Which 3rd a level to go with RS and German.

Geography is considered an overlap between social science and science. Physical geog and human geog are the main elements.

Economics (depending on syllabus) can be either philosophical or leaning toward maths at university level.

History of Art might work well with RS and German.
Philosophy might tick a number of boxes.
Ditto History.
Would he be interested in Psychology?

I'd be very inclined if I were him to keep up the German at university.

I would say history. It fits with the first two the best, and has all the elements your DS is looking for.

I don't know of a secondary school in our LA or neighbouring LAs that offers German at GCSE or A level any more.

@LuluBlakey1 wow that is depressing indeed. Tho tbh in DS2's year, his school was the only one in the city (so out of about 7/8 sixth forms) to offer German A level. A lot of settings require minimum numbers which is always a challenge for MFL A level. But not at GCSE? Certainly offered at at least four local secondaries. Agree that it is less common than French.

Any of those would be great – depending on what they enjoy and what they will do well at. But yy I agree physics without maths is a challenge and not very common tbh.

History and geography both keep open doors to those subjects at uni (tho in fact some unis do not require A level in those subjects for those courses).

I wouldn’t encourage taking four tbh as it is a lot of work for no specific gain (and often lower grades all round). Also there is nothing wrong with RS at GCSE or A level, it’s a perfectly good choice.

Wrt German (yay! MFL A level) there are still plenty of unis offering MFL degrees. Yes, some are cutting the subject which is sooo depressing, but it is still offered in lots of places. A random search shows Leeds and Warwick offering lots of options inc German alone or combined with various interesting subjects.

What is their expected grade at German GCSE? What about their expected grades for the other choices? My immediate thought veers towards history/Geog/politics as that feels more in line with their other choices and what you say about a possible future direction, but it is worth checking about NEAs as a PP says.

And yes, if they take physics alone or another science on its own, the options are more limited (though you can still do a science degree with one science - but you might need higher grades).

Go with whatever they enjoy and get good marks in, the rest will fall into place. If they were set on a career path, my answer would be different.

You say they like logic/ reasoning/ debate. They would probably find a legal career really fulfilling. Have they done any work experience?

I initially wanted to be a psychiatrist so I did chemistry, biology, religious studies and business studies for my A-levels. I think my mixed bag A-levels actually helped and had been a talking point in interviews.

I think RE is pretty well regarded isn’t it? It’s essentially philosophy and ethics.. A friend’s highly academic child who goes to a top private and has eyes on Oxbridge is doing it… And they’re a family that’s pretty clued up about this stuff.

I think physics without maths would be hard. I’d go for something social sciencey if that’s a potential direction at uni.

Agreed that languages at uni (esp German) would be unlikely as those depts are getting axed right left and centre and lots of them have cut German already from their offering

I think RS and German are very unusual choices and if either is likely to be pursued at University the courses will be very limited. Language courses (even French and Spanish) are being reduced in number and RS in any form, is an unusual choice now.
If they are just A levels that will be decent grades to access a less socialised degree that doesn't require particular A levels, just good grades, that's fine.
RS at GCSE is not a highly regarded GCSE academically, I don't know about at A level. I don't know of a secondary school in our LA or neighbouring LAs that offers German at GCSE or A level any more.

History or Politics.

I would also check how many of these require coursework. DD was torn between English Lit and Sociology but as History has coursework she didn't want another one, so Sociology won.

Think about whether coursework or 100% exam is preferred as that could steer or refine the choice.

I'd go with geography if they're thinking of doing something with German at uni and history if they're thinking of doing something with RS. Also check which religions are studied at A-level for the RS one, my local college did a completely different religion than the two main ones I'd learned about all through school and done for GCSE so I ended up not doing it because I didn't want to have to start from scratch with a completely new belief system at A-level.

Something STEM related could be useful to keep STEM routes open if they don’t yet have a career in mind

What are the future plans?
Any career objectives?
Any idea what / whether to study at university?

There are science and humanities subjects in the list that on the face of it are quite far apart.

I wouldn't do physics without A level maths.

I'd do electronics (and environmental science - if it's actually science and not all about power discourses).

Aiming for uni and if so any thoughts on what subject at uni?

Law?
My dd loved Alevel RE. Had a fantastic teacher who really captured the class.

Can they do 4? Give more breadth. Are they set on RS? Any thoughts at to start they'd like to study at university?
I'd go with history or politics (both if they would consider dropping RS), and then a maths or science subject, economics might fit well, or the physics from your list

I’d go history or politics.