11 Plus Exams Forum

Hi All
which is abetter GCSE option -
IGCSE Business Studies or GCSE Computer Science?
I kow it depend upon the child's interest but generally which is better among these two for a child who is thinking to do Medicine or Engineering. Please advise regarding the course work , scoring marks , helpful in their career etc
More details below:

Title of Specification: IGCSE Business Studies
Examination Board: Cambridge International Examinations (CIE)
&
Title of Specification: GCSE Computer Science
Examination Board: WJEC

Many Thanks

I am not sure how to explain my query, hope somebody understands what I am asking:
Heard Computer science is included in the English baccalaureate . Just want to know how it is included Means just like History or Geography (any one of the subjects ) Like that does it comes under science subjects physics , chemistry , biology , computer science any three of the subjects or all four of them . can you please explain this or list the subjects coming under this -many thanks

I have little knowledge of either qualification so please take what I say with caution.

None of mine did either, however, I would say Computer Science may be more useful for a later Engineering degree. My DD's at uni on (natural) science courses both have a fair bit of programming / computer stuff to do and little or no BS, although I'm sure it's useful too!

For a later medicine option, I hardly think an application is going to be swayed one way or another by whether or not your DC did CS or BS! There are far more important things! That said, the grades they get at GCSE's might affect an application's chances for a very few medical schools (e.g. Birmingham), so maybe think which one would your son get a better grade in.

The A levels choices will be more important and I don't think either BS or CS would necessarily be top of the list for either medicine or engineering degrees. Doing well in (Natural) Sciences and Maths /FM is more important then.
Best wishes.

If you look on UCAS I think you'll find that Computer Science is useful for some Engineering Degrees (there are so many different types of Eng. Degree.)
But to reiterate - The natural Sciences (Physics, Chem, Bio, Maths) do come first at A level - depending on which Engineering Degree you are looking at. CS may, in some cases, be a valid third / fourth choice.

This is just for information only, since I have very, very little knowledge about it.
I had a friend who did Maths, Further Maths, Physics, Chemistry & Computer Science for her A'Levels at another country many, many moons ago. She was totally into Engineering. She then later went to Australia for higher studies.

If someone is interested in Medicine, perhaps BS might come in handy in the future?

Many thanks for the replies. but any idea about my second query?
I am not sure how to explain my query, hope somebody understands what I am asking:
Heard Computer science is included in the English baccalaureate . Just want to know how it is included Means just like History or Geography (any one of the subjects ) Like that does it comes under science subjects physics , chemistry , biology , computer science any three of the subjects or all four of them . can you please explain this or list the subjects coming under this -many thanks

Computer Science it seems will now also count in the Ebacc.
Fom research and enquiries, people don't recommend taking BS, I even had a teacher very quietly tell me the same thing. Not sure how much weight this all holds at gcse level but it is the general feeling from the research I've done.

It will be included as one of the science options so therefore children will have to choose three of the four sciences.

Thankyou v much Midget Man-well explained

Computer science is well regarded; business studies is not. I wouldn't recommend that any high attaining child took it.

Regarding the eBacc, computer science may count as a replacement for a natural science, but I'm not convinced that either employers or universities will think that no natural science at 16 is a good thing. Computing languages go out of date very quickly!

The eBacc is an artificial measure, not far off the ludicrous table crediting schools where their pupils had taken the very narrow range of facilitating subjects at A level!