(very) stressed about gcse options
The time has finally come in year 9 where choosing gcse options is becoming real. I’ve got 4 spaces and have already chosen spanish and computing, and have to choose 2 out of drama, geography, history.
I recently found out that if I continue to work extremely hard with maths (i’m planning to work even harder now) I might have a chance to do further maths as well. So, I need to choose my last two options. I was previously going to take drama, because I find it fun and I think it’ll help me be less stressed during gcses (although I understand it has a pretty big workload too however I love acting and devising pieces sounds fun too), but I realised that I could instead fill my last two spaces with both geography and history. Geography has human geography which I find extremely interesting, although physical geography is honestly boring. Basically all of history is interesting to me, and i’m not horrible at essays (of course I’m ready to practice and improve A LOT), so I just can’t decide. I talked to my history and geo teachers and they said take both but I don’t really want to… I’m *aiming* for all 9s (and am willing to do the work). Can I please have some advice? What GCSEs did you take, how did you find them? How useful is geo/history? Should I take drama?
(thank you for reading all this I understand it is a very long message)
I recently found out that if I continue to work extremely hard with maths (i’m planning to work even harder now) I might have a chance to do further maths as well. So, I need to choose my last two options. I was previously going to take drama, because I find it fun and I think it’ll help me be less stressed during gcses (although I understand it has a pretty big workload too however I love acting and devising pieces sounds fun too), but I realised that I could instead fill my last two spaces with both geography and history. Geography has human geography which I find extremely interesting, although physical geography is honestly boring. Basically all of history is interesting to me, and i’m not horrible at essays (of course I’m ready to practice and improve A LOT), so I just can’t decide. I talked to my history and geo teachers and they said take both but I don’t really want to… I’m *aiming* for all 9s (and am willing to do the work). Can I please have some advice? What GCSEs did you take, how did you find them? How useful is geo/history? Should I take drama?
(thank you for reading all this I understand it is a very long message)
Original post by FlyingSquirrel10
The time has finally come in year 9 where choosing gcse options is becoming real. I’ve got 4 spaces and have already chosen spanish and computing, and have to choose 2 out of drama, geography, history.
I recently found out that if I continue to work extremely hard with maths (i’m planning to work even harder now) I might have a chance to do further maths as well. So, I need to choose my last two options. I was previously going to take drama, because I find it fun and I think it’ll help me be less stressed during gcses (although I understand it has a pretty big workload too however I love acting and devising pieces sounds fun too), but I realised that I could instead fill my last two spaces with both geography and history. Geography has human geography which I find extremely interesting, although physical geography is honestly boring. Basically all of history is interesting to me, and i’m not horrible at essays (of course I’m ready to practice and improve A LOT), so I just can’t decide. I talked to my history and geo teachers and they said take both but I don’t really want to… I’m *aiming* for all 9s (and am willing to do the work). Can I please have some advice? What GCSEs did you take, how did you find them? How useful is geo/history? Should I take drama?
(thank you for reading all this I understand it is a very long message)
I recently found out that if I continue to work extremely hard with maths (i’m planning to work even harder now) I might have a chance to do further maths as well. So, I need to choose my last two options. I was previously going to take drama, because I find it fun and I think it’ll help me be less stressed during gcses (although I understand it has a pretty big workload too however I love acting and devising pieces sounds fun too), but I realised that I could instead fill my last two spaces with both geography and history. Geography has human geography which I find extremely interesting, although physical geography is honestly boring. Basically all of history is interesting to me, and i’m not horrible at essays (of course I’m ready to practice and improve A LOT), so I just can’t decide. I talked to my history and geo teachers and they said take both but I don’t really want to… I’m *aiming* for all 9s (and am willing to do the work). Can I please have some advice? What GCSEs did you take, how did you find them? How useful is geo/history? Should I take drama?
(thank you for reading all this I understand it is a very long message)
I would pick drama because you enjoy and it nice to have a more relaxed subject (I did music which was always very chill). And because you find history more interesting than geography, I would go with history, but the decision is up to you.
Original post by FlyingSquirrel10
The time has finally come in year 9 where choosing gcse options is becoming real. I’ve got 4 spaces and have already chosen spanish and computing, and have to choose 2 out of drama, geography, history.
I recently found out that if I continue to work extremely hard with maths (i’m planning to work even harder now) I might have a chance to do further maths as well. So, I need to choose my last two options. I was previously going to take drama, because I find it fun and I think it’ll help me be less stressed during gcses (although I understand it has a pretty big workload too however I love acting and devising pieces sounds fun too), but I realised that I could instead fill my last two spaces with both geography and history. Geography has human geography which I find extremely interesting, although physical geography is honestly boring. Basically all of history is interesting to me, and i’m not horrible at essays (of course I’m ready to practice and improve A LOT), so I just can’t decide. I talked to my history and geo teachers and they said take both but I don’t really want to… I’m *aiming* for all 9s (and am willing to do the work). Can I please have some advice? What GCSEs did you take, how did you find them? How useful is geo/history? Should I take drama?
