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Textiles vs Art - GCSE Options

I’m currently in the process of selecting my options for GCSE, my other choices will probably be primarily academic but I want to do something creative or PE if neither of these two, but as these are quite similar i want to know specifically which one I should take if I decide to take one, I’m more asking for information about the specifications in general for these two subjects and personal recommendations from experience. As I’m quite stuck I also have another thread about my general choices so if you have advice on subjects these go with you can see the directions I’m think of in the thread which is titled GCSE Options HELP!!!

Any advice would be appreciated

(edited 6 years ago)

Art.

Both subjects are time-consuming so it's very important to organise your time wisely. I personally did GCSE Art and it was fun. It allows you to work with more mediums and you can even make a final piece that's related to textiles. I'm not sure if the specification is still the same for the new GCSEs but in 2017, you final grade was based on your coursework (60%) throughout the two years and your final exam in year 11 (40%). For the exam, you had to complete a sketchbook across a certain number of weeks; you're given an exam theme and you base your work around the theme. After completing the sketchbook, you have a 10-hour exam (across 2 days) in which you your final piece that relates to the ideas in your sketchbook.

Reply 3

eeeli

By textiles I assume you mean textile art (not tech)? If so I’d do normal art. I’m doing textile art right now and it’s an absolute pain, all it really does is limit what materials you can use and I find it takes way longer to produce anything because sewing is so time consuming (at least for me!). I’ve also seen people incorporate a bit of textile into their art work and there’s nothing to stop you doing that. On the board my school does (OCR) they are marked off the same markscheme, textiles just specified what techniques you have to include, so you’d be expected to produce the same kind of work whichever you take. Unless you are only interested in doing textile pieces, take art.

Reply 4

Matthew2422

Original post by eeeli

Sorry for the confusion, I actually meant the tech, i didn’t even know there was a textiles art gcse... thanks though for the advice.

Reply 5

Slash_bae

I do textiles, and honestly my life rn is a living hell because coursework is due. This is however the same for any subject with coursework/practical work (inc art). The thing with textiles is that there is A LOT of written work you have to do, it’s not just making. That being said for me at least, it’s 60% of the gcse and 30% of the exam (so 12% of the gcse) is something you can prepare. The theory is not complicated and is easy to grasp. I know lots of people doing art (and some doing art and textiles) and they have had to leave lots of things unfinished along the way which is obviously leading to lots of stress now. Another important factor to consider is that art mocks and GCSEs take you away from lessons where you are learning your other courses and consume time you could be revising in closer to your actual gcse exams. I at least will have my textiles practical component and coursework finished by the end of Easter, and so will not need to have it take up any more of my time, art students will lose lots of time they could be revising for other subjects with their final exams. It really depends on what you like, but with textiles, so long as you put the time and effort in to your course work, it will turn out fine and you can stay on top of things! For reference, here is some of the design work you do early on (it develops into being a whole page for one design with immense detail on it). You really can BS your coursework though (the written bit) 40A2C5BB-2372-4083-9B12-1E773D709DDF.jpg.jpeg

40A2C5BB-2372-4083-9B12-1E773D709DDF.jpg.jpeg

Reply 6

zyadisney

To be honest, textiles is good for pretty much just the fashion field whereas Art applies to a wide variety of different fields. For textiles, your materials and exam themes are RIDICULOUSLY limited whereas, in Art it's more your view on a theme and you can pretty much do whatever you want as long as you justify your reasons. For example, in GCSE Art this year, we were given 5 different themes (I chose Contrast) and then we had to choose a keyword or picture to inspire our portfolio (i.e. Light and Dark - the one I chose or for an image, something like this http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/contrast-rashmi-rao.jpg). In Textiles, we got the theme Insects which had to be directly related. Frankly, they're both time-consuming (as is any creative subject) but I'd say go for Art. It'll be easier and you can work at home (unless of course, you have sewing materials and a sewing machine). There's more perks.

Reply 7

lily2003

I did both GCSEs and was able to get a 9 in both, so to anyone who is considering this, it is definitely possible. Art was heavily coursework based but in textiles (Edexcel) we had to do the coursework as well as learn the theory for the exam. The textiles coursework also required a lot of writing and drawing digitally as well as making the final product, so if you choose to do both be very aware of the timing and set yourself deadlines and STICK TO THEM. I made this mistake and ended up having to pull a double-all-nighter to finish my product in time for the deadline, during which I stitched through my fingers twice, so don't leave anything to the last minute! If you do both, you need to be prepared for a heavy workload, and your other grades may suffer. But as long as you don't leave anything to the last minute (summer holiday is great for doing a lot of coursework), then you can definitely do this.

Reply 8

CazH

Hi, I see your textiles was with Edexcel, was your art gcse also with Edexcel too? Only my daughter is now choosing her options and wanted to do art and Textiles, and has been told she can't as they are the same qualification. As a former art student myself I can't see how they are, the course content is totally different. I am really interested if your art and Textiles were same exam board as may help us argue our case. Although my daughters option deadline is this Friday! Thanks!