GCSE Options - What shall I do!?

Definately pick subjects you enjoy as a starter. Look up Syllabuses on the internet for those you are interested in.
(these are my experiences of these subjects. your exam board may be different. and i'm summarising a lot)

IT/ICT is orientated towards basic hardware knowledge, Software, Communications technology etc. and how those technologies are applied. It sucks, but you could do a lot worse and for us, coursework is 60% of the grade, so you have a great opportunity to get marks in the bag before the exam. You have a detailed background in computers so this should be no problem, asides for the naff things like Supermarket check-ins and all the blooming acronyms...

History is a very interesting, and very hard subject. The exam format is Lethal. You have to know the course inside out to be able to complete the paper. 2/3 sides of A4 in 45 mins... it's tough. However the course is interesting, and teaches good 'transferrable skills" in analysis supposedly.Coursework was a series of essays on Vietnam for us. Don't be put off, if you like History and enjoy it then go for it.

Geography is a very varied topic. You cover natural features like Volcanoes, plate tectonics, rivers and coasts as well as social and economic topics like Population, settlement, energy use, urbanization, counter-urbanisation. I've taken quite a liking to it for a subject I chose because I couldn't think of anything else. :p

a Modern language is a plus, it's compulsory at my school (as is R.E :rolleyes: ) and I don't think it looks good if you don't have one.

Business Studies I don't do, but if you want to start your own business sometime it's probably a good choice.

French, one next year) History, Business Studies and ICT gives you a good selection when it comes to the really important choices; As/A levels. At that stage you may be also able to take up Computing, which is a more advanced subject than IT from what I see... (get back to you on that one next year)

Just make sure you do well in the base subjects (Maths, English etc.) this year if your school streams you. This is quite important. I did pants in Maths and english during my choices year and so am in the top science set, but a very, very low set for those (scraped into english lit by the skin of my teeth) and been regretting it ever since. All my friends are in higher sets, the people suck and so do the teachers.

You know (roughly) what you want to do, and you are well on your way to doing it methinks... I envy you on that count.
You're also getting a heck of lot more good advice here than we ever got from the careers department.

And as for double award science.. we don't get a choice anymore I think. Our school stopped doing triple award, never mind separate sciences.
 
Last edited:
as said...gcse's mean nothin, just pick the ones you will enjoy the most, and are easy to do
 
All you need to do is study hard in your Maths English and Science. Make sure you get as many good grades as possible. GCSE's dont count for much once you reach degree stage, and you may decide that IT isnt not for you a few years down the line. Its best to stay open and broad minded during your GCSE choices. As quoted already, do what you enjoy. But make sure you do it to the best of your ability :)
 
Make sure you do a modern language - I'm surprised it isn't compulsory

A lot of employers look for a modern language at some level - I feel it would hurt you to not have it
 
Modern languages are awesome. I did two at GCSE level and I've continued one to A-Level. I haven't regretted it a bit; it's given me plenty of extra options to choose at University for all sorts of fun abroad. It's also a permanently useful transferrable skill.

Other than that, just don't narrow yourself down too much at this stage. Leave your options open. :)

Edit: Related to the above point: I wanted to go into I.T. before I did my GCSEs...now I'm starting a Law degree this year. I'm not saying that you will necessarily change your mind, but ensure that you can if you want at a later stage.
 
Last edited:
Just whatever you do, when you get to A-levels, do NOT do ICT. The GCSE is fine, it's not very interesting, but it's just as good as any other. The A-level is complete crap. Avoid like the plague if you're interested in the technical side of computing.
 
i'll echo comments above, just pick something you enjoy, as gcse's being as easy as they are these days, there value is practically nothing imo, so worry about making sensible choices linked to your future when you get to a-levels.
 
Energize said:
Dont you mean triple award/seperate sciences? Double award is compulsary.
Click to expand...
I think there is such thing as single award. In my school no one did single award, the lesser able students did double award, and the more able students did seperates.
 
Caged said:
GCSEs won't do **** for job prospects once you've done A-levels > degree > experience. Don't overthink the choices, do what you will find easy / interesting.
Click to expand...

A lot of people coming out with this line of thinking, and while GCSEs aren't the be-all and end-all, they shouldn't be overlooked in importance. For a start most reputable schools/colleges will want a minimum of 5/6 gcses at Grade A*-C. When applying for unis (if he decides to), good GCSE results are worth having because at that time you normally don't know your final A-level grades.
Then of course, some people may not even decide to do A-levels at all, depending on their situation and what options are available to them.

Moving back onto the issue at hand, I reckon for GCSEs you should just choose what you are best at. At degree level, it definitely helps to be interested in what you are doing, but you take so many GCSEs that the odd boring subject won't bog you down too much as long as you have the talent to handle it.

As far as IT goes, I'd definitely choose a language over History. Being multilingual makes you stand out from the thousands of other people interested in computing, and opens up potential opportunities for jobs working abroad. There's a chap I know on IRC, for example, who's job is basically managing translations of documents and stuff like that. I chose Spanish for GCSE (French was compulsary), but given the choice again I'd go for German.

Another thing to consider is that to study some subjects at A-level, it's advisable (if not essential) to have a grounding in the subject from GCSE.
 
Mohinder said:
GCSE's don't matter, at all.

I didn't even do mine and I do fine.
Click to expand...

wholeheartedly agree with that, a trained chimp could do them, they've lost all value in my opinion, and a-levels look to be heading the same way.
 
Psyk said:
I think there is such thing as single award. In my school no one did single award, the lesser able students did double award, and the more able students did seperates.
Click to expand...

Shame I never had that opportunity. I was struggling to pick my final GCSE subject (went for Spanish in the end), and of course, my worst grade came in that subject :) Being able to do 3 sciences instead of a double award would always certainly have allowed me to obtain straight As.
 
BUSH said:
wholeheartedly agree with that, a trained chimp could do them, they've lost all value in my opinion, and a-levels look to be heading the same way.
Click to expand...

It's just that they're the least relevant qualifications, imho.

I thought it was a disaster when I got the boot from school.. but I did a couple of crap jobs for a bit of money, then went to college and did a course specific to what I wanted, and soon enough I ended up doing it. I didn't need any qualifications to get into that college, either. Sure if you want a degree, you need your GCSEs, and as good ones as you can get.. but otherwise, if you stuff 'em - don't worry about it, imho.
 
I think it's pretty much only Oxbridge that will look at your GCSE grades when you apply. I don't think any other universities will really care if you have decent A-levels. Saying that I really would aim for at least 5 A*-C grades. A lot of colleges/sixth forms won't let you do A-levels with less than that. But the point still stands that it's not really important which subjects you do.
 
I guess things have changed a bit nowadays with the implementation of AS levels and modular courses being more commonplace. When I was applying for uni (1997), the only thing unis had to go on really was your GCSE results and your predicted A-Level grades. However given that the predicted grades were rather arbitary, most top unis would pay a lot of attention to your GCSEs results, as they were the only official 'proven' grades.
 
Psyk said:
I think there is such thing as single award. In my school no one did single award, the lesser able students did double award, and the more able students did seperates.
Click to expand...
At our school, we have GCSE Applied Science (worth 1 GCSE). The more able do double award (2 GCSE's) I'm sure it's like that.

In ICT I'm doing the highest qualifcation at my school called DiDA (Diploma in Digital Application) its a new course that has just been relased and replaces one of the previous ones (think it's GNVQ) The DiDA is worth 4 GCSE's so it will help me a lot if i pass.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom