A level choices - are these good?

I think German GCSE was early in the exam run – so has she done any German in the three months since then? If yes esp if set by the school then great. Or Duolingo or similar.

If not I would advise in the next week to have a really good look at and learn

• Verbs esp past tense, haben and sein, irregular past participles
• Subordinating and coordinating clauses (weil/obwohl and aber/und/denn)
• Prepositions that take dative, those that take accusative and those that take either and why
• Genders of nouns and adjective endings

@spoonbillstretford Cambridge has great advice on that. For arts and humanities they suggest 2 from MFLs, History, English lit or Maths. Then a third which interests dc such as politics, economics, etc. Lots on the list. They do suggest sciences are kept for science courses though.

She’s will be starting year 12 in sept just got the gcse results - she actually did German privately out of school 2 hours a week online and got a 6 (few marks off a 7) plus 9s for English lit and lang so hope she will be ok doing the german a level.

True, but many are not so clear on what they want to do. I was at least sure what I didn't want to do, which was a start.

Is she going into year 12 or year 13? If year 13 hope she is enjoying it.

It’s a great A level with a really interesting and engaging syllabus I think.

You need to enjoy it of course but I don’t think having an A level in an MFL will ever be a bad thing.

BTW my MFL degree did not involve any labs! Plenty of lecture theatres tho @titchy but I am sure things have changed. (hope so in some ways anyway – German dept was exclusively men).

I’d suggest Maths Biology and German. But what about economics? Goes well with maths. And as you say he can drop one (Econ or German?) idc.

im a big fan of MFL. DS just did French A level (doing geography at uni). Older DS is abroad at uni this year and intending to revisit his gcse french for one module. He ultimately wants to do law. I’ve worked in law/compliance for years and speaking French and a bit of German has been an advantage.

@spoonbillstretford Too many young people want to aim high but cannot because they have chosen random subjects. My gardeners DD wanted to be a vet but didn’t do chemistry A level. She got onto a foundation course but look at the extra study and length of course! It was an avoidable.

@converseandjeans Yes, my point exactly. MFL departments want students and it’s easier to get on the courses.

Why not continue with your best subject?

I think Maths, Biology and German - I guess his school doesn't do economics A-level? Choosing that could help him decide if he wants to do it at uni. What did he get in physics? Is that a possibility for his 4th? It goes well with maths and there's some overlap. If not then I'd say psychology as his 4th but drop it when he can.

As someone who took an A-level language and then went on to do a languages degree, I would say twenty years later that it's the best decision I ever made. To start with, the A-level was the most interesting, purely because of the amount of literature and culture we learnt. I'm not saying it wasn't tough, but it's an enjoyable type of learning because you can see the progress and put it into practice. Now years later, it has opened doors, improved my career and even helped me meet my partner. I have no doubt that my life would not be as full as it is today without learning languages. As a side note, my a-levels aside from langs were not amazing and I got into a very good university because they were under-subscribed for my course, if anything that trend has only increased. Very best of luck to your son in whatever he decides to do.

He should do the subjects he likes best and finds interesting. Choosing subjects to impress potential universities leads to choosing a degree to impress a potential employer leading to choosing a life to impress imaginary others and bumbling along in life not ever really knowing himself but always feeling sad and dissatisfied.

Due to so few people doing MFL & also harsh marking he could probably get onto a joint honours with German more easily than if he did just the one subject. So economics and German for example. Due to harsh marking a grade 8 in German is an excellent grade. I don’t believe the jump from GCSE to A level is ridiculous as some of the topics are touched on again.

Glad to read your post clary Dd doing a level German and some of the other comments dispiriting!

@titchy Well yes but they haven’t all closed yet! I have a suspicion that they won’t all go! My point is that rather than do the second most popular subject, psychology, why not carry on with German as he likes the teaching and it was highest grade A level? Very good universities open up if he wants a MFL because tariffs are lower.