(thank you for reading all this I understand it is a very long message)
I recently found out that if I continue to work extremely hard with maths (i’m planning to work even harder now) I might have a chance to do further maths as well. So, I need to choose my last two options. I was previously going to take drama, because I find it fun and I think it’ll help me be less stressed during gcses (although I understand it has a pretty big workload too however I love acting and devising pieces sounds fun too), but I realised that I could instead fill my last two spaces with both geography and history. Geography has human geography which I find extremely interesting, although physical geography is honestly boring. Basically all of history is interesting to me, and i’m not horrible at essays (of course I’m ready to practice and improve A LOT), so I just can’t decide. I talked to my history and geo teachers and they said take both but I don’t really want to… I’m *aiming* for all 9s (and am willing to do the work). Can I please have some advice? What GCSEs did you take, how did you find them? How useful is geo/history? Should I take drama?
(thank you for reading all this I understand it is a very long message)
I understand how stressful it can be picking your GCSEs and thinking whether you'll enjoy them or not. I do gcse geography and I can say that it's fun until you hit physical geography, then the rest of the content is a pain to learn, so if you know you won't enjoy the physical geography aspect, then don't go for it - because it might result in you not being able to motivate yourself to revise and not paying attention in lessons.
You seem like you enjoy history a lot and you'll do really great in it if you can do the essays as well - since you find all the content interesting, I think you might enjoy it a lot. History is useful to build up your essay skills and for you to learn more about what shaped society, the government and events so if that's something you find interesting, then you'll enjoy the lessons and content for sure.
Drama is a fun subject and will definitely take the heavy load off, I did a GCSE preparation course for drama back in year 9 and really enjoyed it. It has aspects of devising, forming performances and you learn so much about different plays/sets so the theory work may be interesting to learn about too if that's something that intrigues you. Since you're willing to put in the work, I think you'll have fun doing it as a subject.
Good luck for picking your options and remember to pick the subjects you would enjoy and do well in the most!
Original post by FlyingSquirrel10
The time has finally come in year 9 where choosing gcse options is becoming real. I’ve got 4 spaces and have already chosen spanish and computing, and have to choose 2 out of drama, geography, history.
I recently found out that if I continue to work extremely hard with maths (i’m planning to work even harder now) I might have a chance to do further maths as well. So, I need to choose my last two options. I was previously going to take drama, because I find it fun and I think it’ll help me be less stressed during gcses (although I understand it has a pretty big workload too however I love acting and devising pieces sounds fun too), but I realised that I could instead fill my last two spaces with both geography and history. Geography has human geography which I find extremely interesting, although physical geography is honestly boring. Basically all of history is interesting to me, and i’m not horrible at essays (of course I’m ready to practice and improve A LOT), so I just can’t decide. I talked to my history and geo teachers and they said take both but I don’t really want to… I’m *aiming* for all 9s (and am willing to do the work). Can I please have some advice? What GCSEs did you take, how did you find them? How useful is geo/history? Should I take drama?
(thank you for reading all this I understand it is a very long message)
I recently found out that if I continue to work extremely hard with maths (i’m planning to work even harder now) I might have a chance to do further maths as well. So, I need to choose my last two options. I was previously going to take drama, because I find it fun and I think it’ll help me be less stressed during gcses (although I understand it has a pretty big workload too however I love acting and devising pieces sounds fun too), but I realised that I could instead fill my last two spaces with both geography and history. Geography has human geography which I find extremely interesting, although physical geography is honestly boring. Basically all of history is interesting to me, and i’m not horrible at essays (of course I’m ready to practice and improve A LOT), so I just can’t decide. I talked to my history and geo teachers and they said take both but I don’t really want to… I’m *aiming* for all 9s (and am willing to do the work). Can I please have some advice? What GCSEs did you take, how did you find them? How useful is geo/history? Should I take drama?
(thank you for reading all this I understand it is a very long message)
In year 8 (when i picked my GCSEs) i LOVED history, i was so exited to learn more about world war 2, and all of that sort of things so i decided to pick it as one of my GCSEs. However, what they don’t tell you is that if you do not know the text book from front to back you will not do as well as you imagine. A lot of people in my class were getting amazing marks in practice questions, although, when we all got to our GCSE mocks and the real exam the highest grade someone got in our class was a 6. In addition to all of the normal curriculum (germany under nazi occupation, ect) you will have another exam based on history around you. You will not have a lot of revision resources on this which makes it even more difficult to pass your exam. If you do not spend 100% of your time to reviewing for these exams you will not pass or get a good grade.
