What Are The GCSE Options? | All Subjects For 2024

When it comes to choosing your GCSE options it can be difficult as there as so many different things that you need to consider. With only a limited number of subjects that you can choose, it’s important that you pick the best ones for you. However, without knowing what all your options are this decision becomes in possible.

In this article, we’ll fix that and take you through all the GCSE subjects that you can take.

In short, there are a wide range of different subjects that you can study as GCSEs. These slightly vary between England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with the English exam boards offering more foreign languages GCSEs, such as GCSE Arabic and GCSE Portuguese. Whereas both Wales and Northern Ireland have GCSEs in their national languages as well as more vocationally focused ones, such as GCSE Built Environment/ GCSE Construction and the Built Environment.

There are more than 60 possible subjects and vocational areas which you can decide to study at GCSE level. Maths, English and science are the three compulsory subjects that you are required to do. This means you are able to pick from four up to six subjects from the remaining options for your timetable.

Continue reading to get more insight on GCSE options. This article will take you through all of the subjects as well as cover important areas, such as the number of options you can choose and how to decide which ones are right for you.

Table of Contents

What are all the GCSE options for 2024?

When it comes to taking your GCSEs, there will be some that are compulsory and others that you have the option to take. In the UK, England, Wales and Northern Ireland all do GCSEs, whereas Scotland has an alternative qualification, which you can learn more about in this Think Student article.

However, particularly due to the reforms, how each of these countries offer GCSEs are slightly different. This includes the subjects that are offered as GCSEs.

Please note that while these subjects are offered by the country’s exam boards, that schools may still offer courses from the other countries exam boards.

Look at the following sections to see which GCSEs are offered in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

What are all the GCSE subjects in England for 2024?

In England, the GCSE exam boards are AQA, Pearson Edexcel, OCR and Eduqas. However, once again, it is still possible for students to take courses from the Welsh and Northern Irish exam boards. If you would like more information on these exam boards, check out this Think Student article.

For the 2023/24 academic year, students in England can take the following subjects for their GCSEs. This list includes both compulsory and optional GCSE subjects.

GCSE English Language
GCSE English Literature
GCSE Maths
GCSE Ancient Greek
GCSE Biblical Hebrew
GCSE Latin
GCSE Art and Design
GCSE Citizenship Studies
GCSE Combined Science
GCSE Biology
GCSE Chemistry
GCSE Physics
GCSE Computer Science
GCSE Dance
GCSE Drama
GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition
GCSE Geography
GCSE History
GCSE French
GCSE German
GCSE Spanish
GCSE Arabic
GCSE Bengali
GCSE Chinese
GCSE Greek
GCSE Gujarati
GCSE Italian
GCSE Japanese
GCSE Modern Hebrew
GCSE Panjabi
GCSE Persian
GCSE Polish
GCSE Portuguese
GCSE Russian
GCSE Turkish
GCSE Urdu
GCSE Music
GCSE Physical Education
GCSE Physical Education short course
GCSE Religious Studies
GCSE Ancient History
GCSE Astronomy
GCSE Business
GCSE Classical Civilisation
GCSE Design and Technology
GCSE Economics
GCSE Electronics
GCSE Engineering
GCSE Film Studies
GCSE Geology
GCSE Media Studies
GCSE Psychology
GCSE Sociology
GCSE Statistics

You can learn more about these subjects in this page on the government website. To learn more about the languages that you can take at GCSE, check out this page on the AQA website and this page from Pearson Edexcel.

What are all the GCSE subjects in Wales for 2024?

In Wales, the main GCSE exam board is WJEC. Although, once again, students can take courses from English or Northern Irish exam boards.

Look at the following list to see the subjects that students can take for their GCSEs with the WJEC exam board. Once again, this list is for the 2023/24 academic year and contains both compulsory and optional subjects.

GCSE Art and Design
GCSE Built Environment
GCSE Business
GCSE Computer Science
GCSE Design and Technology
GCSE Digital Technology
GCSE Drama
GCSE Electronics
GCSE English Language
GCSE English Literature
GCSE Film Studies
GCSE Food and Nutrition
GCSE French
GCSE Geography
GCSE Geology
GCSE German
GCSE Health and Social Care and Childcare
GCSE History
GCSE Information and Communication Technology
GCSE Latin
GCSE Mathematics
GCSE Mathematics- Numeracy
GCSE Media Studies
GCSE Music
GCSE Physical Education
GCSE Physical Education (short course)
GCSE Religious Studies
GCSE Biology
GCSE Chemistry
GCSE Physics
GCSE Applied Science (Double Award)
GCSE Applied Science (Single Award)
GCSE Science (Double Award)
GCSE Sociology
GCSE Spanish
GCSE Welsh Language
GCSE Welsh Literature
GCSE Welsh Second Language

You can learn more about these subjects by checking out this page on the WJEC website.

