Humanities A Levels choices

Excellent results, but the students seem to wander off to the local cafe or fast food place in ‘study periods’, whereas her school requires them to stay on site and use the sixth form study area. Just seems a bit more conducive to learning.

Success at sixth form level comes from being self motivated. That means planning your own study and finding out what works for you.

DD's school was one where you only had to come in for lessons. So DD might have days where she worked for a bit at home, then had a driving lesson before going into school , a study period at school (where she might work, or she might chat - being at school does not mean they are working!) and then leave before school finished for part time job and then worked at home in the evening. Of course that was not every day! Some days she did go into school for a full day and work in the study area in study periods. Some days, she only had one lesson timetabled, so she went into school just for that, spent some time studying with a friend but spent most of the day working at home.

I think this sort of flexibility is great to build good organisation and study habits. And helps with the transition to university where there are generally not an awful lot of contact hours for humanities subjects.

I’d just stay at the same school. Dc usually settle better and they are offering decent options. The other possibles offer no advantage unless she wants those subjects at uni.

I'd vote for class civ, because it's very (or can be) broad and interdisciplinary, adjacent to many modern disciplines (iiterature, history, art, sociology, philosophy etc) Many for the price of one. (Full disclosure, however, that I am a classics professor...)

It certainly helped him write a better PS.

@Piggywaspushed Yes. As the third A level. I am always amazed people don’t read all the info from Cambridge.

However as the DD here hasn’t mentioned Oxbridge, I’m not sure it matters but Eng Lit and History tick the boxes. Maths ticks every box @Godesstobe. English, History and Maths actually ticks 3 boxes.

My DD is doing English Lit, History and Sociology A Levels. She feels they complement each other well although 2 lots of NEAs is bloody brutal and there is a huge amount of writing. She’s hoping to do Liberal Arts as a degree as although journalism is tentative she knows how competitive it is so wants to keep options open. Predicted grades 3 A* so wouldn’t describe her as academically less able and she says Sociology is definitely not a soft option. Hope your DD enjoys whatever she decides!

I don't think there is much to choose between these subjects. At DD's (state) school sociology was regarded as a soft option for the less academically able, but I am sure that isn't the case everywhere. DD did A levels in English, History, Classical Civilization and Maths and got a place at Oxbridge. Her school recommended she do the Maths alongside the humanities subjects to demonstrate she was not just a one trick pony. Perhaps that swung the balance, perhaps it didn't. She enjoyed the variety though.

Yes, I know that. And that's fine for the OP, too. However, his interview was for sociology so I'm guessing maybe it was particularly helpful in his context; whether you agree or not is up to you.

@Piggywaspushed Cambridge interviews more than Oxford and they recommend 2 subjects from their “Best A level subjects”. Your DS had one so you don’t really know if his choices limited his progress or not.

I would say politics or sociology but do what she’s interested in. Law is very competitive when it comes to getting a job too. So don’t be wishy washy about that either.

Defending your subject at your school. I'm glad to hear it is taught well at your school.

I'm not, fear not - just used to defending my subject!

I did say it depends on the school. Quite clearly in fact. Don't take it personally.

You've accidentally aggravated me there! I teach film, and we get the best results in the school - both value added and in terms of numbers of A*s!

Unless it's a very big sixth form, these are not subjects that are likely to have big cohorts, so these results will depend on a few students with no context as to whether this is a "normal" year or not.

If you do do this OP, make sure to compare to entry requirements. It's not a big surprise that a sixth form requiring a 7 at GCSE to do the A Level is likely to do better than one that only requires a 5.

My opinion only is that subjects like politics, PE, sociology and film attract students who think they are 'easy' subjects. Hence there being lower grades in those subjects. No A levels are 'easy'.

RS may attract students who aren't worried about subjects being easy or 'cool'! So grades tend to be higher.

I don't think any of the subjects offer more or less value in terms of future options.

So the decision is down to which she thinks she would enjoy more, and whether she wants to stay at her existing school or move for sixth form. I'd personally consider a less regimented day a pro - she won't have a regimented day studying humanities at university!

Class sizes can vary wildly too. In my school ,sociology, business and psychology have easily 22 + and lots of subjects have about 8 students.

Yes and also ask the school for A level results by subject. I did this and it was very beneficial. Politics got a tiny proportion of A stars and quite a few Es and Ds, ditto Classical civ. RS got nothing less than a C, and mainly A stars As and Bs. Obviously this depends on the school!

Politics A level really wouldn't teach enough politics to become a political correspondent and I'm not clear why A level politics particularly helps with law any more than any other subject. Do what you want to do most I think is the best advice. If she likes history she will do well in any of those other choices.

OP, I'm not sure if the second school is state or private. If state, state(comprehensive)schools have a history (pun intended!) of not getting good Class Civ results. There's been whole blogs about it - bell curves, competing against highly selective schools, taught by non specialists etc etc. That might make me a bit wary.

Personally if she may want to do journalism or law, I would go for politics.

I think the key issue is not so much the specific merit or advantages of that third A level, but rather whether staying on at the same school for A levels offers some very real advantages in terms of stability, some/all the sixth teachers already knowing your DC, settling straight into the A level style and standards etc.

Obviously not everyone has that choice and, for some, a change is beneficial but it sounds like your DC likes where they are. For me, the focus would be: which of the subjects available at the current school suit as a third choice?

In terms of selecting A level subjects that are new to DC, I encouraged mine to look at past exam papers (for the relevant board) and some of those GCP revision books to get a sense of 'could I really study this and sit this exam?'.

Dc2 did English Lit, RS and Classical Civ. Civ was the hardest to get an A in and she found it really boring. Wished she'd done History. Philosophy A level is absurdly hard. RS/Philosophy and ethics is really interesting.

As others say, any combo of those is fine for any uni in UK. What interests her the most?

I assume classics is classical civ? If that's a passion it is fine to pick it up at uni - I would also not leave a sixth form I liked just to do classical civ A level.

Politics (anecdotally - offered at DCs' school and a lot of ppl took it) is a bit dry unless you love it. I always thought sociology sounded interesting tho.

I always say I am an MFL specialist and I am – former class teacher and now tutor (I’m saying that in case anyone who has seen posts from me about MFL thinks what’s she talking about?) – but I also have many years experience in journalism and can give you (and your DD more importantly) lots of advice on that. The main thing I would say is that it is not a career to look at as a vague idea - you need to be really committed and keen as it is tough to get into and to get on in – simply bc there are so many ppl want to do it and so few jobs out there. But if you need any more solid tips then shout up.