Original post by flowersinmyhair
I would pick drama because you enjoy and it nice to have a more relaxed subject (I did music which was always very chill). And because you find history more interesting than geography, I would go with history, but the decision is up to you.
Really you should pick drama because you do have a live for it but just do know that drama is lotttttts of coursework. You have a couple monologues and performances to do as well as a booklet of questions but really if you do love this subject it’ll be no problem
(History is fun but if you don’t get topics you like it’s very tiring overall it’s good though)
Good luck!
Original post by FlyingSquirrel10
The time has finally come in year 9 where choosing gcse options is becoming real. I’ve got 4 spaces and have already chosen spanish and computing, and have to choose 2 out of drama, geography, history.
I recently found out that if I continue to work extremely hard with maths (i’m planning to work even harder now) I might have a chance to do further maths as well. So, I need to choose my last two options. I was previously going to take drama, because I find it fun and I think it’ll help me be less stressed during gcses (although I understand it has a pretty big workload too however I love acting and devising pieces sounds fun too), but I realised that I could instead fill my last two spaces with both geography and history. Geography has human geography which I find extremely interesting, although physical geography is honestly boring. Basically all of history is interesting to me, and i’m not horrible at essays (of course I’m ready to practice and improve A LOT), so I just can’t decide. I talked to my history and geo teachers and they said take both but I don’t really want to… I’m *aiming* for all 9s (and am willing to do the work). Can I please have some advice? What GCSEs did you take, how did you find them? How useful is geo/history? Should I take drama?
(thank you for reading all this I understand it is a very long message)
I recently found out that if I continue to work extremely hard with maths (i’m planning to work even harder now) I might have a chance to do further maths as well. So, I need to choose my last two options. I was previously going to take drama, because I find it fun and I think it’ll help me be less stressed during gcses (although I understand it has a pretty big workload too however I love acting and devising pieces sounds fun too), but I realised that I could instead fill my last two spaces with both geography and history. Geography has human geography which I find extremely interesting, although physical geography is honestly boring. Basically all of history is interesting to me, and i’m not horrible at essays (of course I’m ready to practice and improve A LOT), so I just can’t decide. I talked to my history and geo teachers and they said take both but I don’t really want to… I’m *aiming* for all 9s (and am willing to do the work). Can I please have some advice? What GCSEs did you take, how did you find them? How useful is geo/history? Should I take drama?
(thank you for reading all this I understand it is a very long message)
You sound like you’re on track to get excellent grades no matter what you take, so I would recommend doing the subjects that you like the most (it sounds like that would certainly include Drama). I’m in Y11 and chose to do no creative subjects and I certainly regret that - it definitely is a release from the more academic content.
I take History and Geography and would definitely caution away from Geography. Not only does History open more doors for the future and teach you better analytical and essay skills, it is (in my opinion of course) just more interesting. That is however just my personal preference, and it’s certainly worth noting the workload for History, and the grade boundaries, are much higher.
Hope this helps!
Hello everyone, thank you so much for the help!! I just wanted to add that although I don’t like geography as much as I do history, I’m sure that I’d still be able to pay attention in class and do just as well in it. And is it true that you need to know the whole history textbook from back to front to get a good grade? (I do OCR A, ‘Explaining the Modern World’)
Hiya! I’m in Year 13.
I’d say to go with your gut. Drama sounds good — I think you’d enjoy that, and one less exam to stress as much over will certainly be welcome.
History vs geography was a headed debate in my school. I personally studied history and I really enjoyed it. It was probably my favourite subject aside from maths. I got full marks in one of the papers which is still one of my favourite academic flexes 😆
The thing with history, no matter the exam board, is that you will need to know a lot. Memorising an entire textbook makes it sound worse than it is, because that’s kind of what you do for any subject. You can’t expect to pass biology if you don’t know how the heart works. Same with history. That being said, one of the reasons I loved revising history is that it’s very much like a story. If you have a good teacher who can make the subject engaging, I find that the knowledge sticks in your head quite well. I still remember John Snow and the Broadstreet Pump, and how anaesthetics and antiseptics were developed, and the Four Humours, and Hitler’s indoctrination strategies, and how King John lost Normandy (and how much of a failure he was in general, and how much of a prick Richard was. Did you know that when he was imprisoned, he wrote poetry? You can still read it to this day!! Also his mother was a girlboss and I take no criticism). I have no use for this information anymore, but because it’s genuinely interesting and presented like a story, I find it easy to remember, even a couple years after my final exams.
I suppose geography is generally considered to be more topical and current than history because of the climate crisis. I think geography GCSEs absolutely can be useful if you’d like to go into any kind of environmental studies in the future. Than being said, I think history is more transferable as it is an essay-based subject and is based on critical thinking… though I’m about to study CREATIVE WRITING at university, so the “usefulness” of a subject is something I’d try not to worry about too much. You’ll be able to work with any option you pick.