Also MN loves “do what you are good at” and in this case it’s German. Yet people think it should be ditched. Makes no sense. It’s perfectly sensible to look at, say, a management course with a MFL. It adds to the cv and hopefully year abroad becomes easier in the next few years.

You keep saying unis love and want linguists - we don’t want linguists any more than any other student. The reality is that language depts are closing, and the opportunity to pick an ab initio language is shrinking. Which is dire.

If we’re blunt, we want students in classroom based courses that we can squeeze hundreds into a lecture theatre! Language teaching requires labs - limited room in a lab!

He’s gone off history though. German is a very good choice and makes him versatile. It’s not a vocational subject - it’s an academic one and as he doesn’t really know what he wants to do at university, it keeps options open. Certainly universities like and want linguists!

i'd say that the main thing (other than dodging further maths, which seems to be in hand) is definitely to do three rather than four. after that it looks relatively finely balanced. I think that maths plus an essay subject plus something else would be a great combination for a lot of degrees.

Maths and Biology are a good combination and will give him the option of any kind of biological science degree if he is still interested.
For economics he would be better off dropping the psychology or German (realistically the German) and doing a humanities subject instead like history or something new like politics or philosophy if the school offers them

@1dayatatime My DD studied 2 MFLs at A level. No way would A level have prepared her to study at universities abroad where they taught in those MFLs. For university students, the year abroad is in y3. So students have had 2 years of degree level study. A level isn’t good enough. So getting a degree on the cheap might be open to native speakers but not those at A level.

DD is in a similar position. The best argument for studying German is that helps in giving you an option to study (any other subject) at a University in Germany where the fees for international students are considerably lower than the UK and at some highly regarded universities.

That’s not all strictly true – just in case it puts anyone off.

I mean of course A level German is harder than GCSE German – that's true of any A level I hope. But you study only one book and one film (usually – you can pick two books but most don’t) so it’s not a massive undertaking (and in fact the analysis element of the essay on the book is worth only 20 marks out of a possible 400 total A level marks so 5%).

You study social and historical topics it’s true – things like the reunification of Germany (which is history tho I remember it haha) and the role of Germany in the EU. I think these are really interesting. But you don’t have to write essays on them. The reading and listening paper focuses on the topic work but we are talking summaries, translations and reading and listening comprehension. You also need to talk about one topic in detail for the speaking exam – but again, not an essay. I agree it's a step up from 150 words about a holiday but so it should be.

You also choose a topic for a research project for the speaking – but this could be a German football team you follow, or a German film you love; it doesn't have to be about the rise of the AfD. My dd spoke about Les Miserables (the musical) for her French.

Apologies @katand2kits if you teach MFL – I do agree with a good deal of what you say, and it’s important to love the subject – but again, I think that’s true of many A levels.

@pinotnow apologies – a bit off topic! or maybe not. I think personally any three from his suggested four would be good. Two sciences can lead to a science or economics degree; German as well could be added in as joint honours or a subsid subject. Three sciences will also open lots of doors.

@Manthide Well thats her. Not everyone does. Some dc are just better at MFLs! Like some are better at physics and maths. The difference is schools don’t care about MFLs and neither do the Brits overall. Dc have no encouragement to continue with MFLs. They are replaced with easier subjects and we see that as equivalent.

@CarraghInish dd3's school has stopped offering German gcse from this year. I think mfl are an easy cull. Dd3 is doing standard level Spanish IB and she nearly dropped IB and did A levels instead after her first few lessons as she found it so challenging.

@katand2kitsAs my DD did 2 MFL A levels, teaching really is vital! A great teacher is definitely worth a grade!

I'm not saying he shouldn't do it. He is probably quite capable of it. The OP made it sound like he didn't really like the subject all that much, just the teacher. Which is not a recipe for reaching a good standard at A level. He should pick it if he actively is interested in German, not just because he got a good grade at GCSE.