GCSE options: German vs Latin and RS vs Geography

[Oblique]

DS had to choose his GCSE options last year, at the end of year 8. He opted for French and German and History and Geography, in addition to Triple Science. He waivered for a bit over RE and PE but ended up choosing the subjects that he enjoyed and thought he would get good grades in. He isn't struggling with the workload but his school only do 10 GCSE's while your daughter, OP, is looking at studying for 11.

If Latin had been an option, I would have encouraged him to consider it for the reasons that Reading Mum has cited. Computing, RE (dressed up as Philosophy) and PE are all studied in addition to the GCSE subjects.

[berks_mum]

For info for G55 and Amber, BMs DD is in year 9 and the school don’t offer the IB.

Still very young to know what she wants to do for A level is my point - before she has even started her GCSE courses.

If it was me things would be very different. I may not have made my mind till the last minute.
Yes, her choices may change in a couple of year's time but at this point this is how it looks. And, I wanted to clarify if she needs any specific GCSEs to be able to do these subjects for A levels.

[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.

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No - she didn’t like French so it was just German and Latin, with Geography. Her 3 ‘free choices’ were Art, music and Latin so heavy on the course work!

Thanks Reading mum. Unfortunately Art and Music is not an option for us.

[berks_mum]

I agree with Amber in that I don't think you can be so sure about her A level choice at this stage...for e.g. If she goes back to the idea of Medicine, she will have to take Chemistry, as that is compulsory, whereas Biology isn't necessarily. Also many schools are dropping AS levels with the new curriculum A levels. Don't over think the GCSEs. The school has ensured she has a good spread so get her to choose the subjects she likes best, is good at and would miss. From my observations, the workload for History under the new GCSE is horrific - much more like A level and Geog is similar. Not sure DS2 would choose them both if he had his time again! They aren't hard per se, just huge huge amounts of info to remember and apply.

Thanks KCG. Would it be wiser to choose to choose one humanity and one other subject? Say Business?

[berks_mum]

DS had to choose his GCSE options last year, at the end of year 8. He opted for French and German and History and Geography, in addition to Triple Science. He waivered for a bit over RE and PE but ended up choosing the subjects that he enjoyed and thought he would get good grades in. He isn't struggling with the workload but his school only do 10 GCSE's while your daughter, OP, is looking at studying for 11.

If Latin had been an option, I would have encouraged him to consider it for the reasons that Reading Mum has cited. Computing, RE (dressed up as Philosophy) and PE are all studied in addition to the GCSE subjects.

Not doing that extra GCSE probably gives him some more free time to cope with the workload?
Yes computing, RE and PE are also studied at our school in addition to the 11 GCSEs but they are non exam.