Art vs History GCSE

history or art?

(edited 4 years ago)

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i take history and i find it incredibly difficult even though i used to do well in it. if you’re good at essay writing and analysing sources etc then you should be fine, also there’s a lot of memorising. i don’t know how you’d find art, i do think you have to be very committed to it but if you want a more creative subject then go for art.

Reply 2

PeterDick'ed

Take History, History is the ****

Reply 3

/JR/

Art forces you to constantly work throughout the whole team especially in y11, my friend when his gcse exams in art were looming would have to work 5+6 hours a day on his pieces after school
I'd only recommend if you have good natural talent and or a willingness to work.

History with the new GCSE's is quite entertaining depending on the type of history you study. You need to have strong knowledge of the change in your long period study which involves constant learning of facts. Your depth studies more focus on people and events, so if you can easily recall facts take it. It's very rewarding.

Reply 4

Mrjjdrop117

Original post by tatianapiterbarg

I have to pick my GCSEs by the end of the week, but I'm still completely stuck. So far I've picked:

Maths and additional maths
English lit and lang
All three sciences
French
Geography
Computer science

But for the last one, I'm stuck between art and history!!

I find history fascinating, and I got 100% in my end of years, but I'm not the best at essays and I'm already doing a humanity. In terms of art, I really love it and would like to have a creative, relaxing subject. However, I've heard it's extremely time consuming and I can always take art enrichment for a term.

I'm scared I'll regret my choice-any advice on how to pick well would be great!!!
Thanks

Do not take art mate, I took it along with religious studies, French, history, and computer science along with the compulsory subjects (and separate science).

History is rlly interesting and enjoyable and although art was rlly fun and a contrast from my other subjects, unless you're willing to spent AT LEAST 3-4 hours on art alone a week with no social life or ur just really good at art then I wouldn't recommend it

Reply 5

chowdhryzzz

I would say to definitely do history . I’m not sure why everyone gets the perception that your going to be writing tonnes of essays because you wont . These days for boards such as edexcel the longest exam question is 2 pages worth of writing (15 marks ) and this is simple facts and links which i’m sure your teachers will teach you to do its really not very hard .

Secondly history is such an interesting course and it really does add to your general knowledge whereas all my friends that do art are extremely stressed with coursework. So far i take 3 humanities geog rs history and none of them have stressed me out and i’m doing my gcses . You just have to work hard all year round dont just leave the material to do the end to learn it

Reply 6

username3505804

Neither

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 7

haseebj49

I did art for GCSE but it wasn't too bad. I actually kinda miss it 😂
Yes, I would agree with most people when they say the coursework is a bit tedious; if you don't keep up, you will need to put in the hours to meet deadlines.
If you enjoy art and are willing to spend some of your own time outside of school, you should be fine. Getting the top grade for art comes with hard work as well as good pieces. Artist research is interesting as well as writing mini-essays for each piece of artwork (which is fun once you get started!).
Best of luck with whatever you choose!

Reply 8

m.aurelius

Original post by tatianapiterbarg

i'm sorry, i don't know if anyone has said this already because i had to reply as soon as i saw this:

please do NOT think art is a relaxing subject. everything you do is your gcse - all of your books, your projects, homework etc all count towards the final grade from the start of year 10 to the very very end of year 11. keep this in mind when deciding (it's still a good subject, i had a lot of fun and got to act pretentious which was nice). if your teachers are good and you get along, then aside from what i said first, there's no reason not to take it - it can be very rewarding.

i personally wouldn't think history and geography together is great but of course this depends on how much you like each subject. my friends who take both are often really stressed and there's a really high workload. i am a little biased because i took art but idrk much about you and your strengths so i can't give much more than that. i'm happy to answer any questions about art though!

remember you can always try out a subject for 2-3 weeks and change your mind if you don't think it's right x

Reply 9

m.aurelius

Original post by Mrjjdrop117

History is rlly interesting and enjoyable and although art was rlly fun and a contrast from my other subjects, unless you're willing to spent AT LEAST 3-4 hours on art alone a week with no social life or ur just really good at art then I wouldn't recommend it

oof dude that sucks i never put that much effort into art until right at the end from mocks - maybe that's why i'm gonna get a 6 or smth 😭🙃

Reply 10

999tigger

Original post by tatianapiterbarg

The one you enjoy the most and can get the best grade in.
History well respected academically, useful skills. Can be horrible for people that dont like it. Large volume.

