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I've got to choose my initial GCSE options before we break up for christmas holidays and was wondering if anyone could give me some advice and suggestions. I want to take History and Buisiness but am unsure about the other two.
Behemoth
07-12-2005, 18:43
I took History and hated it. It's full of essays and the exam paper is only essay questions. I took Business as well and loved it though!
whats on the list? i took geography and love it... and i like ICT aswell. don't take sociology though!
CrazyLea
07-12-2005, 18:51
i suggest you pick something you enjoy cause other wise you will get bored and might find it hard. ICT nots bad :p
whats on the list? i took geography and love it... and i like ICT aswell. don't take sociology though!
Stuff like French, German, Spanish, Russian, History, Geography, Law, Economics, Sociology, Psycology, Buisiness, Social Sciences, Cookery, Graphics, Systems and Control, Textiles, ICT, Resistant Materials, Health and Social Care, Art, Life skills, Music, Drama.
i wouldn't suggest music- i've heard its really boring
CrazyLea
07-12-2005, 20:18
ive heard art is fun. cookings alright but lots of coursework
I took ICT, History, Drama and Textiles. Loved Drama and ICT, History was so boring
di marco
07-12-2005, 21:13
i took french, business studies, performing arts and pe. peforming arts was great! i didnt like business studies but i think that was cos of the teacher, pe was good, the theory wasnt difficult for it, french was ok, i didnt learn much more than id learnt before. my sis is taking food tech and loves it but theres loads of cw, shes also taking history and she thinks its ok but i never liked writing essays thats why i didnt take it. as lea said though, you should pick something you enjoy already, or if its a new subject something that sounds interesting and ask the subject teacher questions about it
i suggest you pick something you enjoy cause other wise you will get bored and might find it hard. ICT nots bad :p
i totally agree, go with what you enjoy, not what your parents say or what you think is best for your carrerr, its your life so do what you like, and gcses dont effect what a levels you take, it isnt until a level that it matters what options you take
history i woiuldnt advise you do unless you are very clever, its hard work and hard to follow. hard coursework and a hell of a lot of revisoion, and the questions are all essays and solid! (says the kid that got A*)
good luck and let us know how you get on!
Stuff like French, German, Spanish, Russian, History, Geography, Law, Economics, Sociology, Psycology, Buisiness, Social Sciences, Cookery, Graphics, Systems and Control, Textiles, ICT, Resistant Materials, Health and Social Care, Art, Life skills, Music, Drama.
graphics is a good one! but it depends on your project, its the best creative dt.... i had to design and make a model of a cafe and it was alot of fun!
Chloe-Elise
07-12-2005, 22:09
I took History, Goegraphy, Art and Dual Science, I recommend Art and History, they are really good :)
di marco
08-12-2005, 06:33
i totally agree, go with what you enjoy, not what your parents say or what you think is best for your carrerr, its your life so do what you like, and gcses dont effect what a levels you take, it isnt until a level that it matters what options you take
yeh dont let your parents tell you what to take, and dont let your school persuade you either, my school kept going on at me about my options but i didnt change them and im glad i didnt. however, if you have a career in mind it would be best to check out what qualifications you need as some alevel courses require you to have done the subject at gcse (well thats what i found anyway). but most importantly, as i said before and what others have said, do what you enjoy, dont pick something you hate just cos you think it will be easy as i guarantee that if you dont enjoy it it wont seem easy!
lollymay
08-12-2005, 10:57
i am taking
re - thats ok even though its compulsary
geography - ok too
history -great
maths - cos we had too
art - dont really do much
graphics - thats quite hard
biology - really easy
physics - really really really hard and really really really boring
english lang and lit - cos we had too
french - worst thing ever had to do it
i like languages, butif you don't like them then don't take the because they will be hard work
Languages are helpfull if your good at them. You can show off it you can do it, even if your not fluent, because it shows you can figure things out, and communicate well.
di marco
08-12-2005, 15:31
it was compulsory to do a language when i did gcse and in a way im glad cos i managed to get an A for french and if we hadnt have had to take a language i would prob have chosen to do food tech instead of french and i think french will prob be more use to me later on
di marco
08-12-2005, 15:55
i took:
maths - compulsory
english language and lit - compulsory
double science (you do exams in biology, chemistry and physics then get 2 gcses at the end) - compulsory
re (short course, only get half a gcse) - compulsory
it - compulsory
statistics - that was ok, we got given the choice to do that as an extra or not as i was in the top maths set, i only did it cos my teacher said that you can get a C without learning anything else, just revising what you leanrt for maths!
