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What is GCSE textiles like?

What is the course like? Is it harder to obtain an A* here than if you did GCSE Art & Design? What are the pro's and con's of doing GCSE textiles? Have you enjoyed the two years doing GCSE textiles?

:p:

Reply 1

xXMessedUpXx

15

Oooh i did GCSE textiles :biggrin:

takes me back a bit. It was very heavily coursework oreinted, and i think involved a majr project. If you're good enough at sewing (etc) and learn the basics for the exam it should be easy to pull off an A/A*. That ai i only got a D so i'm the wromg person to ask (that said my final project as fine...i just buggered up on the exam). No idea if that helps...this was 5/6 years ago!

Reply 2

Silvertongue

2

im so academic

What is the course like? Is it harder to obtain an A* here than if you did GCSE Art & Design? What are the pro's and con's of doing GCSE textiles? Have you enjoyed the two years doing GCSE textiles?

:p:

Hey,

I don't know what exam board you're doing Textiles with but like the previous poster says, it is very heavilty coursework oreientated. But if you're willing to spend a lot of lunchtime perfecting your coursework and your teacher is willing to do that, the end result is really rewarding. The exams aren't so straightforward and I don't know what it's like at your school but for DT teachers place so much less emphasis on the exams because they're 'only' 40% but if you like that kind of thing (making etc) then you'll really enjoy it.

I thought there was much more skill involved, having never touched a sewing machine before in my life but you do learn lots and you can take the course even if you're starting from scatch. I presume by Art and Design you mean Art? :s-smilie:

The course that's 100% coursework right? From that, my friends all said that it was really really tiring but kinda easy to get a good grade in it because you have so much control. That being said, they said you must LIKE art to enjoy it, because you're going to spend a LOT of time taking it. I would not advice you to take both Textiles AND Art, unless you're really into that kind of stuff...

I get my GCSE results in 2 days anyway for Textiles and I thought the exam went hideously bad but my coursework was an A* so you're free to PM me if you're still wondering after Thursday. :smile:

BTW I did OCR Textiles

Reply 3

DreamsComeTrue.

1

in reply to the above, I did OCR textiles last year and boy is the written paper so hard!!! i basically waffled all though it, i was certain to get a D, but even though i got a B in my coursework (60%) my overall grade was an A!!! how did that happen??? lol.

Reply 4

DreamsComeTrue.

1

Oh yeah, i forgot to add, the coursework part was very fun, but i think we were just lucky, our theme was "Special Ocassions" so we all made prom dresses!

Reply 5

xXMessedUpXx

15

Bah ours had to be something to do with children. So with the help of a hand sewing machine and my na's guidence i somehow managed to make a duvet cover for a baby...

Reply 6

LearningMath

14

A bit of a doss i'd imagine.

Reply 7

laurenlodge

19

It's definitely very coursework heavy - it's a lot of work if you want the top grades. But it's fun coursework - we were allowed to make whatever we wanted (AQA), so most people did slightly entertaining stuff. You have to generally have a rough idea of how a sewing machine works - the more techniques you put into the coursework the more chance you have of getting a better mark.

The folderwork is not so fun, but it's not difficult either, just time-consuming. As someone else said, if you don't mind giving up free time to do it you'd probably do well.
The actual exam is okay - there's a lot to learn and the revision is boring and rather pointless, but provided you learn everything it's relatively easy to do well.

I don't think an A* is too difficult - for an A* on the exam it's around 86% (AQA) which is only 40 %, and if you put effort into coursework high marks can be had as well. Although I haven't got my result yet, so saying that....

Pros - fun lessons, rewarding, sense of accomplishment, fun gcse in general.
Cons - a lot of work, boring theory.
If it helps, I really enjoyed it, even though the two weeks before the deadline was flipping stressful and I spent my whole half term cutting and sticking.

Reply 8

xXMessedUpXx

15

LearningMath

A bit of a doss i'd imagine.

Thats what half the class thought..the half that failed that is :wink:

Reply 9

LearningMath

14

xXMessedUpXx

Thats what half the class thought..the half that failed that is :wink:

Probably cause they were bored out of their heads, just like me and media studies.

Reply 10

laurenlodge

19

LearningMath

Probably cause they were bored out of their heads, just like me and media studies.

Or it was just too hard and too much work for them to cope with. :wink:

Reply 11

im so academic

OP

15

lozz2601

It's definitely very coursework heavy - it's a lot of work if you want the top grades. But it's fun coursework - we were allowed to make whatever we wanted (AQA), so most people did slightly entertaining stuff. You have to generally have a rough idea of how a sewing machine works - the more techniques you put into the coursework the more chance you have of getting a better mark.

The folderwork is not so fun, but it's not difficult either, just time-consuming. As someone else said, if you don't mind giving up free time to do it you'd probably do well.
The actual exam is okay - there's a lot to learn and the revision is boring and rather pointless, but provided you learn everything it's relatively easy to do well.

I don't think an A* is too difficult - for an A* on the exam it's around 86% (AQA) which is only 40 %, and if you put effort into coursework high marks can be had as well. Although I haven't got my result yet, so saying that....

