GCSE's

[panthro]

Hi All

My sister is currently choosing her options for GCSE's and wants to do French, German, Geography and History. Her teachers are trying to force her to to a design and technology subject, which she doesnt want to do.
I have advised her to do what she enjoys the most, which is her original choice. Shes very upset atm as she seems to think the school are going to enforce her to do the D&T subject. Im pretty sure this isnt the case, as they cant force you to do a subject unless it is core, which S&T isnt.

Ive explained to her that once she is at a stage where she chooses a degree, it will only matter that she gets 5 C's and above, and that her A levels are more important. Although my mum has been told by her French, German, Geography and History teachers that she will get an A* in all of these subjects if she took them for GCSE. Any advice as to whether her choice is the right one? I personally think it is, as she enjoys them and she will get good marks in them.

EDIT: she is considering business studies too, but can you take business studies at A level if you didnt do it for GCSE?

 

[panthro]

I also think that saying "you only need 5 Cs to get into university, the A-levels are more important" is a bit short-sighted - if you want to get into a good university then decent GCSE grades are a big advantage.

I meant to try and explain to her, that her GCSE's are not the "be all end all". I managed to get into brunel university studying engineering with pretty poor GCSE results.

 

[panthro]

Indeed, they do mean very little after you have A Levels, unless she wants to go into one of the top medicine schools. I hear some are starting to require a certain number of A/A*'s are GCSE now! :|

I was having a conversation with her the other day about what she wants to do, and she is considering medicine or physcology. Im not worried about her underachieving because she is hard working and naturally clever (only one out of 3 of us!). She is top of her class for nearly all her subjects. Im surprised that some unis are asking for A* at GCSE.

 

[panthro]

They don't usually ask for A* GCSEs, it's more to do with the general high standard of applicants with straight A A-level grades at some of the better univiersites and more popular subjects. They end up looking at GCSE performance as a way of differentiating between some candidates.

what kind of subjects would you need to do at A level to gain entry to a decent uni in either:
a) medicine
or
b) physcology