gcse options

Discussion and advice on GCSEs

Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators

Post Reply
11 Plus Mocks - Practise the real exam experience - Book Now
Mary
Posts: 14
Joined: Tue Mar 04, 2008 1:11 pm

gcse options

Post by Mary »

Hi can anyone help/advise,

DD choosing options for GCSE and is doing Maths, English x2, Science x3, French, German, History, PE and ICT and RS short course. Needs to choose one other from:

Geography (hates)
Business Studies
Textiles (likes but worried about workload)
ICT long course
RS long course

Can anyone tell us about these courses content/workload etc. She is determined to be a doctor and is worried that if she chooses textiles or business studies it will look as though she has taken the soft option. Are these courses seen as soft or does it not really matter at GCSE as long as it is a balanced. Any advice or help gratefully received.
hermanmunster
Posts: 12893
Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 9:51 am
Location: The Seaside

Post by hermanmunster »

Ho ho... believe me textiles and business studies very useful in medicine. Even if only me doing my knitting!!! no seriously most important thing is having broad range. I rate the RS as it is quite ethics based and lots of the med school interviews include ethical issue discussions.

DS did long course RS .. advantage was it gave him time off while others did RS short course
Chelmsford mum
Posts: 2113
Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2009 7:16 pm

Re: gcse options

Post by Chelmsford mum »

Mary wrote:RS long course
Just back from options eve :D RS is not soft.It is an essay/writing based course requiring the same critical, analytical thinking as history.It is ethics based which is well regarded for medicine.
:D
Mary
Posts: 14
Joined: Tue Mar 04, 2008 1:11 pm

Post by Mary »

She thought textiles would give her the necessary skills for stitching up people in the future!!!!
hermanmunster
Posts: 12893
Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 9:51 am
Location: The Seaside

Post by hermanmunster »

yep - litlle bit of dexon and vicryl here and there.. trouble is you find practice knots all over the house....

In my day used to be the joke about neurosurgeons needing CSE in woodwork.!!!
surreymum
Posts: 553
Joined: Wed Jan 23, 2008 10:26 pm

Post by surreymum »

My ds is doing both long course ICT and business studies and I have to say they are both a nightmare with regards to getting good marks. Depends on the boards your school does but we have had major problems with course work in ICT with it all needing to be redone as the teachers disagreed about the marking scheme and then the exam board moderating down all the coursework marks so every child lost a grade.
Business studies is appealing to them with all the interest in the apprentice, but again appears to be difficult to do well in. This could of course just be my ds and his very horizontal attitude :evil: , but the marks for the school overall don't look great and he's usually pretty able.
I would look at your schools previous results in the subjects and check the boards.

However our view when faced with a similar choice was to choose things he enjoyed as already doing plenty of exams-but he would choose differently if we had our time again
katel
Posts: 960
Joined: Thu Jan 11, 2007 11:30 pm

Post by katel »

I'm just hback from options evening. The message from school was to choose the options you enjoy - not to think about the next stage, just to go for what you like and what interests you best.
Post Reply
11 Plus Platform - Online Practice Makes Perfect - Try Now