• Question: What subjects did you take in your GSCEs?

    Asked by Kaisha to Fran, Peppe, Greg, Petros, Pooja, Rumman on 4 Nov 2017.
    • Photo: Greg Chance

      Greg Chance answered on 4 Nov 2017:


      Double award science, maths, English literature and language, graphics, French, craft technology, business studies

    • Photo: Petros Papapanagiotou

      Petros Papapanagiotou answered on 4 Nov 2017:


      I went to school in Greece where the system is very different and you don’t have that many options for courses. Back when I studied we had 8 compulsory courses. You also had to choose one of 3 “paths” depending on what you want to study, each with 4 courses you had to take which I guess are the equivalent of A-Levels in the UK.

      The 8 courses were: Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Greek Language, Greek Literature, History, Principles of Economics

      The 4 courses in my path were Adv. Maths, Adv. Physics, Adv. Chemistry, and Adv. Biology.

    • Photo: Pooja Narayan

      Pooja Narayan answered on 5 Nov 2017:


      Hi Kaisha.. Thanks for the question. I did my primary schooling in India. The subjects I took for SSC which is equivalent of GCSE in England are English, Kannada (my mother tongue) and Sanskrit for languages. Mathematics (Algebra, Arithmetic, Geometry), Science (Physics, Chemistry, Biology) and Social sciences (History, Geography, Civics) under subjects.

      Tell me what did you take for your GCSE. 🙂

    • Photo: Fran Zuch

      Fran Zuch answered on 6 Nov 2017:


      In Germany, we don’t have those (lucky us! – having said that, I think kids these days have to…), so I never had to sit through exams until A Levels. There I did exams in English, Politics, Chemistry and Philosophy, but in addition had to take Maths, German, History, Art and Sports. All of the subjects counted toward my final grade, but the exams counted more on top.

    • Photo: Giuseppe Cotugno

      Giuseppe Cotugno answered on 7 Nov 2017:


      In Italy we don’t have GSCE or A-levels, the curriculum is fixed for each type of school and it is revised at national level from the government if needed. I will try to answer you question as I can. My category of school (Liceo Classico) focuses on humanistic studies.

      It was mandatory to study history, philosophy, Latin and ancient Greek literature and language, Italian and foreign (English in my case) literature, geography, arts and Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy (yes, you study only that for 3 years). You also study chemistry, biology (as in depth as in Liceo Scientifico, the science-oriented alternative to my school), geology and the space, physics and math. No computer science, no music. The student has no decision on the mandatory curriculum, he can only choose to perform optional afternoon actives (I was writing in the school’s magazine and I was attending broadcast of old movies followed by a debate for example), as such I had to compensate for the lack of mathematical knowledge with private classes and the help of the University at first, as I was always good at math it was not a big deal for me (just a lot of work and some failed exams in the first year).

      Liceo Classico did not gave me specific engineering knowledge, it gave me a methodology for studying and the curiosity to know more and as thorough as possible. You can learn what you don’t know if you have the methodology to do so and understanding from everyone else. Italian universities allow you to subscribe to any course regardless of your high school education (if needed students are selected with a test) and if you don’t perform you “just” delay your graduation or end up with a lower final mark, sometimes Italian employers don’t mind about a low final mark (but they prefer a young graduate to an older one). The system in Italy allowed me, and many other former Liceo Classico students, to became engineer or scientist of course a more tailored education to engineering would have made my life easier in the beginning but it is possible to adjust and to shift your career while you study or work.

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