If you could do your A-levels again would you choose different subjects, do the same again but study harder or go off and do something vocational ?

[WildRosie]

I admit I was never keen to do A levels in the first place but my (at the time) chosen career required at least two A levels, which I just got. It didn't help that I wasn't enthusiastic but I was one of those pupils that didn't really excel at anything. Apart from English Literature, where I gained an 'A', all my O levels were grade B. I'm still amazed I got Maths O level, having failed all my other Maths exams hitherto as I never found the subject that easy. I found the sciences less arduous but one of my science teachers advised me against doing any science A level, which I probably should have ignored. In the end, I took Geography, Economics and History plus General Studies. I completely failed Economics and History which was down to a combination of my utter indifference to both subjects plus absent and/or incompetent teachers. I scraped an E in Geography and gained a C in General Studies.

I didn't get to follow my chosen career but that, I admit, wasn't down to my lacklustre A levels but rather my performance at interview which fell slightly short of what was required. Nevertheless, I feel my A level years were wasted and I'd have probably been better off doing more sciencey stuff and steering clear of arty subjects. For context, I took my A levels in 1989 when there wasn't the variety of subjects and options on offer that we now have.

BTW, my Economics teacher was utterly useless (only two of our class passed, everyone else failed). The other class taught by the Head of Department all passed. Go figure. As for History, in the second year of study, we only had one lesson a week when we should have had four. Again, widespread failure. I admit I was by no means blameless but the teaching provision left much to be desired. No such problems with the Science and Maths teachers. Hey ho.

Difficult to say.
I took physics because I loved it at gcse and got an A but wasnt given any indication of the higher level of maths needed alongside it. I had to drop it but wasn't allowed to pick up a replacement despite dropping it very early days.
Instead I volunteered in the local special school 2 afternoons a week and loved it. And I am now a teacher which maybe I wouldn't have chosen to be without that experience.

My other a levels were economics and geography. One I got a B in, one I cocked up on the exam day and wrote both answers on the same paper when they wanted them in different booklets so I got an E.

Still got into teacher training and it didn't stop me doing what I wanted to do.

I'd do English, history and drama , which is what I really loved, and not Chemistry, Biology and physics. I wouldnt go to uni and do medicine, and I wouldnt be stuck being a doctor in a collapsing NHS 25 years later. Definitely would make very different choices if i could do it all again!

I did physics, geography and maths. I wanted to do chemistry but was pressured into doing maths instead because “you need to do maths to help with the physics” and at 16 assumed the adults knew better than me.
Unfortunately I failed maths anyway because I was rubbish at all the stuff that had nothing with physics, so that was a waste of an a level.
(I’m still a bit pissed off about it 30+ years later tbh)

I'd have done Biology, English literature and geography.

I doubt it, because I got (just) the grades I needed. The other aspect was that unrelated to the subject, one of the teachers was the child of a working miner (yes that long ago) and we got to visit the mine concerned. I still have a lump of coal from the mine. So if I'd not done that subject, would never have had that experience.

I would. I dropped out as I couldn’t get the courses I wanted to fit the time table. So I don’t have any A levels.
I wanted to politics, geography and history. Would have loved to have gone on to study geography or geology at a uni level.
But I went and worked in a call centre for 5 years and then retrained as a nurse 🤷‍♀️

I’d have done the same subjects but actually done some work rather than spending my time in town looking around shops and evenings down the local pub. curriculum 2000 and splitting al levels in to 6 retakeable modules was a gift I wasted and should have got 3 A’s instead of ACC.

I’d do History instead of French (Failed dismally) and then go and do a history degree. I was put off history by a comment a teacher made about there being lots of debate at A level and I was very quiet and shy.

I did biology, maths and Christian Theology. It was the right choice. I did debate doing geography instead of CT, however it actually worked well because I ended up in the slightly lower maths stream (due to timetabling) and so did statistics rather than mechanics. I really like statistics. (The other maths stream was generally those doing all science based subjects)

I did the IB but if I had the chance to do it again, I would just do A Levels and pick Physics, Maths and Chemistry. I never used the others - I only picked them at the time as I didn't know what I wanted to do for a career.

With hindsight I would have done the sciences/maths subjects and really focused on them. I wouldn't have gone to university for my science degree. I now know there are lots of a level entry positions where the company helps you qualify/earn a degree whilst earning. I would do that instead. End up at the same place without the student debt. None of these where advertised to us at college. I was never a heavy drinker/partier/social butterfly so I don't really care if I hadn't had the uni "experience".