Art is ok.

I would point out Art is the subject that you see many students being overwhelmed with mistiming their course work. the downside of this is it affects revision and prep on all their other courses if they get it wrong. I would do History to avoid this or make sure you have heart under control..

Reply 11

Amanzhol

Think about it in terms of what you might want to do in the future. If you'd be interested in going into anything creative, then GCSE Art will be very useful in allowing you progress onto creative A-levels. If you're certain that's not the path you're going to want to take, then perhaps spare yourself the burden of the many extra hours you'll need to put in for art and choose history instead. Similarly, GCSE History will be very useful in allowing you to study any humanities A-Level.

I did both Art and History at GCSE, and found Art to be hugely more enjoyable while History was the subject I was constantly stressed the most about (and ended up being my worst grade). But that's just because personally I enjoyed art a lot (so much so that I've just finished my A-Level in it), so choose what you think will be right for you in terms of usefulness and enjoyment.

Reply 12

tatianapiterbarg

Original post by haseeb_jarral

thank you!! i’m sort of leaning towards art- do you know how many hours a week of work it is? i have 2 1/2 hours of frees every week so do you think the work will be more manageable?

Reply 13

tatianapiterbarg

Original post by m.aurelius

Thank you!! I was just afraid that I would be spending so much time on art that i wouldn’t have time for other things. Do you think this will be true i have 2 1/2 hours of frees a week and can always go in at lunch? (I mean I could do some art at this time so that it wouldn’t take up all of my free time)

Reply 14

tatianapiterbarg

Original post by Amanzhol

Do you think it is worth doing it if I want to go into STEM? In terms of the extra hours, I will have free periods at school and lunchtimes where I can make it up so do you think it will be worth it?

Reply 15

Shadowdraconis

Original post by tatianapiterbarg

I think the amount of time you'd spend on art depends on what you are like as a person and how good you art skills are (as well as your analysis skills). Cos me being a perfectionist and not insanely talented at art, meant I spent hours and hours every week (my entire Sunday was pretty much dedicated to just doing art) but I still didn't get it all done. I got a B overall (which doesn't sound too bad but I was really annoyed cos all of the hours I put didn't at all equate to the grade I got. And if I'd spent that time doing other subjects rather than art I would have got at least a grade higher in the other subjects. I took history too and I found it difficult purely because I'm not great at essay writing but apart from that it was interesting content and I did enjoy it. But choose wisely and choose based on how long you are likely to spend on each, as well as how much you enjoy them. Good luck in ur decision :smile:

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 16

Amanzhol

Original post by tatianapiterbarg

Do you think it is worth doing it if I want to go into STEM? In terms of the extra hours, I will have free periods at school and lunchtimes where I can make it up so do you think it will be worth it?

It depends what area of STEM you're thinking of. If you're thinking about certain branches of engineering or architecture (not exactly STEM but has a lot of links) which require an ability to draw and a capacity for creative thinking, then Art could serve you well in developing those necessary skills. However if you're thinking more along the lines of pure maths and sciences in the future, Art won't be as relevant (then again neither will History), but there's nothing stopping you from doing it if you think you'll enjoy it.

Imo even if it doesn't end up being at all relevant to what you want to do later on, Art is worthwhile doing. Yes it's a lot of work and a lot of hours, I practically lived in the art room every lunchtime and everyday after school, but it doesn't need to be stressful so long as you keep on top of it. But above all it's just really rewarding to see your completed pieces after knowing you've put so much effort in.

Reply 17

m.aurelius

Original post by tatianapiterbarg

i think that's plenty of time for art a week. usually my homeworks took me anything from 30 mins to 1 hour and a half but i didn't manage my time well so after mocks i really put in a LOT of time into art and my other subjects not so much. But if you don't do what I did and actually do work regularly then you /should/ be ok. it won't take up ur free time unless you let it, does that make sense lol?

Reply 18

m.aurelius

does your school offer any other creative subjects? like dt or other forms of art?

Reply 19

alishad123

Take history, many of my close friends took art GCSE and they were miserable. They took it as although they didnt want to pursue it they thought it would be fun and had an interest. But the workload and the deadlines were hectic, especially since art wasn't their main passion or priority.

I took history and if you're nervous dont be, you have two years to learn how to write essays.