A few years ago, one of my students asked to switch from taking biology to chemistry for his International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) examination. The school would normally have no problem with this, but his request came after students had completed one year of the programme and studying chemistry involved a mandatory coursework component that contributed 20 per cent towards the final grade. It would have been difficult to meet this requirement after missing one of year of the chemistry class.
He took biology to keep his options open for a career in Chinese medicine only to realise later that universities required students to have taken chemistry at the International Baccalaureate, or Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education levels even for allied medical subjects. That would be difficult to achieve without first having studied chemistry at the IGCSE level.
So when do students select their GCSE or IGCSE subjects? This academic year, students in Form Three (Year Nine) will choose the subjects they will study in Form Four and Form Five (Years 10 and 11), which is what they will take for their leaving exams.
To provide a balanced education, most schools offer English, maths, science and a second language as compulsory subjects. For their optional subjects students may choose from each of five groups - languages, humanities, sciences, mathematics and creative, technical and vocational - either at the core or the extended level.
Although it is not essential for your child to choose one subject from each area, the advantage of doing so is that it gives them more career options.
HKDSE students are required to take four core subjects: Chinese language, English language, mathematics and liberal studies. They are also required to take two or three electives from a list of 20 subjects from seven key learning areas: Chinese and English-language education, personal, social and humanities, science, technology, and arts and physical education.
Students should decide on their options by working backwards from university requirements for courses that interest them.