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Original poster

A Levels for Engineering

56 replies

Northerner7777 · 19/02/2014 11:06

Hi all,
My Ds wants to become an engineer after sixth form but is unsure which A Levels would be the best to take. Ds is definitely taking Maths and Physics but is undecided between;

Ones he likes; Further Maths, History, Philosophy
Ones people say are useful; Chemistry, Design Technology, Geography

I was just wondering is anyone has had a dc choose A Levels for engineering and what they chose. Or any advice off people who are engineers.

Thank you

OP posts:
steview · 19/02/2014 14:35

In some sixth forms FM doesn't get the full timetable allocation of hours for teaching (under the assumptions that classes will be small, hence less economical to run, and that those opting for it will find the single maths course a bit more straight forward than other students).

Because of this many sixth forms will happily allow students to study 5 AS levels where Maths & Further Maths are 2 of the 5 but only allow 4 otherwise.

For what it's worth I did Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Economics to A level. Degree was maths with engineering - it was the perfect grounding and Economics was handy to have something a bit different in my weekly timetable!

Original poster
Northerner7777 · 19/02/2014 14:30

Ds and I have had a talk about what you've all said. Ds has decided upon FM, Maths and Physics but as he's not sure about what type of engineering he wants to go into its between Chemistry, DT and Geography for his last choice.
Any ideas of what would be best for potential engineer who is undecided about which path?

They are allowed to do 5 but this is at the discretion of the HT and how well ds does at GCSE.

OP posts:
Whyjustwhy · 19/02/2014 12:23

I have 2 ds at university currently studying for Masters degrees in engineering.

DS1 - Aero & Spacecraft design has Maths, FM, Physics, Chemistry & Geog to AS
DS2 - Mech Eng has Maths, FM, Physics, Design Tech, and Chem to AS

The more maths you can do the better has been their experience. However, be prepared for people to tell you that somehow further maths isn't a real A level, or very hard, compared to say (insert any humanity of your choice) as people who are good at maths "will find it easy" Hmm

Fortunately, the universities disagree.

Megrim · 19/02/2014 12:13

Definitely chemistry for chemical engineering.

Design and technology for electrical and mechanical engineering.

I ended up as a geotechnical engineer (cross between geology and civil engineering) and did Geography, Geology and English at A level.

TalkinPeace · 19/02/2014 11:31

Maths, more maths, even more maths
a pure science of some sort
and then
either history or geography to give spatial awareness
English to make reports readable

NOT any sort of applied subject

also : what sort of engineer does he want to be
have a look at these and pick some options
www.southampton.ac.uk/engineering/index.page?
www3.imperial.ac.uk/engineering

rabbitstew · 19/02/2014 11:20

I suspect you'll be told Further Maths would be extremely useful. Chemistry would presumably be essential for chemical engineering and considered a generally good scientific subject for any aspiring engineer. History sounds like a nice option for an all-rounder who doesn't want to do all-science A-levels, but presumably wouldn't be considered "useful" to an engineer. I can see that design technology would be useful for getting onto an engineering course, but not so useful that you would want to study it if it wasn't really one of your passions. But I might be wrong on that.