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Further education

You'll find discussions about A Levels and universities on our Further Education forum.

Original poster

Confused over A level choices

234 replies

ihearttc · 07/07/2021 20:25

DS1 has just finished Y11. He is a fairly bright boy and is predicted 6s, 7s and 8s for GCSE. He has picked his a level choices…PE, Geography and Biology. These are some of his best subjects and is predicted 8 in both PE/Biology and a 7 in Geography.

He had his induction day at 6th form this week and PE/Geography are ok, the Biology didn’t go well. He thinks the teacher is great (he taught him before) but the others in the class are just not on his wavelength. I’m aware that sounds really shallow and pathetic but 2 of the boys especially are very hard work and he said he was only in there for an hour and wanted to walk out. There are 10 of them and he said there is literally no one he could talk to. He is rather cool and sporty…they are the complete opposite so I can see why he found it tricky.

Anyway…my question is does he suck it up and just accept the fact that he is going to hate a lesson just to do the subject or walk away and chose something else. He wants to do something sport related…either sports science or become a Secondary PE teacher if that’s relevant.

The other option is his other choices are limited due to timetabling. It would have to either be the biology, Media Studies (which he did for GCSE), a BTEC medical science (which seems not at his academic level) or Maths. The obvious one is maths but he is freaking out over hard it will be and he doesn’t want to fail.

Any thoughts if that makes sense at all?

OP posts:
Bryonyshcmyony · 07/07/2021 23:29

It's BTEC Applied Science (medical)

Lots of different types of applied science

Bryonyshcmyony · 07/07/2021 23:27

[quote ihearttc]@clary

This is what it says on Loughborough. So am I correct in thinking if he did the BTEC Medical Science diploma and got Distinction then it would work alongside the other 2 A levels of PE and Geography?[/quote]
He would need the BTEC to be the Extended Diploma and he'd have to get a distinction that would mean distinctions in the majority of the assessed coursework right from the beginning. So annoying he can't do psychology!!

thelastgoldeneagle · 07/07/2021 23:23

Biology is hard. It's one of the most content-heavy A levels.

Original poster
ihearttc · 07/07/2021 23:22

@clary

This is what it says on Loughborough. So am I correct in thinking if he did the BTEC Medical Science diploma and got Distinction then it would work alongside the other 2 A levels of PE and Geography?

Confused over A level choices
OP posts:
Bryonyshcmyony · 07/07/2021 23:18

@ihearttc

He’d love to do psychology but it’s in the same column as PE
That's really annoying!! That would be a great combo
clary · 07/07/2021 23:17

L'boro needs two sciences tho, so if he ditches biology for media then the only science he will have is PE. Some unis count geography as a science tho. Have a look at where he fancies as it might clarify things.

Original poster
ihearttc · 07/07/2021 23:16

He’d love to do psychology but it’s in the same column as PE

OP posts:
Bryonyshcmyony · 07/07/2021 23:13

Exeter and Loughborough don't require Biology. Just sciences, which include PE and Psychology

Bryonyshcmyony · 07/07/2021 23:08

He doesn't need biology to do sports science! PE, Geography and maybe Psychology would be a good three.

Original poster
ihearttc · 07/07/2021 22:59

Thank you, I’ll have another look at the Medical Science specs in more detail.

His end goal is to do Sports Science to either be some kind of sports analyst (I’m not sure what he even means by that) or Secondary PE teacher.

He went to the introduction to Medical Science and he enjoyed it, I just wasn’t sure if it would be a good idea in terms of a qualification.

OP posts:
GrandmasCat · 07/07/2021 22:53

It depends on what he wants to study afterwards. My son hated his maths teacher but there was no way he could study engineering without an A level in maths. Simple as that.

Stick to biology.

Bryonyshcmyony · 07/07/2021 22:53

So could choose another A level. I'm a big fan of BTECS but some of the course content varies so much so double triple check the content with the unis he wants to go to

Bryonyshcmyony · 07/07/2021 22:51

He'll get into Sports Science or Physiotherapy without biology but with PE and Geography

52soon · 07/07/2021 22:48

@ihearttc I’ve just checked the original email we had off school when he changed and it said it’s not a btec it’s a level 3 applied qualification so check the actual course name. My son really enjoyed it and it was challenging, he had to learn about taking basic obs, BP, pulse, temp and what and why the different results meant, he had lots of assignments for various diseases and had to diagnose case studies, he said that PE was more anatomy and human biology in the theory learning, he was at a sports academy so his performance and training was part of his PE. He decided against a sports science degree as he didn’t want to teach and the job availability and salary was better doing healthcare, he’s studying Radiotherapy and Oncology at University.

