make notes (not in a lot of detail but do include statistics that would impress the examiner) on what you have done (for subjects like history and geography. It should only take 20 to 30 minutes each night. If you can, when making notes in year 10, sum up the lesson or what you have learned in a few sentences (e.g. Typhoon Haiyan - primary effects: x people killed, y shops destroyed, power supplies cut. secondary effects - list 3 secondary effects. immediate responses - list 3 immediate responses. long term responses - list 3 long term responses) - that is 1 geography lesson's notes done in 5 minutes. Do it in note form. If you do this, in year 11 you can read your notes and read through your revision guide, keep making notes after school each day, and do exam questions.
If you enjoy both, take both. I know people who did both and they’re not as stressed as you may think they’d be...... however if there’s something else you’d rather do, take that instead (so basically don’t just take it for the sake of it, only take them if you are good at them and/or enjoy them). Being real, your gcse options aren’t the most important choices in life, and often you’ll do a subject for gcse then drop it to do the subjects you need to do as a levels......
Reply 37
Original post by stressed0ut
If you enjoy both, take both. I know people who did both and they’re not as stressed as you may think they’d be...... however if there’s something else you’d rather do, take that instead (so basically don’t just take it for the sake of it, only take them if you are good at them and/or enjoy them). Being real, your gcse options aren’t the most important choices in life, and often you’ll do a subject for gcse then drop it to do the subjects you need to do as a levels......


thanks!
Reply 38
Original post by Baza2002
Each day when you get home from school, make notes (not in a lot of detail but do include statistics that would impress the examiner) on what you have done (for subjects like history and geography. It should only take 20 to 30 minutes each night. If you can, when making notes in year 10, sum up the lesson or what you have learned in a few sentences (e.g. Typhoon Haiyan - primary effects: x people killed, y shops destroyed, power supplies cut. secondary effects - list 3 secondary effects. immediate responses - list 3 immediate responses. long term responses - list 3 long term responses) - that is 1 geography lesson's notes done in 5 minutes. Do it in note form. If you do this, in year 11 you can read your notes and read through your revision guide, keep making notes after school each day, and do exam questions.


thanks this helped me more than you would think
Original post by May :)
thanks this helped me more than you would think

It was a list of everything I didn't do that I now wished I had.

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