DS's A level choices - your opinion please

Psychology is seen as a soft subject. Silly bcs it's hard, but the truth.

Let him do what he likes. He's clearly smart, and he'll work harder on the things he cares about. It's not good preparation for uni to have these choices made for you.

I think worrying about employability is a red herring. Not everyone in the world is in a STEM-related job or a lawyer. There are all sorts of jobs that require analytical thinking - business consultancy, advertising, teaching, Human Resources, people who work for car manufacturers and biscuit manufacturers and run large retailers and who produce TV shows and design historical interpretations for sites and run cleaning companies and who are simultaneous translators and diplomats and spies and work for the police force. You don't need to study an A-level you don't enjoy.

At dds sixth form they do let high fliers i.e. those with mostly As take 4 subjects in Y12. You can still take a stand alone AS level at the end of Y12, it just doesn't count towards the mark at the end of Y13 anymore. Many sixth forms do structure the new linear courses so this is still possible - others don't though!
I think that Psychology does count as a Science subject for A level but one where there are essays if that makes sense.
There is some Maths in A level chemistry, but if he is good enough at Maths to obtain A (or number equivalent) at GCSE, he should easily be able to cope with the Maths needed.
I would look further into the Economics option, although not a facilitating subject, it's still fairly highly regarded. (You don't need Maths for Economics A level but it may be an advantage for economics degrees iyswim).

Honestly, if He doesn't like maths he's doubtful to be doing a degree that requires maths at uni. In addition if he's going to drop it it basically becomes irrelevant as uni offers done on a level, plus not having that fourth subject allows him to focus more on the three others. He doesn't need to do four and unless taking it to full uni or he's really confused on a couple of subjects and what to do, he should just do three.

rask there's so much maths in a physics degree it feels like you're studying maths for the first year! You need it as a foundation for the rest of it but if you're not a lover of maths definitely not one to pursue. Good luck to her, whatever she ends up doing.

Thanks Purple and Errol. She is interested in physics but not maths, which could be a problem. Sorry OP for derailing.

Why is the plan to drop one? The gradual introduction of the new linear courses means that more and more, students are having to commit to their A Level choices for the two years as we did back in the day. So I am not sure of the logic of starting a subject with the intention of dropping it at the end of the L6 with nothing to show for that year's study on paper.

chcoc yes English Lit and ClassCiv at A2.

Worth saying he did these when full AS was still in place, so started with 4 and then dropped to three subjects in Y13. Whatever one thinks of the old system, it did allow for more trial and error in Y12

Rask - its a bit OT, and don't want to derail from the OPs questions too much, but something similar pertains for FM with good engineering courses - its not a requirement (because not all kids get the chance to do it) but its definitely desirable, and the thing that convinced DD was advice I got from an eng. academic on MN that its a really good idea to have done it at school so you don't have to spend time in the first year catching up (in some cases self-teaching). Also, you will sometimes see people saying fm is only acceptable as a fourth subject - this is true for some subjects but not for eng. and physics anywhere she looked at.

I'd say if he can start 4 subjects he definitely should - with those choices there is a chance that he finds the jump to A level too much for chemistry, or that it turns out he doesn't like the psychology or politics as much as he anticipates. Back in the day most people only did 3 but there wasn't the same range of subjects - nowadays starting 3 if one or more is new subject for them seems quite risky.

Purple: Hmmm I SO get that. And agree! I must find out if the would even let him without Maths. What percentage of your pupils who didn't do Maths still get A's?*

It's difficult to give a percentage because most students who like physics like maths as well. If you want to do physics at university you have to have maths. The ones that don't have to work harder because they're not getting the extra practice in maths (there's a lot of crossover) but it is perfectly possible to do well without maths a level if you know you're going to have to compensate with extra work.

rask while further maths is a small advantage when you're starting your physics degree, it's not necessary to get on to a top physics course. The uni runs catch up lectures to cover the extra content that's not been done at a level. I didn't have further maths, most of my students who go off to study physics don't have it. While I think it's clearly the best, physics definitely isn't the only science. Most biology students won't have a level maths, let alone further maths.

Purple, I can't recall, a Cambridge article or something - it said something like, whilst FM is not officially required, all our successful applicants last year offered it. So strong hint to do FM, I think? Don't most physics courses prefer it?

Psychology may not be facilitating but it's fascinating; Dc studying it in Y11 at the moment and I'm loving getting into all the different theories and texts.

A Psychology degree is maths based, but the A level isn't.

We were told that Chemistry did not stand on its own very well without any other sciences. Also Universities are now only really looking at three A levels unless you want to do medicine.

Psychology very maths based, chemistry very different to his other choices but nice to have a mix.

OP initially stated Definitely a humanities kid and loves essays. which is why I am querying Chemistry. If he is interested in it that's fine, but if it has been chosen just because it's 'facilitating' that would be another matter.

If your DS has aspirations for Cambridge or Durham for History then he will need to taking subjects that he is genuinely serious about studying, enjoys being committed to, and of course has a genuine aptitude to do exceptionally well in.

DS1 currently reading History at Cambridge - whilst only one of his A levels overlap with your DS's potential selection, the one's your DS has chosen look fine. Chemistry may not be an obvious fit, but if it something he enjoys and does well in then I do not see any problem whatsoever.

My only real question would be why 4 A levels when all will be linear by the time he is taking them. Anecdote only but DCs from DS1's old school which has a good oxbridge record take 3 as standard (FM being the standard exception). Those holding offers from Oxbridge and doing three A levels have a three subject offer - DN who is doing 4 A levels has a 4 A level offer.

We have so many year 12 students who choose maths a level as it looks good on a UCAS form - but they don't really like maths. They struggle all year, have to attend after school sessions as they're behind, we even have to put some on "homework watch". This includes students who got A* at GCSE. But if he's willing to make the commitment - then go for it!

I think that it's a fine mix. 2 classic facilitating subjects, Psychology is such an interesting subject; in a world where emotional intelligence is as importance as academia the ability to understand those around you better is a real life skill. The politics is the outlier imo, but will sit well with History if that is what he chooses.

If he really hates maths, he shouldn't be doing it. A level maths is hard. He will be miserable and won't do well.

All education is not vocational. If you cannot see how studying subjects he adores in depth at a top university can help him for the future, I would advise you to broaden your thinking about education.

Advise him to look at the entry requirements of a few likely courses at potential universities. I think he will find that his choices are fine.

I realise Chemistry is a 'facilitating subject', but in the context of the other choices, why has he rejected English Lit, or a MFL for example?

Chemistry is an odd choice for a stand alone science. It's another one where there's a huge jump to a level and if he is only doing it as a facilitating subject he's much better doing physics. Yes, physics without maths is more work but if he loves it and puts the effort in he's much more likely to do well. I've had pupils with a*s who didn't do a level maths.

The reasoning behind my suggestion of doing maths for a year was that to do something you hate for just one more year, to do more of what you love for three