The General Certificate of Secondary Education. You might more commonly know them as GCSEs. They are defined as “an academic qualification in a range of particular subjects, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.” As stated in the description, there is a diverse collection of subjects to choose from. They can range from courses like astronomy to food preparation and nutrition. Even though all GCSE exams are done in year 11, most students, if not all, would agree that the tests vary greatly in terms of difficulty. I questioned numerous Yr11 students from Townley Grammar which of their subjects they thought was the easiest, and which one they thought was the most difficult.
Religious Studies was chosen by 38% of respondents as their easiest subject. Religious Studies is a course, which according to Eduqas, aims to “Develop learners' knowledge and understanding of religions and non-religious beliefs, such as atheism and humanism.” As the subject is largely memory based, with most of the content just building on what student already know, students find it relatively straightforward to answer the questions and get high scores. “RS is the easiest subject for me, as the content is fairly easy to understand and remember, with the essay structures being rather simple” – Leila Sabry, Yr11 student.
21% voted for Maths, 11% for English Literature, 7% for PE, 7% for a Modern Foreign Language, 4% for biology, 4% for Design Technology, 4% for Classical Civilisation and 4% for Computing.
Chemistry was chosen as the most difficult subject by 26% of respondents. BBC Bitesize defines GCSE Chemistry as "the study of the composition, behaviour and properties of matter and of the elements of the Earth and its atmosphere." It is notoriously known one of the hardest subjects, due to the amount of content as well as many skills being demanded. Sophie Lewis, another Yr11 student said, “I find Chemistry difficult, as it not only requires extensive knowledge of the content, but it also requires you to know and recall chemical equations and formulae, which I struggle with a lot. Personally, I find them really difficult to memorise, an example being the mole equations.”
22% voted for Physics, 12% for Modern Foreign Languages,12% for English Language, 8% for Classical Civilisation, 4% for Computer Science, 4% for Biology, 4% for Art, 4% for Engineering and 4% for History.