Ultimately, I think you should go with your gut. I am a very biased history student who hasn’t studied geography since Year 8 — and I did really enjoy it then. You should weigh up the courses (check the specs!) and exam styles and see what suits you best. When you picture yourself on results day, which subject are you the most happy with?
Good luck!
(also, good luck for further maths! it’s hard work but it’s very rewarding. I got an 8 in FM and I’m very proud of it.)
I’d say to go with your gut. Drama sounds good — I think you’d enjoy that, and one less exam to stress as much over will certainly be welcome.
History vs geography was a headed debate in my school. I personally studied history and I really enjoyed it. It was probably my favourite subject aside from maths. I got full marks in one of the papers which is still one of my favourite academic flexes 😆
The thing with history, no matter the exam board, is that you will need to know a lot. Memorising an entire textbook makes it sound worse than it is, because that’s kind of what you do for any subject. You can’t expect to pass biology if you don’t know how the heart works. Same with history. That being said, one of the reasons I loved revising history is that it’s very much like a story. If you have a good teacher who can make the subject engaging, I find that the knowledge sticks in your head quite well. I still remember John Snow and the Broadstreet Pump, and how anaesthetics and antiseptics were developed, and the Four Humours, and Hitler’s indoctrination strategies, and how King John lost Normandy (and how much of a failure he was in general, and how much of a prick Richard was. Did you know that when he was imprisoned, he wrote poetry? You can still read it to this day!! Also his mother was a girlboss and I take no criticism). I have no use for this information anymore, but because it’s genuinely interesting and presented like a story, I find it easy to remember, even a couple years after my final exams.
I suppose geography is generally considered to be more topical and current than history because of the climate crisis. I think geography GCSEs absolutely can be useful if you’d like to go into any kind of environmental studies in the future. Than being said, I think history is more transferable as it is an essay-based subject and is based on critical thinking… though I’m about to study CREATIVE WRITING at university, so the “usefulness” of a subject is something I’d try not to worry about too much. You’ll be able to work with any option you pick.
Ultimately, I think you should go with your gut. I am a very biased history student who hasn’t studied geography since Year 8 — and I did really enjoy it then. You should weigh up the courses (check the specs!) and exam styles and see what suits you best. When you picture yourself on results day, which subject are you the most happy with?
Good luck!
(also, good luck for further maths! it’s hard work but it’s very rewarding. I got an 8 in FM and I’m very proud of it.)
Original post by FlyingSquirrel10
The time has finally come in year 9 where choosing gcse options is becoming real. I’ve got 4 spaces and have already chosen spanish and computing, and have to choose 2 out of drama, geography, history.
I recently found out that if I continue to work extremely hard with maths (i’m planning to work even harder now) I might have a chance to do further maths as well. So, I need to choose my last two options. I was previously going to take drama, because I find it fun and I think it’ll help me be less stressed during gcses (although I understand it has a pretty big workload too however I love acting and devising pieces sounds fun too), but I realised that I could instead fill my last two spaces with both geography and history. Geography has human geography which I find extremely interesting, although physical geography is honestly boring. Basically all of history is interesting to me, and i’m not horrible at essays (of course I’m ready to practice and improve A LOT), so I just can’t decide. I talked to my history and geo teachers and they said take both but I don’t really want to… I’m *aiming* for all 9s (and am willing to do the work). Can I please have some advice? What GCSEs did you take, how did you find them? How useful is geo/history? Should I take drama?
(thank you for reading all this I understand it is a very long message)
I recently found out that if I continue to work extremely hard with maths (i’m planning to work even harder now) I might have a chance to do further maths as well. So, I need to choose my last two options. I was previously going to take drama, because I find it fun and I think it’ll help me be less stressed during gcses (although I understand it has a pretty big workload too however I love acting and devising pieces sounds fun too), but I realised that I could instead fill my last two spaces with both geography and history. Geography has human geography which I find extremely interesting, although physical geography is honestly boring. Basically all of history is interesting to me, and i’m not horrible at essays (of course I’m ready to practice and improve A LOT), so I just can’t decide. I talked to my history and geo teachers and they said take both but I don’t really want to… I’m *aiming* for all 9s (and am willing to do the work). Can I please have some advice? What GCSEs did you take, how did you find them? How useful is geo/history? Should I take drama?
(thank you for reading all this I understand it is a very long message)
I took Geography, friends took history. Biggest difference is that history has a LOT of essays, many you have to write in a short time so it is very content heavy. Geography was content heavy too, but there were less essays and I found it easier to use common sense on some questions to explain what social economic effects could be for example. For my exam board WJEC it was split 50-50 for human and physical geography. So be prepared that you’d have to do 50% of the more ‘boring’ stuff.
Drama if you enjoy it and will do well just go for it. Friends took drama always enjoyed it, it’s one of the ones I wish I could have taken.
