Didn't quite get all nines (missed it by a single 8 ) but did 12 GCSEs in total with 11 of those in the same year (triple science, maths (early), english, history, geography, spanish computer science, statistics, further maths) and taught myself the history specification. It obviously depends on what sort of student you are and how hard you are going to have to work for those 9s but personally, I found the workload pretty manageable and still kept up loads of extracurriculars out of school as well. In terms of geography vs history, I didn't really find that the workloads differed significantly although, obviously, if you aren't great at essay writing etc history may not be for you. My advice: the workload will probably be similar whatever so focus on doing things that you enjoy.