What are all the GCSE subjects in Northern Ireland for 2024?

In Northern Ireland the main GCSE exam board is CCEA. The same applies for Northern Ireland, where students may still take subjects from either Welsh or English exam boards.

The following list will show you all the subjects that you can take at GCSE with the CCEA exam board. This list is both compulsory and optional courses and applies to the 2023/24 academic year.

GCSE Agriculture and Land Use
GCSE Art and Design
GCSE Biology
GCSE Business and Communication Systems
GCSE Business Studies
GCSE Chemistry
GCSE Construction and the Built Environment
GCSE Contemporary Crafts
GCSE Digital Technology
GCSE Drama
GCSE Economics
GCSE Engineering and Manufacturing
GCSE English Language
GCSE English Literature
GCSE French
GCSE Further Mathematics
GCSE Gaeilge
GCSE Geography
GCSE German
GCSE Government and Politics
GCSE Health and Social Care
GCSE History
GCSE Home Economics: Child Development
GCSE Home Economics: Food and Nutrition
GCSE Hospitality
GCSE Irish
GCSE Learning for Life and Work
GCSE Leisure, Travel and Tourism
GCSE Mathematics
GCSE Motor Vehicle and Road User Studies
GCSE Moving Image Arts
GCSE Music
GCSE Physical Education
GCSE Physics
GCSE Religious Studies
GCSE Science Double Award
GCSE Science Single Award
GCSE Spanish
GCSE Statistics
GCSE Technology and Design

You can learn more about these GCSE subjects in this page on the CCEA website.

What are the compulsory GCSE subjects for 2024?

There are many different subjects that students can take as a part of their GCSEs. However, not all of these will be their own choices, this is due to there also being compulsory subjects.

Across the UK, there are 2 subjects that are compulsory across the board. These are GCSE Maths and GCSE English Language.

Also, in England and Wales, students will have to take some kind of GCSE Science. For GCSE Science, students will typically be required to do GCSE Combined Science or some kind of equivalent, such as the GCSE Applied Science. However, they will also have the option to study the sciences separately, which will typically be done in the form of GCSE Triple Science.

For students in Wales, it is also compulsory to study Welsh. You can learn more about this by checking out this article from BBC Bitesize.

Other than these subjects, schools will often make certain subjects compulsory for their students to take at GCSE. Common compulsory subjects include a GCSE Modern Foreign Language, such as French, GCSE Religious Studies, GCSE History or GCSE Geography.

In most English schools, GCSE English Literature will also be a compulsory subject. In Northern Ireland, schools may make subjects, such as GCSE Irish or GCSE Gaeilge compulsory also. For more on this, check out this article from BBC Bitesize.

While it won’t be as a GCSE, students will also be required to do some form of physical education lessons until the end of Year 11. This needs to be at least 2 hours per week to meet government requirements.

You can learn more about all of this by checking out this Think Student article.

How many GCSE options can you take?

While there isn’t particularly a maximum number of GCSEs that you can take, schools will typically let you do a total of about 10, although this might be slightly less or potentially even slightly more. You can learn more about just how many GCSE you take in this Think Student article.

Included in this total are all the compulsory GCSE subjects, such as GCSE Maths, GCSE English Language and all the others you might have to take depending on your school and where you are. Due to this, when it really comes down to it, students only get to pick around 4 GCSE subjects for themselves.

Once again, this can vary slightly from school to school, and it might be slightly more or slightly less. You can learn more about just how many GCSE options you get in this Think Student article.

How to choose your GCSE options

In Year 9 (or sometimes Year 8), students must come to a fateful decision that may even determine the entire course of their academic future: picking their GCSE options. Choosing what to take for your GCSEs is so much more than just picking what you’re going to be studying for the next 2 years as it can also determine what you can or can’t study in the future. No pressure.

With the decision being so seemingly important, it can make it all the more difficult to decide what you actually want to take and even more important what the best options are for you.

However, with a few simple tips, choosing your GCSE options will feel all the easier. Without further ado, look at the following list to see the things you should do or consider when choosing your GCSE options.

Research the GCSE subject to help you narrow down your choices.
Consider GCSE options that suit you based on your interests.
Consider which GCSE options are best for what you want to study or work as in the future.
Consider which GCSE options are best for you in terms of your strengths and weaknesses.
Don’t focus on what your friends are choosing or which teachers you’ll have.
Consider asking a careers advisor or teacher to help you decide.

You can learn more about these considerations in this Think Student article, which will fully guide you through how to choose your GCSE options.