GCSE Art so much homework

thatlemming

Sooo many people in this thread that have no clue about grades for med school! I got in, and I got a whole handful of Bs at GCSE.

Certain universities, birmingham I'm looking at you, want really good GCSEs but most don't care that much, its the A Levels they're looking at, and your work experience, and who you are as a person, not whether you managed to pass GCSE art!

She will need to work on her chem though, my offer was A*AA with the A* in chem, its the main subject for medicine.

Loz01

I did Art gcse and agree my homework used to take forever! Out teacher used to say "right, do two paintings, one oil, one watercolours" which could take hours! Plus written portfolios about different artists. Was a nightmare and put me off Art completely.

onlyroz

thatlemming wrote: »

Sooo many people in this thread that have no clue about grades for med school! I got in, and I got a whole handful of Bs at GCSE.

I would imagine that a few B grades in secondary subjects would be OK, but E grades wouldn't.

LannieDuck

This reminds me of a problem I had with my art homework. I spent hours and hours on one particular assignment because I really enjoyed it. It was a lovely detailed drawing of a bird with careful colours etc. But because I hadn't filled up the whole page I got a B for effort.

I was so annoyed I spent 30 mins on my next assignment, made sure I filled up the page... and got an A.

Put me off art, and I dropped it as soon as I could.

OP, as others have said, perhaps your daughter's teacher is looking for something a bit different to what she's producing. Maybe she could try doing quicker, more numerous sketches across the pages rather than one careful drawing?

Svenena

onlyroz wrote: »

I would imagine that a few B grades in secondary subjects would be OK, but E grades wouldn't.

I have worked in the admissions office of a top university, and at that particular institution an E at GCSE Art would not necessarily mean you couldn't get a place for Medicine. Getting a B for Chemistry would have more of an impact (but still wouldn't be a definite no if the A-levels and the rest of the application were fantastic).

There was some great advice on the first page of this thread about setting a time limit for art homework, and also about speaking to the school about the short time given in which to do this.

hgotsparkle

I was told my GCSE Art coursework should be a minimum of 3 hours PER NIGHT! I just spent an hour to be honest, made sure my sketch book was neat and went to town on my final exam piece. I got a B....

martinsurrey

While a B in GCSE Art wont ruin her chances of doing Medicine, spending all her time outside of school doing art homework might just.

The time would be MUCH better spent doing anything medical / medicine related she can get her hands on, even something an mundane as reading aroundthe history of the field she is interested in, but even better, writing to every hospital/doctor in the area trying to get a day’s shadowing or work experiance or just making contacts.

http://www.kingstonhospital.nhs.uk/working-for-us/work-experience

Its dedication/commitment like this that will make a uni personal statement shine for a popular course.

Shoshannah

I was in a similar position OP, albeit 12 years ago now. Crumbs... I feel old!

I wanted to do veterinary medicine after school but did Art GCSE because I have always enjoyed art. It was a lot of work, I probably didn't put as much into it as I should have done and I ended up with a C (I got A and A* in everything else).

If it's any comfort, I did qualify as a vet and the fact I got a lower grade in GSCE art has had absolutely zero effect on my life. I still draw for pleasure. That's one of my little horses in my avatar.

Tell her to concentrate on the subjects she needs.

mrcow

Not being funny, but isn't art just drawing and painting stuff?

Just get her to speed up a bit. You don't have to draw everything 100% perfectly.

If she gets poor marks for homework, so be it. It's not going to affect how she draws and paints something else later on for her coursework/exams. I spent 2 years doing art as my "easy" subject and agree that it can be very time consuming if you allow it to be.

Set a time limit - say 40 minutes. And she has to finish it in that time and then move on. Then it gets handed in as is, no matter what.