I think geography and history together would be a heavy workload, especially with computing and Spanish (I took computing and French - computing has a lot of theory and French you just had to keep on top of). So I’d advise you to go with drama and either Geography or history, depending on which one you think you’ll enjoy more and do better in.
Original post by FlyingSquirrel10
The time has finally come in year 9 where choosing gcse options is becoming real. I’ve got 4 spaces and have already chosen spanish and computing, and have to choose 2 out of drama, geography, history.
I recently found out that if I continue to work extremely hard with maths (i’m planning to work even harder now) I might have a chance to do further maths as well. So, I need to choose my last two options. I was previously going to take drama, because I find it fun and I think it’ll help me be less stressed during gcses (although I understand it has a pretty big workload too however I love acting and devising pieces sounds fun too), but I realised that I could instead fill my last two spaces with both geography and history. Geography has human geography which I find extremely interesting, although physical geography is honestly boring. Basically all of history is interesting to me, and i’m not horrible at essays (of course I’m ready to practice and improve A LOT), so I just can’t decide. I talked to my history and geo teachers and they said take both but I don’t really want to… I’m *aiming* for all 9s (and am willing to do the work). Can I please have some advice? What GCSEs did you take, how did you find them? How useful is geo/history? Should I take drama?
(thank you for reading all this I understand it is a very long message)
I recently found out that if I continue to work extremely hard with maths (i’m planning to work even harder now) I might have a chance to do further maths as well. So, I need to choose my last two options. I was previously going to take drama, because I find it fun and I think it’ll help me be less stressed during gcses (although I understand it has a pretty big workload too however I love acting and devising pieces sounds fun too), but I realised that I could instead fill my last two spaces with both geography and history. Geography has human geography which I find extremely interesting, although physical geography is honestly boring. Basically all of history is interesting to me, and i’m not horrible at essays (of course I’m ready to practice and improve A LOT), so I just can’t decide. I talked to my history and geo teachers and they said take both but I don’t really want to… I’m *aiming* for all 9s (and am willing to do the work). Can I please have some advice? What GCSEs did you take, how did you find them? How useful is geo/history? Should I take drama?
(thank you for reading all this I understand it is a very long message)
Defo do drama and history, lot of people did both geo and history and regretted it! I did history and loved the subject at the end of the day I’m more Motivated to revise what I’m interested in so I defo preferred history learning and revision. Drama is also a good subject and I’d recommend it since you like it! Good luck!
Original post by hello543682
You sound like you’re on track to get excellent grades no matter what you take, so I would recommend doing the subjects that you like the most (it sounds like that would certainly include Drama). I’m in Y11 and chose to do no creative subjects and I certainly regret that - it definitely is a release from the more academic content.
I take History and Geography and would definitely caution away from Geography. Not only does History open more doors for the future and teach you better analytical and essay skills, it is (in my opinion of course) just more interesting. That is however just my personal preference, and it’s certainly worth noting the workload for History, and the grade boundaries, are much higher.
Hope this helps!
Original post by FlyingSquirrel10
The time has finally come in year 9 where choosing gcse options is becoming real. I’ve got 4 spaces and have already chosen spanish and computing, and have to choose 2 out of drama, geography, history.
I recently found out that if I continue to work extremely hard with maths (i’m planning to work even harder now) I might have a chance to do further maths as well. So, I need to choose my last two options. I was previously going to take drama, because I find it fun and I think it’ll help me be less stressed during gcses (although I understand it has a pretty big workload too however I love acting and devising pieces sounds fun too), but I realised that I could instead fill my last two spaces with both geography and history. Geography has human geography which I find extremely interesting, although physical geography is honestly boring. Basically all of history is interesting to me, and i’m not horrible at essays (of course I’m ready to practice and improve A LOT), so I just can’t decide. I talked to my history and geo teachers and they said take both but I don’t really want to… I’m *aiming* for all 9s (and am willing to do the work). Can I please have some advice? What GCSEs did you take, how did you find them? How useful is geo/history? Should I take drama?
(thank you for reading all this I understand it is a very long message)
I recently found out that if I continue to work extremely hard with maths (i’m planning to work even harder now) I might have a chance to do further maths as well. So, I need to choose my last two options. I was previously going to take drama, because I find it fun and I think it’ll help me be less stressed during gcses (although I understand it has a pretty big workload too however I love acting and devising pieces sounds fun too), but I realised that I could instead fill my last two spaces with both geography and history. Geography has human geography which I find extremely interesting, although physical geography is honestly boring. Basically all of history is interesting to me, and i’m not horrible at essays (of course I’m ready to practice and improve A LOT), so I just can’t decide. I talked to my history and geo teachers and they said take both but I don’t really want to… I’m *aiming* for all 9s (and am willing to do the work). Can I please have some advice? What GCSEs did you take, how did you find them? How useful is geo/history? Should I take drama?
