gcse art vs geography

5

I've chosen my gcses for next academic year and I'm not sure what to do. for reference i'm taking the three core, triple science, spanish, history, mandarin and art with a higher project qualification (HPQ) in textiles. an hpq is like a epq from a levels just at gcse level. I can't change the fact i'm taking two languages, three sciences and history because i enjoy all of them, im just not sure what to do about art. from what i've heard art is extremely time consuming and i used to do a lot (i was an art scholar at my old school and did a potential scholarhsip to my current school but didn't get one as it was highly competitive) but i've started enjoying geography more and am considering dropping art from geography. an hpq is also very time consuming with it being two year long self led project. i'm very interested in fashion so maybe doing creative subjects are better? please help me!

Reply 1

gabbie_eden

10

I'd say you would need to consider your time management, depending on what your exam board is, Art is more coursework whereas Geography there is no coursework. Of course I would also advise doing subjects you are actually going to enjoy more in the long - term but also, there is no need for you to think this early, but also having a rough idea of what subjects you would take for A-level / IB as your (i)gcses basically set that foundation.

Ask yourself, what you aspire to do, it doesnt have to be specific..
Do you actually enjoy these subjects?
Will I actually perform well in the long - run.

Good luck with your choices, you can also refer to your head of year/ academics for more support!

Feel free to PM! 🙂

Reply 2

anxious&paranoid

18

Agreed, art is very time consuming but you don't have to revise for it so if you do do art, then you're technically only doing 2 subjects, and treat art as a consistent hobby? (idk my English isn't that great)

Whereas Geography has a lot more content and a lot more to revise like case studies and dates, and you also have to spend time doing past paper questions and essays.
Basically if you're great at memorizing and learning content, do geo.

But of course, also mentioned by the previous user, do consider what you want to study in A Level, as some subjects need you to have studied some specific subjects in gcse. Although in my school, art and geo a level does not require
gcse art and geo.

I did both art and Geography in gcse and I struggled with geo a bit with all the content and had to cram lots of stuff before exams, but you should be fine if you do lots of revision.

Good luck :smile:

(edited 10 months ago)

Reply 3

oxfordgirly111

8

Original post

by mackenziear

I've chosen my gcses for next academic year and I'm not sure what to do. for reference i'm taking the three core, triple science, spanish, history, mandarin and art with a higher project qualification (HPQ) in textiles. an hpq is like a epq from a levels just at gcse level. I can't change the fact i'm taking two languages, three sciences and history because i enjoy all of them, im just not sure what to do about art. from what i've heard art is extremely time consuming and i used to do a lot (i was an art scholar at my old school and did a potential scholarhsip to my current school but didn't get one as it was highly competitive) but i've started enjoying geography more and am considering dropping art from geography. an hpq is also very time consuming with it being two year long self led project. i'm very interested in fashion so maybe doing creative subjects are better? please help me!

I did GCSE art and it is extremely time consuming if you want to achieve a grade 9. Geography for me though was even more difficult, because number of case studies is ridiculous in my opinion. I LOVED Geography in Year 9/ Year 10, but in Year 11 the content was too much alongside Art. Both subjects are very demanding and it is possible to do both, just as long as you're consistently learning those case studies and getting AT LEAST two sketchbook pages FULLY COMPLETED each week (coming from a Grade 9 student)

also sorry for the caps I'm a bit dramatic lol

Reply 4

isaac123444566

18

I do a different exam board (OCR) But I genuinely think geography is the easiest humanity. For case studies (we had like 20) I found like 5-7 bullet points like 2 causes, consequences, responses for physical or pros/cons for human
If you learn the case studies it's like 50% of your grade, and to be honest I think paper 2 and paper 3 are easy (for us paper 2 is human - quite a bit is common sense and can be made up if you're short, and paper 3 you don't really need to learn anything, just apply your knowledge)

Maybe I'm biased though haha (I'm doing A level geo)

Reply 5

Skittles_beans

10

Original post

by mackenziear

I've chosen my gcses for next academic year and I'm not sure what to do. for reference i'm taking the three core, triple science, spanish, history, mandarin and art with a higher project qualification (HPQ) in textiles. an hpq is like a epq from a levels just at gcse level. I can't change the fact i'm taking two languages, three sciences and history because i enjoy all of them, im just not sure what to do about art. from what i've heard art is extremely time consuming and i used to do a lot (i was an art scholar at my old school and did a potential scholarhsip to my current school but didn't get one as it was highly competitive) but i've started enjoying geography more and am considering dropping art from geography. an hpq is also very time consuming with it being two year long self led project. i'm very interested in fashion so maybe doing creative subjects are better? please help me!

