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What options should I pick, History, Geography, DT, psychology or business studies

Hi
I've got to choose my GCSE options by 5th February 2021
I get to pick:
- RS or German (I'm gonna pick German I HATE RS)
- History or Geography ( I'M NOT SURE WHICH TO PICK. I get equal grades at both and enjoy them both the same HELP ME!!!)
- Any 2 other subjects

I'm gonna pick computer science cos my Dad will make me do something to do with IT. I don't mind cos I'm pretty good at it and enjoy it BUT IS IT A HARD OR SOFT SUBJECT???.
Then, for my last option, I'm kind of stuck between:
- DT
- psychology
- Business studies
- History or geography

Also, I'm worried about picking too many soft subjects instead of Hard academic subjects. For careers, I would probably like to be a doctor, dentist, lawyer or computer coding person if they don't work out.
CAN YOU PLEEEAAAASE HELP ME AND SUGGEST WHAT I SHOULD TAKE
Any advice would be really appreciated
Thanks xx
Original post by hello192837
Hi
I've got to choose my GCSE options by 5th February 2021
I get to pick:
- RS or German (I'm gonna pick German I HATE RS)
- History or Geography ( I'M NOT SURE WHICH TO PICK. I get equal grades at both and enjoy them both the same HELP ME!!!)
- Any 2 other subjects

I'm gonna pick computer science cos my Dad will make me do something to do with IT. I don't mind cos I'm pretty good at it and enjoy it BUT IS IT A HARD OR SOFT SUBJECT???.
Then, for my last option, I'm kind of stuck between:
- DT
- psychology
- Business studies
- History or geography

Also, I'm worried about picking too many soft subjects instead of Hard academic subjects. For careers, I would probably like to be a doctor, dentist, lawyer or computer coding person if they don't work out.
CAN YOU PLEEEAAAASE HELP ME AND SUGGEST WHAT I SHOULD TAKE
Any advice would be really appreciated
Thanks xx

Hi :smile: I took both history and geography at GCSE and I can honestly say history was a thing of nightmares for me. Idk if it was the fact that there was so much content and memorisation, but I just didnt like it throughout lol despite ending up doing quite well. Not to put you off of course because some people love history and its definitely interesting.
Personally Id say that if you like both equally go for geography, the content is so much more interesting for me and I think geog wld be more useful if you want a more sciency career (although dont worry too much cos most unis couldn't care less about the choices of gcses they care more about what grades u get).
Psychology and business studies are both good options, worth it more than DT. I do psych at A level and I love it so if you want to do it for A-level too then thats a great option. I know business studies is really good too from friends! Go for what you like the sound of more.
So all high paying professional jobs...

In my experience, unless you want to get into a job right out of school, your choice in GCSEs probably won't matter that much in the long run. At Level 2, they won't amount to much in terms of what you learn. You will need certain grades to get into college for certain A Levels though e.g. some sixth form colleges require 7s or 8s in some of the sciences to do them at A Level. You will need the standard grades in English Langauge and Maths.

For university applications, they're more concerned with the grades you get at GCSE level, as opposed to your choices.

If you look at the entry requirements for dentistry, medicine, and law on a number of degree programs (do this early), you will find certain grade requirements for subjects at A Level, as opposed to GCSE (they will want English Language and Maths to be of a certain grade at GCSE though). The typical ones are:
Dentistry: Biology, Chemistry + a third A Level - typically As
Medicine: Biology, Chemistry + a third A Level - typically As and A*s
Law: ideally Law, Sociology, Crimonology, but I don't think there are any particular preferences in humanities or social sciences.. Grade-wise, they tend to be high.

With coding (I presume you mean programming), I don't think you actually need a degree in the subject in order to get into the field, as they tend to value experience over qualifications. To my knowledge, the industry is changing all the time, so most qualifications will be out of date within a few years. Also, most programming languages can be learned online for free.
Typically, people who want to be programmers tend to look to computer science as their degree of choice. You should be able to get away with doing an engineering subject though (preferably computer engineering, software engineering, and possibly electronic engineering).
Typical entry requirements for computer science tends to be As, and they expect IT to be one of your A Levels. It will help if you other subjects of choice are sciency as well e.g. Physics, Maths, Further Maths. Computing is the odd choice, but it can help as well to my knowledge (because it doesn't really look into programming as how to use Office applications). Again, GCSE English Language and Maths at a certain grade.

None of your degree choices will be easy. So, in opinion, they are all hard (law being the hardest because it has the smallest proportion of people getting the top grades)

To answer your question regarding choices in your last GCSE: the one you are most likely to score high in and you enjoy the most. None of them will matter in the degree of your choice, except for the grade. I only have experience of GCSE Geography and a bit of Business Studies, and they were enjoyable, but challenging (not difficult to pass, but a challenge to get high marks in when you're 15/16). You get to go on a lot of field trips in geography.
(edited 3 years ago)
Reply 3
Original post by MindMax2000
So all high paying professional jobs...

In my experience, unless you want to get into a job right out of school, your choice in GCSEs probably won't matter that much in the long run. At Level 2, they won't amount to much in terms of what you learn. You will need certain grades to get into college for certain A Levels though e.g. some sixth form colleges require 7s or 8s in some of the sciences to do them at A Level. You will need the standard grades in English Langauge and Maths.

For university applications, they're more concerned with the grades you get at GCSE level, as opposed to your choices.

If you look at the entry requirements for dentistry, medicine, and law on a number of degree programs (do this early), you will find certain grade requirements for subjects at A Level, as opposed to GCSE (they will want English Language and Maths to be of a certain grade at GCSE though). The typical ones are:
Dentistry: Biology, Chemistry + a third A Level - typically As
Medicine: Biology, Chemistry + a third A Level - typically As and A*s
Law: ideally Law, Sociology, Crimonology, but I don't think there are any particular preferences in humanities or social sciences.. Grade-wise, they tend to be high.

With coding (I presume you mean programming), I don't think you actually need a degree in the subject in order to get into the field, as they tend to value experience over qualifications. To my knowledge, the industry is changing all the time, so most qualifications will be out of date within a few years. Also, most programming languages can be learned online for free.
Typically, people who want to be programmers tend to look to computer science as their degree of choice. You should be able to get away with doing an engineering subject though (preferably computer engineering, software engineering, and possibly electronic engineering).
Typical entry requirements for computer science tends to be As, and they expect IT to be one of your A Levels. It will help if you other subjects of choice are sciency as well e.g. Physics, Maths, Further Maths. Computing is the odd choice, but it can help as well to my knowledge (because it doesn't really look into programming as how to use Office applications). Again, GCSE English Language and Maths at a certain grade.

None of your degree choices will be easy. So, in opinion, they are all hard (law being the hardest because it has the smallest proportion of people getting the top grades)

To answer your question regarding choices in your last GCSE: the one you are most likely to score high in and you enjoy the most. None of them will matter in the degree of your choice, except for the grade. I only have experience of GCSE Geography and a bit of Business Studies, and they were enjoyable, but challenging (not difficult to pass, but a challenge to get high marks in when you're 15/16). You get to go on a lot of field trips in geography.

Thank you for your detailed reply, really helpful - thank you 😊

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