Subjects

Which subjects can you take GCSEs in from home education? What's the alternative, if the GCSE isn't accessible?

This page lists subjects and links to a page for each where you can find out what the options are for home educated candidates.

Ordinary GCSEs or International GCSEs?

Some ordinary GCSEs are difficult for home ed students to access because they include "non-exam assessments", ie some form of practical or coursework.

Academic subjects affected by this include GCSE sciences, GCSE geography, and GCSE English Language, because of their practical, fieldwork and speaking components. For these, most home educators opt for International GCSEs (IGCSEs) instead (See an explanation of IGCSEs for background).

Practical GCSE subjects, such as Physical Education, Dance, Drama, DT, Film Studies, Food Tech, Art and Music are also difficult for home ed students to arrange, because they have a controlled assessment/practical/coursework component and there is no IGCSE alternative without similar issues. Some of these have been or are being attempted by groups of home educators, but they are much more complicated to arrange than exam-only subjects. Home ed students often find alternative ways of studying and gaining qualifications in these subjects. See the subject pages (linked below) for more information, and the Alternative Qualifications page for non-GCSE options. 

For more information on subjects and resources, join the HE-Exams Community.

Subject pages

• Accounting
• Ancient History
• Art
• Astronomy
• Biology (IGCSE/GCSE). (For A level see Science A-Levels)
• Business Studies
• Chemistry (IGCSE/GCSE). (For A level see Science A-Levels)
• Classics:
  • Ancient History
  • Classical Civilizations
  • Classical Greek
  • Latin
  • Sanskrit
  • Biblical Hebrew
• Citizenship Studies
• Computer Science
• Dance
• Design & Technology
• Development Studies
• Drama
• Economics
• English
• Environmental Management
• Film Studies
• Food Technology/cooking
• Geography
• Geology
• Global Citizenship
• History
• Human Biology
• IT (and separate page on ECDL (European Computer Driving Licence)
• Maths and Further/Additional Maths, plus a separate page on Maths Resources.
• Modern Foreign Languages :-
  • Arabic
  • French
  • German
  • Japanese
  • Polish
  • Spanish
• Music
• PE and Sports
• Physics (IGCSE/GCSE). (For A level see Science A-Levels)
• Psychology
• Religious Studies
• Science - single, combined or triple? See also separate pages for single sciences:-
  • Biology and Human_Biology; also Biology Practicals
  • Chemistry and Chemistry Practicals
  • Physics and Physics_Practicals
  • Science A-Levels
  • Vocational/non-GCSE options for science see Alternative Qualifications: science
• Sociology
• Statistics
• Travel and Tourism