Art is somewhat time consuming and the thing is, you can't rush nor cram it if it came down to a time crunch, but at a GCSE level it is pretty enjoyable. If you enjoy art or would like a taster of a career in fashion, it would be a good idea, and the good thing is there is no revision involved, it almost feels like spending free time. Geography, I'd say is a pretty easy and enjoyable subject, at one early point like all GCSEs it just comes a point of repetition that reinforces the content in you.

If you find yourself missing one or the other, you could always pick them for a levels. I did both Art and Geography, and I'd say those were pretty easy subjects and I got an 8 and 7.

Reply 6

renahtamara

2

if i'm being honest here (i took art but not geography) and i say this with the best intent DON'T TAKE ART if you aren't prepared enough for the workload. like it's an amazing subject in general but only when other factors work in harmony ig. take a good long look at the art teachers and the curriculum because that id what you're gonna have to deal with for the next 3/4ish years and think about whether it genuinely is manageable or not. also exam boards too... and it also depends on how high a grade you want i suppose, because sometimes life messes up and bam everything you worked really hard for ends up going towards nothing. good luck for whatever you do though!

Reply 7

Macclesfield

11

Art IS very time-consuming, much more time-consuming than Geography, but also keep in mind that this time-consumption tends to only be a problem with people who aren't interested in pursuing Art; Any art you do outside of school can still be put into your coursework under the guise of "experiments" and "practice", so you can gain marks for engaging in the hobby regardless.

Art will take up much more of your time, but I personally felt like learning more about the visual arts was very useful (As a complete STEM kid who didnt care much for Art before). I'd also note that so long as you're taking a humanity at all, you should be fine. Though this isn't a universal rule (And you SHOULD check with sixth forms you'd consider later on about this!), whatever GCSE subjects you take will usually be fine. I was accepted unconditionally into Sixth forms where I hadn't taken a single subject I chose at GCSE, with things like RE and Philosophy (Of which I did neither.)

This isn't a hard rule, and some sixth forms are stricter about this, but generally Sixth Forms will be more lenient on GCSEs because you're more likely to make irreversible choices which you regret. If you make up the grades in History, and you make the case that you now want to do Geography (and you know what the risk is of taking a subject you didn't at GCSE), most sixth forms will be more than willing to accept you and moreso if you're applying to the school where you did GCSE's.

Basically, just choose what you enjoy more. If you're taking a humanity, you'll most likely be fine regardless. Always check first though!!

Reply 8

sillysod69

5

I dropped art at the start of Y11 after taking it for GCSE and it's all personal preference but I hated it - it was nothing like other lessons, they didn't teach you anything, just dropped work on you where you were limited creatively anyway. In my other subjects I was getting 7/8/9 and art I was predicted a 3 by the end of the year. Fashion is a subject that doesn't require a gcse grade to show an interest in there's really so many other ways, imo art gcse kills your passion for it and I was just stuck doing experimentation the whole course. There were girls in my class who genuinely could have been professional artists but were graded at 5s because of quantity over quality there is just sooo much to do all the time you can never have a break

Reply 9

Riya love

12

From what you've said, its obvious you like art and you are more familiar with art and do better at art than at geography, so why not go with art?
People do better at things they like. You are probably already doing well at art, so you will perhaps get higher grades at art than at geography. Art does have a lot of coursework though, so its best if you aren't bogged down with other subjects that require a lot of coursework/revision otherwise Year 10 and Year 11 will definitely be more of a struggle than they should be.
In your situation, I would go for art. If you are passionate about art, or like it enough to create artwork even when you don't have to, its likely best if you go for art. Moreover, it can enhance those skills you have already, making you a better artist.
(I picked Art as one of my options and I will be in Year 11 this September. I did not pick Geography though.)

Reply 10

Riya love

12

Original post

by oxfordgirly111

I did GCSE art and it is extremely time consuming if you want to achieve a grade 9. Geography for me though was even more difficult, because number of case studies is ridiculous in my opinion. I LOVED Geography in Year 9/ Year 10, but in Year 11 the content was too much alongside Art. Both subjects are very demanding and it is possible to do both, just as long as you're consistently learning those case studies and getting AT LEAST two sketchbook pages FULLY COMPLETED each week (coming from a Grade 9 student)
also sorry for the caps I'm a bit dramatic lol

Thanks for that tiny bit of advice at the end 🙂 Going to try and complete more sketchbook pages this summer now

gcse art vs geography

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