GCSE core subjects: what everyone takes

When you choose your GCSEs in Year 9, you only choose some of them. The rest are core subjects that almost everyone takes. Most students sit around 9 or 10 GCSEs in total, so the core makes up about half of them. Knowing the core first makes option choices much easier.

English Language

This GCSE is about reading and writing well. You read fiction and non-fiction you have not seen before, answer questions on how writers use language, and write your own stories, descriptions and opinion pieces. It is one of the most important GCSEs: colleges, sixth forms and employers almost always ask for it. If you do not get at least a grade 4, you usually keep studying it after 16.

English Literature

Here you study set texts in depth: usually a Shakespeare play, a 19th-century novel, a modern play or novel, and poetry. You learn to write essays about characters, themes and the writer's methods. Most exams are "closed book", so you need to know quotations. Most schools enter every student for both English GCSEs.

Maths

Maths covers number, algebra, ratio, geometry, probability and statistics. It is sat at Foundation tier (grades 1 to 5) or Higher tier (grades 4 to 9), with three papers, one of them non-calculator. Like English Language, a grade 4 or above is needed by most colleges and employers, and students without it usually carry on studying it after 16.

Science

Science is taken either as Combined Science (two GCSEs, covering Biology, Chemistry and Physics) or as Triple Science (three separate GCSEs). In some schools Triple Science is one of your options; in others the school decides based on your results. Both routes can lead to science A levels.

Other core lessons

Many schools also have core lessons that may not lead to a full GCSE, such as:

• PE (core fitness and sport lessons, separate from GCSE PE),
• PSHE (personal, social and health education) and citizenship,
• Religious Studies – some schools make this a full GCSE for everyone.

Some schools also expect every student to take a language, or History or Geography, as part of their options.

In short

English Language, English Literature, Maths and Science are the core for almost everyone. Check your school's booklet for any extra core subjects, then use your free choices wisely. See our guide to GCSE option subjects for help choosing.