Pros - fun lessons, rewarding, sense of accomplishment, fun gcse in general.
Cons - a lot of work, boring theory.
If it helps, I really enjoyed it, even though the two weeks before the deadline was flipping stressful and I spent my whole half term cutting and sticking.

Thanks for your reply (and others!), but what do you mean by theory? also, what is folderwork? and in your opinion, do you think it is easier to get an a* in textiles than in art? what techniques do you recommend (and what do you mean by it?

:smile:

Reply 12

LearningMath

14

lozz2601

Or it was just too hard and too much work for them to cope with. :wink:

Only if they were very thick. I should be getting an A's in the sciences, yet i doubt i'll pass media studies, i just dont get what it's about. Stupid idea to make it a qualification....

Reply 13

Silvertongue

2

xXMessedUpXx

Thats what half the class thought..the half that failed that is :wink:

I totally agree....but congrats on getting your A!!! That gives me hope for Thursday.... :p:

But I agree, the written paper honestly was hellish no matter how many past papers we did.

Reply 14

Silvertongue

2

im so academic

Thanks for your reply (and others!), but what do you mean by theory? also, what is folderwork? and in your opinion, do you think it is easier to get an a* in textiles than in art? what techniques do you recommend (and what do you mean by it?

:smile:

By folderwork, I think they meant the coursework that you file away in a lovely cardboard folder and weep when you look at the amount of work you've still got do. :woo:

I wouldn't say anything is EASIER, they're DIFFERENT subjects. Art doesn't equal Textiles and believe me, i thought it would be break pretending to be a fashion designer and designer clothes but it isnt. Most of it is about MAKING the stuff and learning how to insert zips into dresses and how to 'reduce fullness'. I kid you not. Art requires more of your TIME but I'd say Textiles is HARDER purely because of the extra knowledge involved. As in...you'd have to read the textbook. :yep:

Reply 15

laurenlodge

19

im so academic

Thanks for your reply (and others!), but what do you mean by theory? also, what is folderwork? and in your opinion, do you think it is easier to get an a* in textiles than in art? what techniques do you recommend (and what do you mean by it?

:smile:

Well, I only know for my exam board, (AQA), but...
It's stuff about fibre content, and material properties, and types of fibre and things like that. There are a lot of charts and tables to learn, and that's a lot of what the exam involves. The exam also has a "design" part - you're given a brief about a month before and have to research the topic to come up with a design.

You have to do a folder to go with the practical coursework for AQA - you put things in it like the brief, inital design ideas and basically show your thought process you went through to come up with your idea. You also show how you made it, and evaluate how it went at the end.

I didn't do art, but from what I've heard from my friends that are I'd say yes - in my school there are a lot more people targetted A* in Textiles than in Art.

The techniques you use on your practical would depend entirely on what you make - from putting a zip in to putting pleats in or hand dyeing the fabric you use. It's important to use a variety of them to get a good mark, though.

Again, that's only AQA - for all I know the other boards could be entirely different!

Reply 16

xXMessedUpXx

15

LearningMath

Probably cause they were bored out of their heads, just like me and media studies.

Media studies isn't that bad :rolleyes:

Ok, its a given that its mainly theory (hence why i went on to do practical at uni) but if you learn the basics its hard to fail...even if you're bored!

Reply 17

realityisabore

Just finished my textiles GCSE this year. On AQA 60% is coursework which is a huge project which I loved doing. I ended up getting full marks in coursework :biggrin:

You have to put alot of effort and time into coursework though. At my school we could pick our own theme which is good becuase i dont think alot of schools do that.
I'd suggest making something original rather than something that everyone makes like a prom dress or something like that. Also on your final production have lots of decoration and different techniques or components, thats what gets you marks :yep:

Personally I think textiles is a hell of alot easrier than art, but thats just my opinion.

I took both art and textiles at GCSE im getting a B in art and hopefully an A* in textiles, maybe that helps.

Pros - Not particualarly difficult, you can do really well if you have common sense and learn to use a sewing machine. Fun lesson, and in my case there was quite alot of freedom.

Cons - Time consuming (but if you like textiles you wont be bothered about that, i wasnt)

Reply 18

~Hazzle*

I just finished my Textiles GCSE (AQA), first off I should say I'm not a creative person whatsoever, however with taking History and Geography I wanted a subject which was a bit different. I enjoyed the coursework very much so, however it meant spending some lunchtimes in the Tech block towards the completion of my coursework. The coursework could be chosen by me as long as it was approved by my teacher, I made a large lion stuffed toy as I wanted to do something fun. The exam was fairly easy which surprised me as I found the theory learnt in lesson to be extensive and difficult to remember. Most of my friends do Art but not me and I get the impression it is extremely hard to get an A* even the some of the most talented only get As. Textiles is easier to achieve a high grade in.

Reply 19

~Hazzle*

im so academic

Thanks for your reply (and others!), but what do you mean by theory? also, what is folderwork? and in your opinion, do you think it is easier to get an a* in textiles than in art? what techniques do you recommend (and what do you mean by it?

:smile:

Folderwork is a project based around a product you make, you create A3 sheets to show planning, design, production, evaluation etc. Theory is information about Textile techniques, fabrics, industry etc.

What is GCSE textiles like?

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