I would definitely have picked different subjects. I chose subjects I had no idea about only so I would be accepted at a different 6th form college rather than my secondary school as a friend and I thought it would be a great idea. Unfortunately for me she blossomed with all her new buddies and did great and I couldn't find my feet, dreaded going so kept skiving off and then dropped out before the first set of exams as I knew I'd fail. And that set me up for a lot of issues for a few years. I could kick my younger self squarely up the butt!!

In hindsight I would have learnt a trade instead, but I was very much pushed towards A levels.

I chose subjects I enjoyed and which I was good at, and I’d pick them again.

Very few of us have any idea at 15/16 what we want to do with our lives or even what a variety of different lives there are out there, so I think it’s probably best always to play to your strengths and see where it takes you.

My choices were very much dictated early on in my secondary school career by crap/absent teachers. I moved to a generally better school in Y9 but by then the damage was done wrt maths and science and although I caught up a bit, I was lucky to scrape Bs in both. Neither school offered history or geography, just humanities, which was meh. Languages were always my strong point and I should have taken German at GCSE but I'd only done a year of it by Y10 and wanted to do art and drama instead, so just did French. A big mistake, in hindsight. So yeah. I didn't excel at A-level having made some crappy subject choices but that was also due to discovering the pub and how fun it was to hang around in town with friends. I got moderately good marks without having to put much effort in, which didn't help.

Then in my final year at uni (languages) I suddenly pulled my finger out and got firsts in various subjects, and ever since then I've fully applied myself to any studies I've done since, getting really good results. I feel like I was failed by those secondary teachers somewhat, but by A-levels I had more agency so only have myself to blame!

My A Levels are Maths, History & Economics which I enjoyed and wouldn't have swapped especially as Economics was a new subject as we couldn't do it at O Level. However, our school didn't offer Further Maths A Level which I wish I had done. If I were to choose others to take now it would be difficult - probably French, Geography and English Lit but there's others like Psychology & Sociology which were not on offer for me.

I would have done: biology, geography and psychology.

I did English, Latin and Maths. I would not do Maths again. It was an unmitigated disaster with a Pure Maths teacher whose heavily accented voice I could barely hear even when she wasn’t mumbling into the blackboard. I barely scraped through, and it wasn’t just me; most of the class didn’t break a C grade and several failed outright.

Not sure what I’d have done instead. I might have stuck my neck out and gone for History despite not doing History O-level. I might have been pushed into doing French on the basis of O-level grades but that would have been a mistake as well because the O-level course we did was no way a preparation for the much harder A-level content. Latin was tough enough! And I’m hearing impaired so listening comprehension wasn’t happening.

If I had my time again I'd do a language. Dropped French after GCSE and have regretted it ever since.

A levels I'd do the same again but would've liked to also do biology but couldn't do 5.

Degree wise - I'm not sure. I loved university and found my degree really fascinating but it wasn't vocational at all.

I’d do English instead of Law. It was pointless, even though DF was pushing me to become a solicitor (which I am).

I would also have stayed at my comprehensive school for them rather than go to 6th form college. I got in with a crowd of slackers and let myself be influenced by them to not work as hard.

Another factor which didn't help me was lack of encouragement. Having several older siblings who had performed well at O and A level and, in some cases, had gone on to higher education, I guess my M&D took it for granted that I would achieve similar success. I seldom felt motivated, partly because I was doing subjects I had zero interest in, partly because the teaching standards were largely wanting and partly because I received zero parental interest.

I was in the first year group to do the AS/A2 system. We were told academic students should be taking 5 subjects in the first year, dropping to 4 in the second. In hindsight, this was clearly bonkers advice! I took double maths, chemistry, art, and computer science in the first year. I dropped both lots of maths and computer science at the end of yr1 because the teachers were crap, I'd lost all love for the subjects, and I was fed up of never having a free period. From that I gained 1 full A-level and an AS, then carried on with art and chemistry and added an AS in media studies for yr2. I finished with 3 A-levels and 2 AS.
If I could go back in time, I would have stuck it out at my school's 6th form (although I was unhappy there) instead of going to 6th form college, as my teachers were very hit and miss. I wouldn't have bothered with computer science at all, and would rethink art purely because of the workload. I would choose double maths, chemistry, and (probably) physics.

FWIW, I retrained after Uni and now have a trade... I am happy with that outcome overall, but often muse how different my job would probably be if I had been advised differently (and listened to that advice, of course!).