Which of these four subjects at A level?

From everything you've said it seems History, Geography and Politics is the better combo.

@ThinkingAgainAndAgain Just because it’s joint honours it doesn’t mean they won’t want maths. The core of the economics degree will have maths in it. Without maths he is limiting where he can study and it’s a very popular subject. I’d probably swerve Economics without maths.

History and Politics is a good start. My DD found politics dry. It’s absolutely not debating! It’s far more about political systems and mechanisms. Personally I would put English Lit with these two. Limit to one new subject. For great advice on choosing A levels, look at Cambridge University's “How to choose A level subjects”. I realise Cambridge might not be on his radar, but it’s great advice!

Good post @dronesonandonandon I tried to check the A level requirements for econ and pol BA at Nottingham and couldn't find it! Uni websites are often pants.

My dd who did an Economics A level (without Maths A level) did go onto a finance based degree and then career. She never found any of the maths part too challenging and got an A (not A star ) at GCSE. She always enjoyed maths though and probably didn't get A star at GCSE as she did very little beyond going to lessons at GCSE.

However I do know one of her friends dropped all Economics modules, as she struggled with this part of her degree without A level maths despite a A star in A level Economics.
Economics is basically applied maths at degree, so if he doesn't enjoy maths, then a joint honours degree may not suit him. A level is much more essay based with some maths.
Look at say Politics and Economics BA at Nottingham to get an idea of joint degrees.
Also look at Geography degrees with his skill set and interests, as human geography may suit him. He may be interested to read Peter Frankopan's book which looks at History through a geography lens.
Do whatever plays to his strengths and he has capability to get A/A star in a A level. If he is interested in Politics and reads lots about it then the A level in this would be a good fit.
Search online at different Uni courses -then look at modules and what would he be interested to do; work back to required A levels.

Be aware that economics A level is also quite mathsy. We pushed DS1 to do economics A level since I loved it (30 years ago) and thought he would too but I hadn't appreciated how much the curriculum has shifted towards the maths side and also hadn't appreciated that most of those doing economics will probably be doing maths A Level. DS1 struggled towards the bottom of the group and was one of the only ones not doing maths A Level (because most want to keep their options open for an economics degree which general requires maths A Level).

Also keep in mind that if he is talking about doing a joint honours with economics, most if not all of his modules at university are likely to be with those doing pure economics. The same applies. If he is in with lots of kids who have done maths A Level he may find himself towards the bottom of any group.

Finally, bear in mind that economics is one of the most competitive degree courses at the moment.

An EPQ plus History coursework would be hard going. I certainly wouldn't recommend History, English Lit and an EPQ. That would take up a significant number of hours and all of the deadlines are likely to fall at the same time and clash with revision for mock exams (depending on the exam board).

It may be the case that the economics courses that require maths are mostly also wanting high grades, and from what the OP has said, that might be hard for her DS to achieve - he's not confident of an 8 and 'finds it very difficult. ' already.

Yeps for sure but just check out unis is all. I just looked at Leeds (admittedly for BSc econ and politics rather than BA) and they ask for maths. Plenty don't tho.

Be aware @ThinkingAgainAndAgain that some unis ask for maths A level to study economics at uni. By no means all tho, and less so when it's a BA (with politics for example). Not sure that any ask for economics A level tho obviously it's a help, not least to see if you enjoy it.

I'd say History because he loves it, Geography because he also loves it and then economics if he's considering a joint honours in it. He can then do something to do with politics for his EPQ if he wants that is perhaps also relevant to modern history if that's his thing.

Yeah for IGCSE English lit and lang you can either do the second paper as an exam or as coursework.

If he likes modern history then he may love politics. Mine did History Politics and Religious studies. Lots of overlap history and politics.

Just piping in to say schools don't have to choose the coursework option. Dd did Igcse but no coursework

Would he consider Psychology? My dd did History, Economics and Psychology and really enjoyed all of them

Wow 40% course work!

Has he not had to give an indication of what subjects he wants to do already? Or has he changed his mind?

NEAs can be stressful, but what I will say is I feel like they did prepare me for uni more so than exams as the deadlines were similar and I feel like they were almost easier due to the amount or constructive criticism you get when the teachers review them - they are also strong respected subjects individually whereas economics you’re nearly always expected to do maths alongside.

The best choice would be to 1) look at uni courses if he is interested in university and have a look at entry requirements and 2) I would always say pick what he likes the best, it wouldn’t be unusual for a student to pick a subject they’ve never studied before at A-Level (such as politics). It’s a lot of work regardless of what A level you do, so he does need to be able to enjoy it. I really enjoyed doing history and literature alongside eachother as the themes coincide and a lot of literature is wider reading about the concepts of the time the books were written in and there’s a fair bit of freedom to pick a theme you enjoy to compare to with your NEA. It was a stressful A-level but the one I ended up enjoying the most (and I wanted to do biology instead of it when I signed up to the sixth form!)

My dd did History, Geography, Economics and found they worked well together. Her A level human geography paper she said she wrote an answer nearly all based around economics and got an A star on that paper.

Ds did History, Geography, Maths (high 8 GCSE maths) and I would agree Maths isn't for those who won't be consistently working and enjoy the challenge. It is a more useful A level than Economics, but if he isn't interested he shouldn't choose it!

Both mine had NEAs for History and Geography and did well, but the coursework element does take a lot of time in Year 13.

Ds thought he liked modern History, but has enjoyed the Anglo-Saxon module the most, which his sister detested and enjoyed the more modern American Civil Rights. Economics was her favourite A level.

I would say a 7 is fine for Geography. Look at the specification and find out which modules his school chooses. Highlight what he is interested in. Would he enjoy the physical geography (which favours a light scientific approach) as well as the human?

Do the same with politics and economics.

A levels really favour you being interested enough to read around to get the highest grades, so pick what he is interested in as well as having some GCSE ability.

Did he sit IGCSEs? There's no coursework in GCSE Eng language or lit. Shame his school doesn't offer Eng lang at A level. Certainly worth looking at Eng lit if he likes NEAs.

Dd had a coursework element to her geography A level but I guess it varies by board?

If he’s on track to get an 8 in Maths, is he definitely against doing it for A level?

I think it would be a really good balance with History and Economics - would mean he wasn’t doing 3 essay subjects, and he would have more options at university in case he ended up loving economics, plus a good level of maths will benefit him in whatever career he ends up in - I’m a lawyer and my maths is a huge benefit and quite unusual among my colleagues.

Not studying politics at A level wouldn’t prevent him from doing it at degree level if that’s what he wanted to do.

Good point re the NEAs actually.

How about Eng lang - nothing like GCSE but I think it sounds really interesting. Not that there is anythign wrong with his choice - just trying to suggest options.

History snd English lit can be a really difficult combination since they both have NEAs which fall in the first term of year 13 under many syllabuses and it can be very stressful.