(thank you for reading all this I understand it is a very long message)
You sound like you’re on track to get excellent grades no matter what you take, so I would recommend doing the subjects that you like the most (it sounds like that would certainly include Drama). I’m in Y11 and chose to do no creative subjects and I certainly regret that - it definitely is a release from the more academic content.
I take History and Geography and would definitely caution away from Geography. Not only does History open more doors for the future and teach you better analytical and essay skills, it is (in my opinion of course) just more interesting. That is however just my personal preference, and it’s certainly worth noting the workload for History, and the grade boundaries, are much higher.
Hope this helps!
What you take as your GCSEs don’t determine your success in academics, it’s what grades you get in those subjects. I took History as my GCSE and it has not opened ANY additional doors then anyone else in year 12 who didn’t take GCSE history unless you want to continue on to do History A-Level. It’s a common misconception with people choosing and doing their GCSEs but it really doesn’t restrict you in anyway shape or form.
That is why teachers advise you to take a subject you are passionate about, sure the grade boundaries are high but you will also need to take into consideration how much time you would spend revising for those topics, your favourite subjects would be revised more and you least favourite would be revised less, that’s just how it works.
Original post by FlyingSquirrel10
The time has finally come in year 9 where choosing gcse options is becoming real. I’ve got 4 spaces and have already chosen spanish and computing, and have to choose 2 out of drama, geography, history.
I recently found out that if I continue to work extremely hard with maths (i’m planning to work even harder now) I might have a chance to do further maths as well. So, I need to choose my last two options. I was previously going to take drama, because I find it fun and I think it’ll help me be less stressed during gcses (although I understand it has a pretty big workload too however I love acting and devising pieces sounds fun too), but I realised that I could instead fill my last two spaces with both geography and history. Geography has human geography which I find extremely interesting, although physical geography is honestly boring. Basically all of history is interesting to me, and i’m not horrible at essays (of course I’m ready to practice and improve A LOT), so I just can’t decide. I talked to my history and geo teachers and they said take both but I don’t really want to… I’m *aiming* for all 9s (and am willing to do the work). Can I please have some advice? What GCSEs did you take, how did you find them? How useful is geo/history? Should I take drama?
(thank you for reading all this I understand it is a very long message)
I recently found out that if I continue to work extremely hard with maths (i’m planning to work even harder now) I might have a chance to do further maths as well. So, I need to choose my last two options. I was previously going to take drama, because I find it fun and I think it’ll help me be less stressed during gcses (although I understand it has a pretty big workload too however I love acting and devising pieces sounds fun too), but I realised that I could instead fill my last two spaces with both geography and history. Geography has human geography which I find extremely interesting, although physical geography is honestly boring. Basically all of history is interesting to me, and i’m not horrible at essays (of course I’m ready to practice and improve A LOT), so I just can’t decide. I talked to my history and geo teachers and they said take both but I don’t really want to… I’m *aiming* for all 9s (and am willing to do the work). Can I please have some advice? What GCSEs did you take, how did you find them? How useful is geo/history? Should I take drama?
(thank you for reading all this I understand it is a very long message)
Why so few choices? Two from drama, geog and history - what about other subjects? No-one has to do Geog or History.
Original post by notkierantho
What you take as your GCSEs don’t determine your success in academics, it’s what grades you get in those subjects. I took History as my GCSE and it has not opened ANY additional doors then anyone else in year 12 who didn’t take GCSE history unless you want to continue on to do History A-Level. It’s a common misconception with people choosing and doing their GCSEs but it really doesn’t restrict you in anyway shape or form.
That is why teachers advise you to take a subject you are passionate about, sure the grade boundaries are high but you will also need to take into consideration how much time you would spend revising for those topics, your favourite subjects would be revised more and you least favourite would be revised less, that’s just how it works.
Original post by hello543682
You sound like you’re on track to get excellent grades no matter what you take, so I would recommend doing the subjects that you like the most (it sounds like that would certainly include Drama). I’m in Y11 and chose to do no creative subjects and I certainly regret that - it definitely is a release from the more academic content.
I take History and Geography and would definitely caution away from Geography. Not only does History open more doors for the future and teach you better analytical and essay skills, it is (in my opinion of course) just more interesting. That is however just my personal preference, and it’s certainly worth noting the workload for History, and the grade boundaries, are much higher.
Hope this helps!
Original post by FlyingSquirrel10
The time has finally come in year 9 where choosing gcse options is becoming real. I’ve got 4 spaces and have already chosen spanish and computing, and have to choose 2 out of drama, geography, history.
