Choosing your GCSE options can be a stressful experience. This is because you will be choosing what you are going to study for the next two or three years. Understandably, you don’t want to be making the wrong decision. However, this does happen occasionally. Students then get stressed when they think they are stuck with the GCSE options they absolutely hate. However, these students may not really be stuck with their GCSE options! As long as they change their GCSE options in good time, they may just be able to study subjects they actually like!
It can be seen as too late to change your GCSE options around the end of the first term of the year you start studying them. This is because it may be too difficult to catch up on the work you missed from your new subject if you leave it till after this point.
If you want to find out more about when it is too late to change your GCSE options and more information about choosing them in general, check out the rest of this article.
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What year is the latest you can change GCSE options?
Schools differ in how and when they let their students change their GCSE options. This is because some schools begin teaching students their GCSEs in Year 9, whereas some schools begin teaching students their GCSEs in Year 10.
If you are in one of those schools that begin GCSEs in Year 9, you will probably only be able to change GCSE options in Year 9. This will most likely only be allowed during the start of the first term.
If you start your GCSE options in Year 9, the latest that you will probably be able to change them is before Year 10 and definitely way before Year 11!
In comparison, if your school starts teaching your GCSEs in Year 10, you will probably be able to change your GCSE options in the first term of Year 10. Likewise, if you begin studying your GCSE options in Year 10, it will be too late to change them in Year 11.
All schools will slightly differ in the exact time that they allow students to change their options. However, this article from WhatUni emphasises how you will only be able to change your options ‘early on’ from beginning them.
This is because you would have to catch up on all the work you missed from the GCSE option subject you changed to. Missing one term or less of a GCSE subject may not seem like a lot. However, when you put all of the content together, you may be shocked at how much it amounts to!
How do you change your GCSE options?
If you want to change your GCSE options, it is best to talk to your teachers about this. After all, different schools will have different procedures.
Some schools, including mine, allowed students to have a two-week window where they could try out their options at the start of their GCSE studies. After these two weeks, all students were asked whether they wanted to stick with their chosen GCSE subjects or change.
This allowed a quick and efficient way for students to do the subjects that they really wanted. This procedure may not be implemented in all schools. Therefore, it may be that you have to talk to your head of year to change GCSE subjects or even teachers which are heads of the subjects you are interested in.
Regardless, changing your GCSE options can sometimes be a stressful experience! Therefore, it is best to familiarise yourself with all the GCSE subjects before making any decisions.
If you want to discover what all the GCSE subjects available, check out this article from Think Student.
Should you change your GCSE option subjects?
As already discussed, if you really want to change your GCSE options, it is best to do this as soon as possible! Therefore, it is useful to know whether you should really change your GCSE options or not.
GCSEs are tough. Therefore, making sure that you have chosen the right options for you is imperative. If you find that the GCSEs you have chosen are just too difficult or are really unenjoyable, it may be best to change them.
However, if you want to change your GCSE subject just because you want to be in the same classes as your friends, this may not be the best idea. It can also be beneficial to challenge yourself, so maybe continuing to do a GCSE subject you find difficult could be useful.
After all, the most challenging subjects could make you look the best to employers! To sum up, when thinking about whether to change your GCSE options or not, it is best to look at the whole picture and think deeply about why you are considering changing, before actually doing it.
If you want to find out more about the GCSE option process in general and find out how you know whether a subject is right for you, check out this article from Tutorful.
Can you drop a GCSE option?
In some cases, it may be too late for you to change your GCSE options. This can happen if you are too indecisive or think that you can live through a subject you hate but then realise that you can’t!
This can lead to students wanting to drop a GCSE option, as they can’t even think about torturing themselves for two or three years doing their first chosen subject. Whether you can drop a GCSE option depends on which subject you want to drop!
This is because many schools have core subjects which students have to complete. This goes beyond GCSE Maths and GCSE English. In fact, some schools treat humanities and languages as core subjects.
Therefore, if you want to drop one of these subjects, you may not be able to. However, if the option you want to drop is not compulsory, you will likely be able to drop this. To do this, you may have to have an in depth talk with your head of year.
You can find out more about dropping GCSE options in Year 10 if you check out this article from Think Student. However, if you are thinking about dropping a GCSE option in Year 11, you need to make sure that you think very carefully about this!
After all, you take the GCSE exams in Year 11, so you might as well just go for it!
How do you choose GCSE options?
As you have already read, it is possible to change your GCSE options as long as you do it early enough. However, to avoid the stress of doing this, it’s better to choose the right options from the very start!
When choosing GCSE options, it is best to consider which subjects you are the best at. After all, you want to get the very best grades in your exams. You should also consider which subjects would benefit you in the future, such as what you need to do to get into your desired A-Level subjects.
After this, you should then be thinking about the subjects you most enjoy. You should probably not choose the subjects you find hardest or don’t enjoy.
If you want to find out more about choosing GCSE options and how you should do this, check out this article and this article from Think Student.