GCSE option help

[Midget Man]

Son has to make his choices no later than 8th February. Thought he'd made his decisions, but now there is worry creeping in and not sure again

Mandatory: Eng lit/Lang
Maths
Statistics
Triple Science
Language(French)

Three subjects he needs to choose:

His choices were:
History
Ancient history
Computing or economics

He has such a passion for history, always have from such a young age, but I'm concerned about the amount of essays doing both. I've spoken to him and he's fully aware but it is atleast a subject he thoroughly enjoys writing and reading about. What would your opinions be on doing both? Or would you advise against it?

Then he'd thought maybe doing the computing gcse(please don't confuse this with ict ) but then he'd also really quite enjoy the economics.
I know he doesn't need either to study at A level but these two are the ones he's choosing between realistically.
He is crap at art, music, geography,Spanish and sadly has lost his joy of Latin and does drama outside of school.

[Midget Man]

Also a half gcse in PR(rs/re)

[Midget Man]

Anybody who could share experience or thoughts on doing both the history's?
Computing, economics?
Please:) this is our first time of going through gcse choices and I want my son to be as informed as much as possible before he makes his final choices, thanks.

[mystery]

Which subjects is he weighing up these other ones against? Is Classical Civilisation an option? Politics? Philosophy?

The mandatory GCSEs look like a good list which do not narrow him down too much yet, so that's a good thing whatever he decides for the options.

If he is so serious about history maybe he should be considering more ancient / modern languages on this basis? Aren't there some aspects of geography which would be good for his history?

Is he choosing because of good / bad / interesting / boring teaching so far, or his genuine love and hatred of particular subjects?

[Sallyltb]

Anybody who could share experience or thoughts on doing both the history's?
Computing, economics?
Please:) this is our first time of going through gcse choices and I want my son to be as informed as much as possible before he makes his final choices, thanks.

Quite a few girls at DD's school took Classical Civilisation and History and were fine. I think if he has a passion for the subjects he'll find the workload comfortable.

[Midget Man]

He's choosing on his genuine love or hatred of a subject, he hasn't actually even thought about the teachers in his thinking which I'm pleased about. Politics, philosophy and cc ae not options for GCSE.

Sadly he hates geography and is the only academic subject he's getting lower grades in throughout yrs 7,8 and now 9 regardless of what teacher he has had

Options to choose from are: Ancient History, art& Design, Business Studies, Computing, DT(graphic products, Resistant Materials or Electronic Products), Drama, Economics, Geography, Geology, History, Spanish, Latin, PE.

He's not in love with any languages really but prefers French over Spanish and has proven to perform better grade wise in French. I would have liked him to take Latin, but he's really not enjoying it sadly. He enjoys all aspects of DT but he's not mentioned going in the direction of any of those elements in his future, drama he does outside of school and is happy with that, so he's left with either Economics, Business Studies or Computing.
Has enjoyed touching upon programming in IT lessons and it is what dad does as a job so could have the bonus of his expert knowledge in explaining things at home and maybe doing some extra programming stuff, but he'd also really enjoy economics.

He's always been adamant about doing History and Ancient History, but I have my concerns about the amount of essays but the love is definitely there, but do people advise against it? Is there enough difference, broaden enough? Ancient History is new isn't it? Do we know if its likely to be a well regarded GCSE?

[moved]

History GCSE doesn't have essays. Even the long questions are quite short. A child who enjoys these subjects and may wish to take them further will need good essay writing skills anyway, so surely the more practice the better.

[Midget Man]

Ah yes, just checked that, two exams and two controlled assessments. Whereas the Ancient History states: exam will be two source questions and an essay on each of the three units and then a 2000 word essay on the fourth unit under controlled conditions, seems an awful lot, I hope it's going to be considered a decent GCSE to take!

Your help, advice has helped calm my nerves somewhat of him doing the two history's so thank you. Now he's to fully decide between Computing, Economics and BS, perhaps computing will be a bit more hands on, I don't know!

[scary mum]

If he enjoys DT I would say maybe that's a good option as something for a bit of variety? It doesn't have to be something he want to do long term. My DD really enjoyed it and I'm encouraging DS to do something similar.

[Daogroupie]

I am right there with you midget man. I have heard so many stories from Year ten mums about having chosen a wrong subject. Choice is a complete nightmare because you can make the wrong one! We are still trying to nail it down. See all my posts! I did not expect to be such a big deal. I would do Economics. It is really interesting and he might really like it, its a great subject to do at University. I would have said Geog but if he does not like it, hope it is not the teacher because I think it is really interesting. What does he want to do? DG