At our school we could pick 5 subjects we wanted, but one had to be an applied technology subject, and one had to be a foreign language. We also had to do the standard subjects of Maths, English, Science and PE.
I ended up choosing Science (so I ended up with a double award science), IT, Business Studies, Electronics (applied technology) and French (foreign language).
I believe it has changed now since I did my GCSE's (that was 7 years ago now) and that people at my school no longer have to do a foreign language at GCSE level.
To avoid disruptive students, Maths, English and Science were split into 4 sets, with set 1 being the best, and set 4 being the worst. I ended up being in set 1 for science, and set 2 for Maths and English.
With regard to the topics mentioned in your other thread:
I am a game developer, and trust me when I say it is only something you should do if you are really passionate about it and favour what you do over how much you earn, because games really don't pay as well as other industries requiring the same skills. It basically boils down to "more work for less money", so it really has to be something you love.
I agree with your point that college/6th form IT courses are a joke, they really are. I've done one and the curriculum was useless, I learnt more about computing in my first year at University (that I wanted to learn) then I did in my whole time at secondary school.
I also assume that by "Games Developer" you meant "Games Programmer" and not "Games Designer"; in which case I would just like to say that most general computing courses at most Universities are a waste of time for getting a job as a programmer in the games industry; they just don't teach the practical skills you need to do the job. I went to the University of Derby, which despite its general bad reputation has one of, if not the, best degree for people wanting to be a games programmer. All the games modules are taught by ex-industry staff and they really know what they're talking about; I will just say that it is not an easy degree, it isn't meant to be. It's meant to give you the skills required to get a job in the games industry at the end of it, and those are a lot of skills to be taught it just 4 years. You also do a 12 month work placement as part of the degree, this is once again a fantastic opportunity and it's thanks to that that I will be starting a job in just under 2 months at the same company I did my work placement at last year.
tl;dr Games - A fantastic job, but you really have to love it.
I ended up choosing Science (so I ended up with a double award science), IT, Business Studies, Electronics (applied technology) and French (foreign language).
I believe it has changed now since I did my GCSE's (that was 7 years ago now) and that people at my school no longer have to do a foreign language at GCSE level.
To avoid disruptive students, Maths, English and Science were split into 4 sets, with set 1 being the best, and set 4 being the worst. I ended up being in set 1 for science, and set 2 for Maths and English.
With regard to the topics mentioned in your other thread:
I am a game developer, and trust me when I say it is only something you should do if you are really passionate about it and favour what you do over how much you earn, because games really don't pay as well as other industries requiring the same skills. It basically boils down to "more work for less money", so it really has to be something you love.
I agree with your point that college/6th form IT courses are a joke, they really are. I've done one and the curriculum was useless, I learnt more about computing in my first year at University (that I wanted to learn) then I did in my whole time at secondary school.
I also assume that by "Games Developer" you meant "Games Programmer" and not "Games Designer"; in which case I would just like to say that most general computing courses at most Universities are a waste of time for getting a job as a programmer in the games industry; they just don't teach the practical skills you need to do the job. I went to the University of Derby, which despite its general bad reputation has one of, if not the, best degree for people wanting to be a games programmer. All the games modules are taught by ex-industry staff and they really know what they're talking about; I will just say that it is not an easy degree, it isn't meant to be. It's meant to give you the skills required to get a job in the games industry at the end of it, and those are a lot of skills to be taught it just 4 years. You also do a 12 month work placement as part of the degree, this is once again a fantastic opportunity and it's thanks to that that I will be starting a job in just under 2 months at the same company I did my work placement at last year.
tl;dr Games - A fantastic job, but you really have to love it.
The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.