french - we had to take a language and i couldnt do german so i had to take french
business studies - only took it cos i didnt want to do any of the other subjects in the group and i thought it would be useful, i was rubbish at it and hated it!
pe - good, the theory isnt hard and the written cw part isnt really written, you have to do an exercise plan to do and stuff like that, choosing the sports you want to do was fun too
performing arts - that was by far the best! i loved every lesson of it and even enjoyed the written parts to back up the practical. a word of advice though, dont take it as an easy option like my friend did, its not a doss, you have to do loads of work, but its worth it!
i took Graphics - because it was mainly coursework based and alot of fun and if you have a good teacher then a technology is a good one to take, German - because i was resonably good at it, Music because i enjoyed it and Geography because i liked it (and the teacher) At the end of the day its your decision just dont take anything that you wont enjoy as it will make you not want to work.
I took;
english lang and media- cause i had to
english literature- because i'm in the top set
maths- because i had to
double science- cause i had to
history- that one is quite good. We dont do that many essays like most people reckon in my school, if you compare it to subjects like english. Its not bad, but you have to be into that type of thing
Geography- its ok, but it can get boring. The coursework isn't that bad, and the exam is only worth 50% so you dont have as much pressure. My exam board do a "decion making exam" in january as well though.
German- this rocks. It can get hard, and the coursework is difficult, but its funny and usefull.
ICT- i do a double course, and its ok. I dont do a theory exam, everything i do, even the exam, is computer based. I've already done the exam (and got an A!!), and the coursework is worth 66%, so again, you dont have so much pressure.
RE- cause we had to.
Just choose something that you like, and enjoy. Dont worry about the coursework, because you get help on that. To be honest, all of the subjects are as hard as each other, so dont base it on that amount of work you'll get, or the coursework/homework, but base it on what your interested in, and what you'll enjoy.
CrazyLea
08-12-2005, 16:49
whats statistics?? we didnt have a choice of performing arts or graphics. i took english math double sci (compuls) french geog ict food tech. food tech was sooo boring
i took english lit and lang- compulsory
maths- compulsory
double science- compulsory
french- compulsory
RE- because i'm in the p band
then my options:
German- because i like languages and the teacher
Geogrpahy- i really love this subject and i'm glad i didn't take music instad
ICT- because i couldn't do food tech, as they didn;t do it in our year for some strange reason
Sociology- worst mistake ever... should have taken keyboarding
.:SpIcYsPy:.
08-12-2005, 18:17
Next year when I choose stuff I know Im definatly picking ICT and Buisness Studies!! :D... We are learning more about it later in the year.. quite looking forward to it actually :)
My son is chosing his subjects next march for his Scottish standard grades. He has to do Maths, English, French. One of History, Geography and Economics, plus another 4 subjects from columns. He will also get RE, PE and Social Ed but will not be examined on them,
Personally I did, maths, arithmetic,english, french, geography, physics, chemistry and biology. I absolutely loved Biology and physics, thought that chemistry was great - I am kind of surprised that so few of you are planning to do sciences.
I took History, Goegraphy, Art and Dual Science, I recommend Art and History, they are really good :)
What's dual science?
i totally agree, go with what you enjoy, not what your parents say or what you think is best for your carrerr, its your life so do what you like, and gcses dont effect what a levels you take, it isnt until a level that it matters what options you take
history i woiuldnt advise you do unless you are very clever, its hard work and hard to follow. hard coursework and a hell of a lot of revisoion, and the questions are all essays and solid! (says the kid that got A*)
good luck and let us know how you get on!
I've always done well in History essays and it's that that got me into top set for humanities so I think I will take that.
I took:
P.E
Geography
Textiles
Double Science
ICT,RS,CZ are compulsoary!!
so are maths and english!!
I regret taking geography now and i wish i took art instead! but its too late for me to change now!!
so i reccomend you do want you enjoy and dont rush into things!
What's dual science?
double science i imagine but i'm not sure!
di marco
09-12-2005, 06:41
whats statistics??
erm its like data and graphs and stuff like that
We got the schools' booklet out today and there are considerably less subjects than in the other booklet we had.
