GCSE options: German vs Latin and RS vs Geography

[berks_mum]

hi all, we need some help choosing GCSE options for my DD.

Compulsory: Sciences x 3, English x 2, Maths, humanity x 1(History), MFL x 1(French)
Options: 3 from German, Latin, ICT, RS, Geography.

DD is equally interested and doing same in all the above. We thought choosing ICT, 1x language (German/Latin) and 1 x Humanity (RS/Geography) would give her a better spread. For Uni she is undecided at the moment. Earlier she wanted to study medicine but is having second thoughts now.

What would be a good choice - German/Latin and RS/Geography if she chooses ICT as third option? Are any of them considered as soft options? Will two humanities + two languages become very heavy?

[Reading Mum]

I strongly encouraged my DD to choose Latin and she has really enjoyed it - plus it has thought her huge amounts of grammar that has helped with both English language and German. She is aiming for vet school so being comfortable with all those Latin based words used today is no bad thing. DD wouldn’t have touched ICT with a barge pole- if they had offered computing she might have done that.
DD has enjoyed Geography but regrets not doing History as well.

[Tinkers]

I’m guessing it’s CS rather than ICT. CS wouldn’t be a soft option but Il PM you my thoughts later on that.
One of DDs friends dies 2 MFL, history, geog and drama.
DD dies textiles ICT and music as three of hers, (geog and German as well).
The coursework is finished for textiles, almost finished for ICT and she has done half her music (composition and performance pieces). She’ll only gave one exam for each of those and the exams will each be worth 40% I think so she has a good portion done for those.

[berks_mum]

reading mum and Tinkers, thank you so much for your quick reply.

Reading mum, did your DD do Latin and German in addition to French? My DD has chosen French as first MFL choice. Now she needs to choose a second MFL between German and Latin. I saw the school's 2016 Latin results were quite good. Latin: Total 18, 15 A*, 2 As and 1C. German: total 72, 47 A*, 17 As, 5 Bs and 3Cs.

Tinkers, unfortunately Music, Art and design, Food Tech and Textiles are not an option for us and DD has no interest and not doing well in it. She can't wait to drop it. You are right it is computer science not ICT. The information booklet says there will be two written examinations (40% each) and one controlled assessment worth 20%. Will wait for your PM.
I would be interested to know how your DD's friend feels doing 2 MFLs and 2 humanities? Does it get really hard?

Forgot to mention: DD is currently doing quite well in history as well so that will probably be the first humanity choice.

[bluesea]

berks_mum. I would recommend Latin, especially as the Latin teachers at your school must be very good to get those results. My DC take/took Latin, were surprised to enjoy it and it has been very helpful as the other poster says. It may well be a smaller class than the German class. Latin is also viewed very well by universities, it tends to show a brighter child. Only uni I know of that requires an MFL is UCL, but it sounds like you have French already. I'm not an RS fan, mine did Geography which they loved, was not so desk based and enjoyed great school geog trips.

[berks_mum]

Thanks bluesea. One option for her would be to choose both German and Latin. Then decide between computer science/RS/Geography.
That will mean 3 languages in addition to English x2. She would love that as she currently speaks 4 languages. But for further studies will that be too many languages and not enough of all subjects?

[fairyelephant]

Just for balance my DD is taking Latin and doing very well but finding it as dull as ditch water. Her friend does 2MFLs, Latin and Greek but has always leant towards studying Classics or MFLs later on. What has proved a large workload is both History and Geography (the latter to me seems to be very heavy, there’s just so much to cover). However DD still intending to take both to A level so don’t let workload put you off. If your DD is still struggling to choose (we had this issue, changed form twice after submission ) she might find it helps to try and think which she will miss the most if she is no longer doing it, rather than which she wants to carry on with IYSWIM. For instance RE/philosophy might be on a carousel of subjects taught in years 10 and 11 without leading to examination (both my DC have this at their schools, it includes other things like politics and art history).

[Guest55]

Any of those would be fine OP. Read th specification and check what is going to be studied. Look at the sample GCSE papers; will the style of assessment suit them? Where is the Geog fieldwork done?

I would not suggest three languages though ...

[Tinkers]

For geography trips (DD is at the same school as the OP) DD went to the south coast, hengistbury Head, last year and there’s another coming up which is just a day trip but DD has totally forgotten where (but it’s relatively local).

[berks_mum]

Thanks fairy elephant, G55 and Tinkers.
Good to know that someone is doing 3 languages. G55 is there any apparent disadvantage of doing 3 languages? Tinkers I will send a pm to you shortly.