I recently found out that if I continue to work extremely hard with maths (i’m planning to work even harder now) I might have a chance to do further maths as well. So, I need to choose my last two options. I was previously going to take drama, because I find it fun and I think it’ll help me be less stressed during gcses (although I understand it has a pretty big workload too however I love acting and devising pieces sounds fun too), but I realised that I could instead fill my last two spaces with both geography and history. Geography has human geography which I find extremely interesting, although physical geography is honestly boring. Basically all of history is interesting to me, and i’m not horrible at essays (of course I’m ready to practice and improve A LOT), so I just can’t decide. I talked to my history and geo teachers and they said take both but I don’t really want to… I’m *aiming* for all 9s (and am willing to do the work). Can I please have some advice? What GCSEs did you take, how did you find them? How useful is geo/history? Should I take drama?
(thank you for reading all this I understand it is a very long message)
I recently found out that if I continue to work extremely hard with maths (i’m planning to work even harder now) I might have a chance to do further maths as well. So, I need to choose my last two options. I was previously going to take drama, because I find it fun and I think it’ll help me be less stressed during gcses (although I understand it has a pretty big workload too however I love acting and devising pieces sounds fun too), but I realised that I could instead fill my last two spaces with both geography and history. Geography has human geography which I find extremely interesting, although physical geography is honestly boring. Basically all of history is interesting to me, and i’m not horrible at essays (of course I’m ready to practice and improve A LOT), so I just can’t decide. I talked to my history and geo teachers and they said take both but I don’t really want to… I’m *aiming* for all 9s (and am willing to do the work). Can I please have some advice? What GCSEs did you take, how did you find them? How useful is geo/history? Should I take drama?
(thank you for reading all this I understand it is a very long message)
You sound like you’re on track to get excellent grades no matter what you take, so I would recommend doing the subjects that you like the most (it sounds like that would certainly include Drama). I’m in Y11 and chose to do no creative subjects and I certainly regret that - it definitely is a release from the more academic content.
I take History and Geography and would definitely caution away from Geography. Not only does History open more doors for the future and teach you better analytical and essay skills, it is (in my opinion of course) just more interesting. That is however just my personal preference, and it’s certainly worth noting the workload for History, and the grade boundaries, are much higher.
Hope this helps!
What you take as your GCSEs don’t determine your success in academics, it’s what grades you get in those subjects. I took History as my GCSE and it has not opened ANY additional doors then anyone else in year 12 who didn’t take GCSE history unless you want to continue on to do History A-Level. It’s a common misconception with people choosing and doing their GCSEs but it really doesn’t restrict you in anyway shape or form.
That is why teachers advise you to take a subject you are passionate about, sure the grade boundaries are high but you will also need to take into consideration how much time you would spend revising for those topics, your favourite subjects would be revised more and you least favourite would be revised less, that’s just how it works.
I don’t disagree in any way all I’m saying is that, as someone who has taken both, history has given me more transferable skills and taught me knowledge that I apply more often in general life. In that way I think it’s more valuable. Sorry if that came across wrong, I’m not claiming it’s more useful in terms of an education but just for life (although I would say you do objectively learn more writing and essay skills in it than in geography). Of course, do what you like the most!
Original post by Muttley79
Why so few choices? Two from drama, geog and history - what about other subjects? No-one has to do Geog or History.
oh, I do have many choices, but these are the ones I'm most interested in. Other subjects at my school include RS, DT, Music, Art but I don't want to do those. And I definitely want to take either of them, although of course it's not necessary, I know some people doing neither.
(i just realised I'm annoyingly on my second account though I'm OP)
(edited 3 months ago)
Thank you so very much for your help everyone! I'd still love to hear about more experiences of different subjects, but I think I'm leaning towards drama and perhaps history over geography but I'll think about it, since there aren't much resources for my history exam board.
Original post by FlyingSquirrel10
The time has finally come in year 9 where choosing gcse options is becoming real. I’ve got 4 spaces and have already chosen spanish and computing, and have to choose 2 out of drama, geography, history.
I recently found out that if I continue to work extremely hard with maths (i’m planning to work even harder now) I might have a chance to do further maths as well. So, I need to choose my last two options. I was previously going to take drama, because I find it fun and I think it’ll help me be less stressed during gcses (although I understand it has a pretty big workload too however I love acting and devising pieces sounds fun too), but I realised that I could instead fill my last two spaces with both geography and history. Geography has human geography which I find extremely interesting, although physical geography is honestly boring. Basically all of history is interesting to me, and i’m not horrible at essays (of course I’m ready to practice and improve A LOT), so I just can’t decide. I talked to my history and geo teachers and they said take both but I don’t really want to… I’m *aiming* for all 9s (and am willing to do the work). Can I please have some advice? What GCSEs did you take, how did you find them? How useful is geo/history? Should I take drama?
