University courses that require physics?

[Ruizy]

Ds wants to do biology and chemistry next year but not physics. I just want to give him a list of courses he then won’t be able to do later, so he is making an informed choice. He is only 13 now so not sure he has thought it through properly

so physics, astrophysics etc, civil engineering? Mechanical engineering, architect maybe?

Where do you live that he can drop physics so early?

You can study architecture without physics. A lack of maths would preclude civil engineering as well as physics.

Sorry, I misread. I thought you were talking A level choices.

It is very unusual for a school to allow a science to be dropped at GCSE unless there are SEN reasons.

We are in Scotland. Here normally you choose physics chemistry or biology. Either one or two but unusual to do 3

Most forms of engineering, tbh

Just feeling aware that if he drops physics now he can’t take it back up at higher

He has always loved building stuff. All the stem toys etc so I wonder if he should do physics. But he is adamant he isn’t interested in engineering

Sorry, this isn’t much help to you but I’m really quite shocked at that.

What happens in gcse England?

I'm from Scotland - I thought most did 2 sciences rather than 3?

We're at the same point of picking subjects too.

I guess a lot of it will come down to the columns & what you can pick from that.

All three sciences are studied up to GCSE. The majority do ‘dual award’ which is worth two GCSEs and covers all three sciences. More able DC can choose ‘triple science’ which is a separate GCSE in each of biology, chemistry and physics. Lower ability students might do a ‘single award’ which is one GCSE but nevertheless has coverage of the three sciences. A student who dropped one or more sciences before y11 wouldn’t cover the national curriculum.

Yes I haven’t seen the format of the form yet to see if it’s possible to do all three. I think he would maybe need to drop biology and do chemistry and physics. My preference would be to do all three really though

For state schools in England you either have to take Combined Science which is worth 2 GCSEs and is a mixture of Chemistry, Biology and Physics or 3 separate Sciences in Chemistry, Biology and Physics.
If he is considering going to an English university to take a science degree or if there is a possibility that you may need to move to England for work reasons, he would be disadvantaged by not studying all 3 Sciences at standard level.

This is very interesting thanks

Not having physics even at gcse equivalent level would preclude most forms of engineering I'd have thought, as well as any type of physics obviously.

It might make him a weaker candidate for maths, comp sci and chemistry, or make studying those subjects at a more advanced level more difficult. (I'm a chemist - having done physics a level was definitely useful, not having done biology was pretty much irrelevant).

That’s probably true. Dropping physics will make all manner of physical sciences and engineering hard later.

In my world (finance) physics will tend to help you more than biology.

I myself did chemistry and physics standard grade. Then I did a crash higher in biology for sixth year (even though I had not done it at standard grade) but I feel this would be more difficult for physics it’s so much more difficult than biology. He really enjoys biology though and I do t want to force him to drop this if he then blames me later that he would have liked to take this

And, to add, physics and maths complement each other very well. Doing each (in my opinion) helps you with the other.

Architecture doesn't require physics however it can be useful
I have physics A level but in my year at uni only 2 of us had it.
Usually if they don't do 3 separate sciences they do dual award science which is a bit more broad brush but is still all three sciences.
I did dual award science (separately wasn't an option at my school) and still went on to do physics A level at college, and did well.

I did notice that “science “ is an option for Nat 5s but I don’t remember this being an option when I was at school. I assumed it was to broad a subject and for the less capable children. But maybe it is worth considering

Mine are at Independent schools and they only have to do 2 sciences - DD isn't doing physics. Lots do 3 but they don't have to.

Music Technology requires a physics A level. Some of the courses/ unis my DD was looking at offered MT rather than music , but the physics element deterred her.

You used to need physics for optics to become an optician

What is it about the devolved nations and science? There is no triple science GCSE in the new Welsh curriculum and everyone will be forced to do dual award. They do at least still do all three sciences. Dropping a whole science (or even two) in year 9 is madness. I didn’t know it was the norm in Scotland.

It's up to him. Best to study subjects he enjoys and is good at.