Which fourth A-level is better alongside Physics, Maths and Further Maths? Or are chemistry/economics equally good choices?

DS was adamant he was doing maths, FM and physics with either chemistry or history. He chose, at application time, chem based on a) mock scores and b) connected to A, it while he loved learning about history and the facts, was he able to write the essay what arguments etc. required at A level? I questioned the choice of 4 but school, who were very pro 3 only, did say the further maths was the only valid case for 4 otherwise maths, FM and physics was too narrow a field of study too early

He did in fact get the same mark for both history and chem but while he stuck by his choice of chem, he did after the 6th form induction day decide to drop FM.

He realised that it would be better to get 3 strong A levels than 4 with some lower grades. As he said unis will not add 2 Bs to make an A!
That said I did A level economics, after the GCSE getting A ( no *s available then) and I think to get a top mark you need a real grasp of the subject and to spend time reading outside the taught syllabus.
If DS and those around beleive he can do 4 then I would suggest economics, with no over lap would be a lot of work for a good 4th A level

If they want medicine they need chemistry otherwise any other A level is fine, wherever they like best.

If he's a strong student interested in physics, have him check out COMPOS in the fall and Isaac physics (which is a website of physics problems he can start doing now). Students who solve a lot of challenging Isaac physics problems get invited to take a test in school, and if they score well enough, they can go to a four day summer camp. In addition to this, there is also the BPhO which has physics competitions at each year level. E.g. https://www.bpho.org.uk/Papers/IPC/ and https://www.bpho.org.uk/Papers/SPC/ are for students in years 11 and 12 respectively

I think economics. Demonstrates a different skill set to sciences, will give him confidence to speak about a wide range of subjects and will be useful if he decides he wants to work in business in the future

DD is doing Maths,FM, Physics and DT.

The most popular 4th choice in this scenario is chemistry and CS. There is definitely one kid doing CS outside of school as a fifth A Level. He recently sat the AS level to get a grade for his UCAS application.

DD was an all rounder at GCSEs and chose DT over chemistry partly because it’s continually assessed at her school so it will reduce the workload in the exam period next year ( though there is a ‘making’ exam over 3 days, I think). She enjoys using different skills but is looking at an engineering degree so this makes sense.

She actually misses history, and in some ways wishes she’d continued it. So I would recommend he picks the one that interests him most really.

Also, you don’t say whether he wants to do an EPQ, as this is another qualification where he could study something he’s interested in and it would demonstrate writing skills etc that might be useful in the future. It may not help with his university applications though and I think everyone doing 4 A levels at DD’s school gave it up in the end.

At DD’s school, the 4 A levels do take up a lot of time so she doesn’t get many ‘frees’, especially when combined with an EPQ (though she gave this up in favour of a Python coding course), and other PHSE lessons. It’s meant that her driving lessons have to be on a Saturday for example.

Best of luck to him.

Be aware Chemistry is thought to be the subject hardest at A level at which to get an Astar. DS2 got 85% in Chemistry A level and was still ‘only’ awarded an A.

If you’re one of the A levels is further maths, and the student is good at maths, it’s much easier than 4 distinct subjects. It’s just effectively accelerated maths for someone who already finds maths easy.

Both of my DCs were at 6th forms where the norm was to start 4 A levels and (usually) drop 1. DS did drop one where the jump from GCSE to A level proved unexpectedly hard for him. DD continued all 4, an interesting mix of creative, language & 2 STEM.

ETA: the A level DS dropped was one that had been ‘nailed on’ for years and he had done extremely well in at GCSE. Had he started with 3, he would very much have been in the position of 2 good results and one very poor one, rather than the 3 good results he in fact achieved.

What if they don't get on with one of their 3 A-levels? They can always drop one if doing 4, but would have a huge stress trying to do an extra A-level in a year if they started with 3. There's a very recent thread from someone in exactly this position (predicted A * in two A-levels but failing the third (Maths) and needing to drop it).

Surely if they choose 4 as opposed to 3, they are far more likely to drop a grade in one of their subjects?

My DC is making noises about doing 4 and I'm really hoping to dissuade them.

But the chances of low grades with 4 A levels increases…..

My son does CS
He would have ended up with chemistry if they hadn't offered the CS (his year was the first time they did) and wow am I grateful he did not do chemistry
Much harder, and he does not love it so would have been a slog
Also doubles the number of required practicals that need writing up, which he loathed in physics.

I believe doing 4 has meant he has not had the time to truly give FM what it needs and he won't get an A* but he doesn't need one so it doesn't matter. There is time for 4, he's had plenty of down time at home which he needs due to neurodiversity, but the period from mocks to real exams has required a LOT of work due to his relaxed attitude in Y12.

He has been happier tinkering with code than he would have been giving double time to FM, so I think it worked out ok for him however the amount of exams he's still got left compared to everyone else is upsetting 😅. There is a coding project in CS so don't do it if that doesn't appeal. It took up a lot of time, 100 pages worth of work.

The world of coding from the POV of scientists may change quite a bit by the time he gets to uni - I’m not sure how the heck A level syllabuses can keep pace with some of the current disruptive technologies. I’ve recently retired after 40 years in computational chemistry(biophysics, structural biology…) - the hard bit is the science not the coding, and the latter should become easier.

Beware, if he doesn’t adore chemistry, of the overlap in maths, f maths, physics and chemistry. I did that combination and ended up (after three double periods on the trot one day when we did exponential decay in all three subjects) demanding to be allowed to do something else on the side (in the days when there were no A stars and so less concern about overstretch!). French AS was a handy distraction.

Actually that's only true if they do them both after two years. DS found that they had covered stuff in FM before they got to it in Maths.

If you are capable of a top grade in FM, ordinary maths comes for free. DS and some friends added Chemistry, some others added History.

(apologies OP this is likely not v relevant to you!)

Rather wonderfully, the Geolsoc have produced a report on geology school provision, including a (2024) map. The densest cluster is around Manchester, and it’s particularly sparse in Surrey where I am. But it’s pretty sparse overall - in 2024 only 100 schools and colleges across England, Wales and Northern Ireland offered A-level Geology, and 27 offered GCSE Geology.

And there’s been quite a decline over time too - in the 1980s around 4000 students took geology a level yearly, but by 2020 it was down to around 1400. It had been just two exam boards but I think it’s going down to one.

I don’t imagine there’s much correlation to private / non private schools - probably more linked to schools where one of the science teachers happens to have a geology background as well as teaching eg chemistry.

This map is crowdsourced I think, so it may be missing bits, but it likely gives a decent picture overall. I can’t even find a level results for geology specifically on ofqual analytics pages.

https://www.thisisgeoscience.com/the-resources/student-numbers

https://www.esta.ac.uk/uk-teaching-centres

It's very regional. In my geology course, almost everyone from the Midlands up had done it at A level, some even at GCSE, mostly at comprehensives. It doesn't seem to be offered in the south though. Maybe all the southerners were privately educated though, which limits options

Honestly computer science A level is in my view not always the best from a coding perspective. You should check specifically that the school course includes python, which is the main useful one to learn from his perspective.
He will also be learning a fair amount of computer fundamentals which may not be of interest at all ... modern scientists heavily use computing to do their work but most of them don't know how the computer works in detail.
If it is of interest to him though it could be a good choice!

He could pick up coding and CS outside A levels. Ds did do it for GSCE but is switching to Chemistry.

CS just doesn’t have as much interest for him, and he feels Chemistry will be more challenging.