(thank you for reading all this I understand it is a very long message)
I recently found out that if I continue to work extremely hard with maths (i’m planning to work even harder now) I might have a chance to do further maths as well. So, I need to choose my last two options. I was previously going to take drama, because I find it fun and I think it’ll help me be less stressed during gcses (although I understand it has a pretty big workload too however I love acting and devising pieces sounds fun too), but I realised that I could instead fill my last two spaces with both geography and history. Geography has human geography which I find extremely interesting, although physical geography is honestly boring. Basically all of history is interesting to me, and i’m not horrible at essays (of course I’m ready to practice and improve A LOT), so I just can’t decide. I talked to my history and geo teachers and they said take both but I don’t really want to… I’m *aiming* for all 9s (and am willing to do the work). Can I please have some advice? What GCSEs did you take, how did you find them? How useful is geo/history? Should I take drama?
(thank you for reading all this I understand it is a very long message)
hey, when i did gcses i chose history and drama as two of my options, i really enjoyed drama as it was a more relaxed subject and analysing plays + devising was such a fun experience and you learn a lot as well. As for history I struggled with the essay writing at first however your teachers will make sure you learn the best way to structure essays and honestly as long as you're interested in what you're writing about it comes much more naturally so I wouldn't stress if you decide to take it.
whatever you choose it's sure to go great if you put the work in
good luck with your option choices <3
Original post by FlyingSquirrel10
The time has finally come in year 9 where choosing gcse options is becoming real. I’ve got 4 spaces and have already chosen spanish and computing, and have to choose 2 out of drama, geography, history.
I recently found out that if I continue to work extremely hard with maths (i’m planning to work even harder now) I might have a chance to do further maths as well. So, I need to choose my last two options. I was previously going to take drama, because I find it fun and I think it’ll help me be less stressed during gcses (although I understand it has a pretty big workload too however I love acting and devising pieces sounds fun too), but I realised that I could instead fill my last two spaces with both geography and history. Geography has human geography which I find extremely interesting, although physical geography is honestly boring. Basically all of history is interesting to me, and i’m not horrible at essays (of course I’m ready to practice and improve A LOT), so I just can’t decide. I talked to my history and geo teachers and they said take both but I don’t really want to… I’m *aiming* for all 9s (and am willing to do the work). Can I please have some advice? What GCSEs did you take, how did you find them? How useful is geo/history? Should I take drama?
(thank you for reading all this I understand it is a very long message)
I recently found out that if I continue to work extremely hard with maths (i’m planning to work even harder now) I might have a chance to do further maths as well. So, I need to choose my last two options. I was previously going to take drama, because I find it fun and I think it’ll help me be less stressed during gcses (although I understand it has a pretty big workload too however I love acting and devising pieces sounds fun too), but I realised that I could instead fill my last two spaces with both geography and history. Geography has human geography which I find extremely interesting, although physical geography is honestly boring. Basically all of history is interesting to me, and i’m not horrible at essays (of course I’m ready to practice and improve A LOT), so I just can’t decide. I talked to my history and geo teachers and they said take both but I don’t really want to… I’m *aiming* for all 9s (and am willing to do the work). Can I please have some advice? What GCSEs did you take, how did you find them? How useful is geo/history? Should I take drama?
(thank you for reading all this I understand it is a very long message)
i took geography and history and i love both, im in year 11 now.
geography is honestly easy, the human geog topics are definitely really interesting and fun so you'll like them. the physical geog parts are boring sometimes but if you do rivers and/or natural hazards they're both actually kinda fun. coasts is the boring one for me. although, rivers and coasts are similar in what you need to know so revising it is so easy.
history is so interesting but also an absolute killer tbh. you have to know A LOT and its the one gcse I take where the amount of content is a bit overwhelming. having said that, keeping up with revision from the start of year 10 (ie making flashcards as you go) will be a massive help. its hard, but so doable and enjoying the subject makes it easier anyway. the grade boundaries are also really low (in my mock i got around 60% and thats a grade 8 according to last summers boundaries) so thats a bonus.
to conclude - love them both, but I think geography could cause you less stress in the long run!
Original post by i_am_a_potato
oh, I do have many choices, but these are the ones I'm most interested in. Other subjects at my school include RS, DT, Music, Art but I don't want to do those. And I definitely want to take either of them, although of course it's not necessary, I know some people doing neither.
(i just realised I'm annoyingly on my second account though I'm OP)
(i just realised I'm annoyingly on my second account though I'm OP)
I would check which board and which specification you'll be doing. Which looks more interesting?
I think Drama plus Geog or History would be the best balance.
I took both History and geo and I loved history and personally I think it's more like 'what i experienced is the best because its all i know'. Sure I will admit history can be boring to some people and i only did aqa for both so idk how ocr is like, but history is far more memoriable than geography and geo is far more work despite being less to memorise. History feels half like common sense to me and learning about the cold war, ww2 and anglo saxon wars was hella cool (although we got hit with some boring chapters on medicine through history)
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