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Original poster

No Stem A Levels a mistake?

27 replies

torbygirl · 17/10/2022 10:09

DS is currently applying for college and is leaning towards Lit, German, history and art. He is doing really well in all subjects (7+ in all end of Y10 mocks) and all his teachers have said he'd do well at their A Level. He's not sure what he wants to do ultimately but is considering law and is not excited by maths/science as he is history and lit - they are really his passions.

I'm not sure whether he wouldn't be better swapping art perhaps for maths or chemistry. He says most people drop one of the 4 and if he does drop one it would be art so no point taking a Stem just to probably drop it. He's adamant he would never drop any of the other 3 and I know they are his passions and that a language is great to have, so I completely see where he's coming from! I'm just worried about his options afterwards though.

What do others think? I'd be grateful for any opinions.

OP posts:
StillNotWarm · 17/10/2022 10:23

He should take the subjects he loves.

I wouldn't take chemistry as a stand alone STEM subject. Maths would fit with his other choices, but if it's Art he wants to try, let him go for it.

EduCated · 17/10/2022 10:17

There’s no point taking STEM subjects if he’s not interested in it.

Also arguably little point taking one Science subject without also taking Maths or other sciences - if he did go onto a science based area afterwards maths is almost always necessary or extremely useful to the point of unofficially necessary.

So Maths potentially more useful, but only if he’s going to actually achieve it and I don’t think Maths is one you can bumble along in without being truly motivated by it (true of all subjects really, but Maths harder to cram/pull it back later on).

Languages are strong subjects, and Lit and History are well regarded whichever way you look at them, especially for Law/Arts subjects.

Doing 4, and doing Art as the fourth particularly, seems unnecessary. Art is a time sink, which is ok if it’s what you absolutely want to do, but if he’s likely to drop it surely the time would be better spent consolidating the other three - it’s almost always better to have three higher grades than four slightly lower.