• Question: What GCSEs did you get at school and how have they affected your lives?

    Asked by HughMungus to Iulia, Katie, Mateusz, Ollie, Siobhan on 6 Mar 2017.
    • Photo: Iulia Motoc

      Iulia Motoc answered on 6 Mar 2017:

      I did maths, physics, chemistry, biology, computer science, and ICT. However, I am from an international baccalaureate educational system, so it is completely different.

      I think choosing these modules had a very positive impact on my life, especially since I am doing engineering. I would say that I don’t use everything I learnt in school for my projects (I probably use less than 50%), but everything you learn is connected and might come in handy one day.

      Plus, is never a bad thing to have a broad general knowledge.

    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 6 Mar 2017:

      I was at a Russian school at the time, so I had no choice but to take all of the exams (17 of them). These included sciences (maths, physics, chemistry, biology, geography), languages (Russian, English and German), social sciences (history, societal studies, music, Russian literature) and other subjects like freestyle drawing, engineering drawing, craftsmanship, and life safety.

      Immediate effect of that was that I got accepted into an international school in Ireland. Some subjects, like sciences have had a longer lasting effect on me and help me understand new scientific discoveries. Languages are useful, of course, as I feel confident using my second language (English) all the time. Russian literature was too much for me at the time, but I came to love it about 10 years later.

      Overall – it’s where you take these subjects after you’ve completed GCSEs. I don’t need history that much in my day-to-day, for example, but if I were to study evolutionary biology or epidemic studies – I’d need to have a historical account of the events.

    • Photo: Katie Pavey

      Katie Pavey answered on 6 Mar 2017:

      I picked my GCSE subjects based on the ones I enjoyed most.

      I did Science, Maths, English, French, Spanish, Design Technology & Geography. I enjoyed Design Technology much more than I was expecting, and so decided to continue studying it for A-Level along with Maths & Physics.

      My advice is to study hard for the core subjects (Maths, Science & English) and then chose a variety of options based on which ones you find interesting.

    • Photo: Siobhan Duncan

      Siobhan Duncan answered on 7 Mar 2017:

      I didn’t take GCSEs so forgive me if my answer isn’t perfectly suited to the advice you are looking for.

      At the time I went to high school in Stornoway up in the NW of Scotland, we did Standard Grades at 14/15 years old and then Highers at 15/16 and Advanced Highers at 16/17.

      At standard grade we had to take 8 subjects, including Maths, English, 1 language, 1 science and 1 art/music and the rest was optional.

      I took Maths, English, German, Latin, Chemistry, Physics, Geography.

      At Higher level we only had to take 5, including Maths and English, so I took, Maths, English, Music, Physics, Chemistry.

      And at Advanced Higher, you only take these if you want, you can take an other 5 highers instead, I studied Maths, Physics, Music and Chemistry.

      I went to a small rural school, so I didn’t have access to cool subjects like Lulia and Dmitry have said in their answers, but I felt that my subjects were enough to get my into University.

      It’s important to take subjects that interest you but also allow you to change your mind. Don’t narrow your opinions too early in life because most people I know have changed their mind since they were in school 😀

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