Original poster
ihearttc · 07/07/2021 22:30

@52soon

Thank you that’s really helpful. How hard was the Medical Science? DS is worried that it’s not challenging enough but I’m not sure he is looking at the right course spec. And how do the grades work? I assumed it was a Pass Merit Distinction but if your son has BBC it couldn’t have been. Apologies for all the questions but I can’t seem to find many others who have done it.

OP posts:
52soon · 07/07/2021 22:23

My son originally picked A level Biology but had to do it at a different school as his school dropped the A level, the teacher didn’t really gel with the kids from different school and after 3 weeks moved them all to medical science BTec my son wasn’t happy about this as wanted all A levels, he also picked A level PE, at the start of Y12 he was thinking of doing sports science degree. After lots of discussion with his school to try and move to another school for Biology he decided to stay with medical science, he’s just finished Y13 and has got his TAG grades BBC and he’s got his Uni place studying a healthcare profession and medical science made him decide to go the route he did and not having Biology A level didn’t make any difference to his 5 Uni offers.

Original poster
ihearttc · 07/07/2021 22:17

@whattodo2019

That’s exactly what’s happening. All the others are doing biology, chemistry, physics and Maths. It wouldn’t matter if he felt ok with it but he really doesn’t at the moment anyway.

OP posts:
whattodo2019 · 07/07/2021 22:15

Biology is pretty tough at A level. Even i remember it being a huge jump from GCSE. You might find that the kids taking it for a level are also doing sciences such as physics, chemistry and or maths and are rather intellectual?? ie not so cool

Bananapuppy · 07/07/2021 22:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
ihearttc · 07/07/2021 21:59

@SE13Mummy

Yep that’s exactly how DS is. He constantly feels he is not good enough and people are judging him.

OP posts:
SE13Mummy · 07/07/2021 21:56

I'd encourage him to chat to the biology teacher. DD1 is hypersensitive to this sort of thing and over analyses every look, intake of breath, smile etc etc convinced that each one says something about her. It's exhausting and is absolutely because of how anxious she's feeling about choosing subjects and settings for sixth form. She emailed one of the subject teachers who offered to phone her to talk through what she was thinking and for the moment at least, she's sufficiently reassured to feel as though she doesn't actually need to make a decision until results day.

Piggywaspushed · 07/07/2021 21:52

I did! He was lovely.

Original poster
ihearttc · 07/07/2021 21:51

@Piggywaspushed

Wow did you really? DS plays Left Back so he can definitely be like Ben!

Speaking to teacher is a great idea actually…will see if DS can email him.

OP posts:
Original poster
ihearttc · 07/07/2021 21:49

@SE13Mummy

Thank you. Yes quite possibly there will be more joining…they are the only local 6th form.

I think it’s more to do with his lack of confidence which is affecting everything. Biology was always the one he was doubting if he could handle and it’s all be compounded by this. His back up was Media Studies and I think he’d enjoy it and do well but would definitely close doors.

OP posts:
SE13Mummy · 07/07/2021 21:45

Does the school get m/any external students joining the sixth form? Is it possible that there may be others intending to do biology but for whatever reason, did not make it to the induction session?

It sounds as though biology is a good fit for your DS in terms of his strengths and interests as well as working well alongside his other two subjects. Are there other sixth form settings near you? Perhaps he could do some research into those places and see which of them he could do that combination at. He has almost certainly missed the application deadline but there's nothing to stop him approaching other places and asking - lots of Y11s will have accepted places at more than one sixth form so there's often some flexibility. What would he have done if the induction session hadn't taken place and the first he knew about the class make-up had been in September? Did he have a back up plan for that scenario? If not, how does he think he'd have handled it once he'd enrolled and started the course?

Although your DS feels uncomfortable right now, some of that may be because he wasn't expecting the group to be as it was. Come September, that won't be a surprise and he'll have the time between now and then to make a positive decision to be in this class rather than moving to another setting. There's every chance the other students in the group are feeling as uncomfortable as your DS is because they find sporty people terrifying! At the end of Y11 students are often still presenting in their 'school' persona but by the start of Y12, having dropped subjects they have no interest in, wearing their own choice of clothes etc., lots of them are more relaxed about being themselves... and more open to trying out different friendships or reconsidering their opinion of peers they've previously had little to do with.

Your DS could...

  1. start a recruitment campaign to get one of his friends to take biology
  2. apply to alternate sixth forms where he won't know if biology is full of uncool students
  3. find out if there will be other students joining the class
  4. continue with his plan to take biology and just see how things go in September...
  5. brood and fret over the class make-up but not do anything about it
  6. pick a different subject but accept it may close doors