Choosing a fourth A level alongside German, Biology and Maths

My DS is at the end of Year 12, waiting for AS results next month. He has LOVED his German this year (and also the Spanish, but esp the German). It’s a nice course, and likely to be small class sizes, so lots of talking time.

What grades is she aiming for for those alevels?

My dd is also awaiting gcse results and has chosen English literature, history, biology and psychology. She’s hoping for 9s in the first two and 8 in biology. Psychology is a new subject.

It looks as though universities right up to Oxford and Cambridge are very keen to find good students for MFL degrees. There are a lot of courses available for access to Oxbridge, aimed at state school students particularly, if that applies.

As far as the A levels go, having a language, plus maths, plus a science is quite a good combination for a future business career.

I did Latin A level and I think that Latin is a good base for studying Romance languages. It is also possible to do degrees that combine latin and other languages, if that does, on reflection, appeal at all.

@Stowickthevast I don’t get the angst with maths and biology. I agree trying to do a GCSE in another MFL is a good idea. I would just add an essays subject because MFL degrees are essays! My DD said those without essay subject s did not find the transition to degree easy and there’s lots of reading!

I am currently doing a science degree that requires two science A Levels with precisely 0 science A levels 😂 There are ways around this if it becomes an issue.

I loved English Lit at A level OP. It’s where my brain finally ‘got it’. It’s a combination of history, politics, culture studies, sociology, human geography and media studies. It looks at texts from every angle questioning why the author made certain decisions… the curtains aren’t blue to represent sadness they’re blue because Queen Victoria loved that shade of blue and the subject of the novel was a social climber emulating a class higher than their own. That sort of thing. Gives you a breadth of general knowledge if you’re able to get it.

Biology and Math counts as 2 sciences for most degrees

What has she chosen @Stowickthevast

@Stowickthevast you might like to know that Cambridge recommend maths for students wanting to take MFLs there. It’s on their preferred A level list. If she’s good at MFLs, can she take another one? Alternatively, an essay subject is a good addition or possibly economics.

My DD did an English Language A level and enjoyed it. From what I recall they did modules on how children acquire language and other sociolinguistic elements such as gender, dialect, changes over time. Lots of writing skill development, writing for different audiences, textual analysis.

If she’s considering changing school, look at alternative History exam board options - DD is studying German and History and the history includes German history and so they work well together.

Over 20years ago, my A Levels were German, Maths, French and RS. Like your DD, i chose RS because I liked the sound of the philosophy and ethics element, more than the religion element. Actually, ive quite regretted that for a while once I got to uni. I remember very little of it now so it hasnt really been useful. Plus i went on to study Russian at university and there were so many interesting history modules over the 4y degree, that it would have been helpful to have a more solid grounding in history (I also did RS GCSE rather than History). I caught up with peers, but i could have made life a bit easier for myself. My experience is obviously very out of date but maybe worth having a look at the modules for the MFL courses she is interested in and whether she thinks History A Level might help her more? I actually ditched maths after AS Level as I didnt do as well as I had hoped but for the last 15years have worked with numbers in the millions so it just goes to show that you never know what life holds!

As I have said on books thread you can get through AQA doing entirely pale, male, stale.

Hi stowick! What board is that for English because those are such refreshing texts!

Maths and physics would certainly be enough science for lots of STEM degrees, now at any rate. Agree, not med or vet med without chem or bio, but for sure physics, maths in a lot of unis and engineering too. Even without FM.

How about RS and then Arabic ab initio or middle eastern studies at university?

I would drop biology before maths, tbh.

I did maths, physics, German & history (over 20 years ago…) and everyone thought I was batshit but I’m delighted to see someone else simply following their own passions. It certainly didn’t set me up for anything other than an arts direction (not enough science) but that didn’t bother me as I was headed down MFL or law track, and simply wanted to study what I was interested in. As PPs saying, try not to close doors unless your DD is certain she doesn’t want to pursue science. And why opt for history if she doesn’t like the sound of it?

Would she consider Economics or Geography?

I missed the architecture interest. Maths and art would be good for that.