My Subjects for GCSE

[Maestro]

Hello, Maestro here. So, its been a couple of months since I picked my school subjects for my GCSE (high school qualifications), ofcourse I got the "best" pathway, blue. A pathway is basically a learning path, a specific learning style; there are 3 pathways: Green, Red, Blue.
Green

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You may only pick 2 subjects, one day will be dedicated to BTEC Perfominh Arts & Music, you also get to go to college for 1 day to leanr Mechanic & Hairstyling; you must pick a BTEC course. The most easy work wise pathway; in my opinion the worse one.

Red

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You can pick 3 subjects, one of them has to be science orientated. So, double scienceThe other two are your own choice, ofcourse in all pathways some subjects are not available in one i.e Digital Apps Diploma is availale only in Red becauase they have more time & ability to deal with extra work. In my opinion the middle one

Blue

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The best one in my opinion. You can pick 4 subjects of your OWN choice. You are also mostly seperated from the disruptive students. The downside is you get the most work, but it's your future & it's only two years so w/e bring it on.

In addition to the subject you can pick you have to do the following:
Physical Education (Gym)

Maths, English, Science

COPE (sort of like citizenship, you are taught about relationships, the real world etc...)


Well, I picked (along with the above that are auto picked for you):
Certificate In Digital Applications (I couldn't pick the Dimploma because I'm in Blue, but it's only 1 less unit of work & I might be able to do it if I knuckle down and finish the others with some surplus time)

Additional Business

History (I like it & probably am the most knowledgable in my class)

Geography (Good at it too, top of the class:blush

Heres my careers thread. Do you think I picked the right subjects? And what are your opinions on them/subject picks? History, Geograpy are good lawyer material I hear, if I consider law I'd rather be a barrister. Ofcourse, I'd somehow have to get the University fees etc..

Also, since I'm in the UK and I want to do some travelling, are there any colleges with scholarships for foriegn students? And what would be the proccess to get a student visa, how long it would take? Not only USA, any English speaking country is fine but I'm a bit swayed to the US.

[MrD.]

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.

[Maestro]

Yeah, games are an option. But I would rather do something in computers. I suck it pretty sucks the school chooses your subjects besides the core ones. Disruptive kids should be just expelled, it's funny at first but then after it just sucks.

[notLuke]

We just choose 3 subjects. I chose Geography, ICT and Drama. DO NOT TAKE ICT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. It's a horrible load of work that's not worth it in the end. Geography- exam was easy, so it's good to stack up some easy qualifications.

[SeaBanana]

Wait you are in year 9? Omg