• Question: what subjects do you need to take in GCSEs to have a job revolving around space?

    Asked by anon-193409 to Morwenna, iainstaniland, Heidi, Emma, Carl on 10 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Heidi Gardner

      Heidi Gardner answered on 10 Nov 2018:

      Maths and Physics! Make sure that you take GCSEs that mean you are able to take Physics and Maths at A level too and you should be fine 🙂 A language might also help to make you stand out from other people applying for jobs too, so pick the one that you enjoy the most.

    • Photo: Emma Crawford

      Emma Crawford answered on 11 Nov 2018:

      I think it depends on what university course you decide to study. Some courses may specify certain A-levels they want you to have, or at least an interest in certain subjects however they rarely state what GCSEs you need. I would agree with Heidi that Maths and Physics would be useful GCSEs to take so you can continue to study them at A-level. If you already have an idea of what university course you may like to do then why not have a look at their A-level requirements and see if they match up with a study you can take at GCSE too?

    • Photo: Iain Staniland

      Iain Staniland answered on 12 Nov 2018:

      Well there are lots of jobs that revolve around space but the obvious ones, excluding astronaut, involve engineering so I would recommend Maths and Physics. However there are less obvious ones such a Psychology and nutrition as the astronauts welfare is also very important.
      So I would say do some research about the kind of career you would be interested in and then find out from people involved what they did not get into that career, you might be surprised!
      I have a friend who has been running projects to build a mars rover and he is mostly employed as a Project manager not a scientist (although he used to be one)

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