The choices are:
Art 2d
Art 3d
Business
Textiles
Graphics
Resistant materials
P.E (if you don't choose it you dont do an exam in it, luckily for me)
History
Geography
Media Studies
Music
Drama
Photography
ICT
Dance
French
German
Spanish
di marco
10-12-2005, 11:04
can you choose any of them? or are they in blocks? cos at my school you had to choose one from each of 4 blocks
same here, di marco. we had that kind of thing aswell. and i only regret taking sociology.
samantha nixon
10-12-2005, 13:52
one thing in food tech youse are saying its a lot of course work but it might be different at our school but you have 3 weeks work experience which all school do but if you take 1 week or more at a cafe restuarant or something then you dont have food course work but that might just be our school
can you choose any of them? or are they in blocks? cos at my school you had to choose one from each of 4 blocks
This is to help them put the subjects in blocks but my tutor said that the more accurate you are now, the more chance you have of the subjects you want being in separate blocks.
di marco
10-12-2005, 15:22
This is to help them put the subjects in blocks but my tutor said that the more accurate you are now, the more chance you have of the subjects you want being in separate blocks.
oh right ok. do you know what you want to take yet?
di marco
10-12-2005, 15:24
one thing in food tech youse are saying its a lot of course work but it might be different at our school but you have 3 weeks work experience which all school do but if you take 1 week or more at a cafe restuarant or something then you dont have food course work but that might just be our school
my sis had loads of food tech cw, and its mostly written stuff not making food and that. it might depend on the exam board then cos this board you have to do loads of cw
My school is with AQA. What board was your sis with?
oh right ok. do you know what you want to take yet?
History, business studies but im still unsure about the other two. Considering Media Studies, Geography, ICT and Food tech. If anyone could tell me what the above four are like I wuuld be very grateful.
squillyfer
10-12-2005, 21:43
i took history and geography and love them both we do AQA
Geography is good. Easy coursework as well. Although you do have a lot of case studies to remember, like how many people died in various earthquakes/volcanoes etc. Its not that bad though. ICT is good as well. The coursework isn't that bad, alhough its harder that geography. ICT is a good subject to have as well, as it is needed in almost every profession, isn't it.
di marco
11-12-2005, 08:13
History, business studies but im still unsure about the other two. Considering Media Studies, Geography, ICT and Food tech. If anyone could tell me what the above four are like I wuuld be very grateful.
i did IT cos it was compulsory at my school and i found it relatively easy and its quite fun as well, and like abi said it would be a good gcse to have. even though theres loads of work for food tech my sis is really enjoying it, shes found that if you write up the cw a bit every week as you go along then although theres a lot it doesnt seem as much. we didnt get the choice of media studies and i dont take it for alevel but i know a lot of people who have taken it and not enjoyed it, either cos it wasnt what they thought it would be or cos its a lot harder than people seem to think
geography- relatively easy providing you remember your case studies.
ict- the cwk that we do is quite easy as we do a smaller project to teach us how to do it then a big project.
di marco
11-12-2005, 15:40
ict- the cwk that we do is quite easy as we do a smaller project to teach us how to do it then a big project.
yeh thats what we did too
geography- relatively easy providing you remember your case studies.
ict- the cwk that we do is quite easy as we do a smaller project to teach us how to do it then a big project.
Spoke to my Geography teacher yesterday and he said I should take Geography so I think I'll take that, just stuck between ICT and Media Studies now.
do you want to go into media when you are older?
If you do, then obviously media studies wouldbe better, but if yuor not sure, then i'd go with ICT if i were you, becaues then you cans till go into media, but you can go into other things as well.
ict goes with everything and is always a good skill to have
Lots of jobs want you to have it as well, and if oyu go onto a levels, then sometimes you need to have ICT to do certain courses.
di marco
13-12-2005, 15:56
yeh id say IT was the better option as well but obviously im not you so..............
Thats what i'd choose to be noest, as it keeps your options open in the future, with college and a level choices. I'm a very indeseisive person though, if you know you want to go into the media, then do that, otherwise try the other one, i reckon. Its up to you.
di marco
13-12-2005, 20:13
Thats what i'd choose to be noest, as it keeps your options open in the future, with college and a level choices. I'm a very indeseisive person though, if you know you want to go into the media, then do that, otherwise try the other one, i reckon. Its up to you.
yeh if you def know you want to go into media do that but otherwise do IT as you can always do media at Alevel without doing it at gcse
exactly. I'm not very good at getting across what i want to say, am i? :(
di marco
13-12-2005, 20:27
exactly. I'm not very good at getting across what i want to say, am i? :(
yep i understood what you meant :) but then i dont always explain myself properly either!
lol, well as long as people get what i'm about about, then no worries
di marco
14-02-2006, 11:42
have you decided what options you are going to take yet kim?
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