Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

A level choices - facilitating subjects again

54 replies

Ireallydontseewhy · 17/02/2016 10:01

Feel sure I must have missed a thread on this, as it is the right time of year, but.... Another dc coming up to A level choices, and we're wondering is the Russell Group booklet on 'facilitating subjects' - Informed Choices - still up to date? Seeming a bit more restrictive this time round, now that many dcs are going to be doing only 3 subjects rather than 4 in sixth form. If anyone knows if it is still considered up to date I would be most grateful! Still available on the internet so I assume it is (or I could e-mail the RG, but always nice to get mners views!)

OP posts:
Original poster
Ireallydontseewhy · 17/02/2016 10:24

Thanks Jan yes I seem to remember those lists - and have a feeling each list is slightly different... Yes, you may well be right about 'if in doubt', and if you only 'need' to do two facilitating subjects there is still some scope for going off the track I suppose! Though less flexibility if you're choosing only three subjects nowadays (I know some are doing four! But don't think all schools are going to allow this.)

OP posts:
Original poster
Ireallydontseewhy · 17/02/2016 10:20

Thanks so much Noble, that's a very interesting link as well!

I totally agree you have to look out for not 'closing off' engineering, medicine and so on. But apart from that, there are things about the facilitating list I don't really understand - I would have thought as a 'test of ability to do a degree', economics and class civ A levels (to take two examples) would be just as reliable as, say, history or English. But then I am not an admissions tutor!

OP posts:
janinlondon · 17/02/2016 10:14

The LSE and Trinity Cambridge both publish actual lists of subjects that they consider to be acceptable or not acceptable. Whether these mean anything or not is obviously up for debate, but if in doubt.........

noblegiraffe · 17/02/2016 10:06

The RG would no doubt say that it's still valid but I would suggest its advice be taken with a pinch of salt.

www.lkmco.org/what-a-level-subjects-do-russell-group-universities-prefer/

However, if your DC has a definite idea of what they want to take at uni, e.g. Medicine, then certain choices are necessary.

Swipe left for the next trending thread