Physics/Maths A level

[Milkandacookie]

My daughter has heard you shouldn't do physics A level without maths A level. Is that right?

She'd like to do chemistry physics and psychology....

She could do chemistry physics and maths but is quite keen on psychology.

She also wants to go to a "good" uni and is worried she might not get an A in maths (predicted an 8 at GCSE)

Anyone?

It's very difficult to get a high grade in physics if you don't do maths. I have had a couple of kids that don't do maths get a top grade at a level, but most get lower grades. So it's possible to do physics without maths, but I wouldn't recommend it. Would biology be an option?

Hmm I wonder if she might do chemistry and psychology and look for something else but unlikely to be biology.

She does like maths just not as much as the other 3!

Ah, I think she needs to decide if she wants to go the bio-sciences route or the hard sciences route or a computer science route.

Bio-sciences is usually biology, chemistry, psychology and so on

Hard-sciences is maths, physics, chemistry, geology, economics and so on

There is also another combination with psychology and that is about modelling and simulating behaviour using AI: computer science, maths and psychology

What I would suggest is she start looking at different degree courses at her goal Unis and then see what A levels they want. As she is keen on psychology, I think she may end up dropping physics and picking a different A level.
https://ultimateguides.ucas.com/pickingyourdegree/

I started a thread about this on 22nd January this year as my son was thinking of taking geography and physics but was less keen on maths.

Perhaps look at the responses?

It was called A'Levels, geography, physics and .... politics?'

Sorry I don't know how to share the link Cookiesandmilk

Physics is very mathematical. I think it is ok if she doesn't want to eventually do a physics degree, but you need maths to get on to one, so if she might want to down that path it would be a bad idea not to take it.

Ah thanks will go look. What did he do in the end? Hope he is settling in?

She would really like to do chemistry so that's her first choice. I can't rewmebr what degrees she was looking at but they often wanted 2 from sciences and /or maths so chemistry physics psych would all count.

She definitely isn't into computing (sadly seems to be where money is) or biology. If she could do a 5th it would probably be music. She loved astronomy gcse.

She said she may give up psych so she can do physics but it would be a shame!

She's good at maths and likely to get an 8 unless she puts the efforts in to get an 9.in old money that's an A*.

She quite likes maths just prefers the practical application of it in physics and chemistry.

Her school doesn't have psych gcse so she was keen to do it as a third at A level but maybe she can't.

Degree wise she'd like to earn more than teachers/nurses but isn't yet sure how/what. Considered medical science but doesn't want to do biology, considered radiography but wants well paid, considered psychologist.... Considered optician briefly!

My experience is old so not sure how well it translates to current syllabi but I was the only kid not doing maths A level in my A level physics group. The mechanics was easy for everyone else as they knew it from maths and our teacher didn’t explain it properly as a result.

I struggled with that but once I understood that part, the rest was ok. I got an A (the highest in my class) and was glad I hadn’t done maths in the end as I hated it (but loved physics).

BUT I worked harder for that A than my other three subjects combined. ETA: that might have been the case whether I did maths or not though!

How about environmental science A level? Since she really likes the psychology and the chemistry, but not biology.

Ah thankyou. Yes I see people advice maths with physics. It's so frustrating as it take 2 slots then! And chemistry is her favourite. Grrr

Shame it's not the days of AS and she could have done a psych AS.

Maths is so useful for any science degree especially at the better universities

And it tends to take less time and effort than anything essay based

Milkandcookie my son has taken maths, physics and geography.

We discussed it at length and he looked at degrees and their admissions criteria deciding that this kept his options open for more things.

I agree it is tricky to decide however we talked it through and he made the decision. Unfortunately this is the system and he has started the journey towards independence 😳

My daughter (his sister) is three years older and she started off with four and then dropped to three A'Levels.We even suggested this but he did not want to do it this way.

So far, so good, the decision was the hardest bit (so far 😂).

At my DC's sixth form around half the physics class were taking maths so the other half had to take core maths which is half way between a GCSE and an A level and supports the maths content of the physics A level.

The thing is when they are doing A levels it is better to do A levels they love because they will typically take 3 subjects, occasionally 4 all the way through to A level. For DC's sixth form that was 4 1/2 hours contact time per subject per week plus the homework for each of those. It is a massive change from the 9 or 10 subjects they take for GCSE. Far less variety.

Yes she doesn't want to do 4 as she wants to do 3 "well! ".

Well done @everythingisgoingup 's son sounds like he's doing well 😊

It's so tricky isn't it. She can do maths and finds it okay but doesn't love love it. She loves physics and chemistry thoigh and was so keen to do psychology. I imagine a lot of people do maths that don't love love it...

It will be trickier for her to do a Chemistry degree (if that is what she wants to do) without Maths A-Level. Possible, but much harder.

For a lot of students A level maths is hard, for a few it is very easy. It does depend on their work ethic and how bogged down they can get. My youngest really struggled with English lit at GCSE and was literally scraping a pass grade 4, however he is a determined student, worked very hard, spent loads of time studying without complaint and came out with an 8. So he hated it but applied himself. As I said, it depends on a child's work ethic and whether they are motivated enough to plough through A levels to get the course/uni they want.

Hmmm good question. She's at a Grammar school that doesn't set much homework so she's coasted a lot so far. I remember maths A level being a huge leap up myself! She does know it gets harder but who knows. She hasn't had to grind at it like some kids so far. She has worked hard at music though.

She's an all rounder but prefers science subjects.

I teach A level Physics and usually have a few students each year that don’t do maths (the vast majority do maths A-level). There isn’t any ‘hard’ maths in the physics A-level, but there is A LOT of maths so they do need to enjoy maths and be good at it. The main reason we say to do them together is because, if you don’t really like maths, you won’t enjoy the physics a-level. Also maths students will pick some of the physics course up quicker because they are getting more practise at the content as they are doing some of the same content twice (like mechanics) so if your daughter isn’t doing maths A-level she needs to be prepared to do extra work outside of lessons to keep up with the others. If she is happy with this then there are a no reason why she can’t to the physics A-level in my opinion. She won’t be able to do physics at uni though which is something to consider.

Everyone I have ever known to do Physics at A level, did Maths.

Hmmm she is now saying she might do maths. It's a shame they can't do 4 isn't it!

I also taught Physics.

The current syllabus is mathematical but is designed to be doable without a Maths A level.

But, as the other teacher said above, without maths A level, you will need to do some extra work and you still have to like maths.

In my last teaching year, one of the two strongest students didn’t do Maths A level and scored one mark off an A* (never found out if he moved up when remarked, but my bet would be that he did). But, that isn’t to say he wasn’t a good mathematician. He had a strong intuitive mathematical brain and loved problem solving.

The three sciences are a really good set of A levels for medics and vets. Not sure about Psychology. But don’t attempt a Physics A level to make up numbers or because of a good GCSE, you have to be genuinely interested in it.

Her very favourite is chemistry.
Her second favourite is physics.

So this is her starting point and she really wants to do these 2 subjects a lot.

She does like maths, just wasn't as passionate about wanting to follow it and wanted to do it "applied" as in when applied to physics or chemistry

So in her head chemistry physics and psychology if she just took subjects she loved.

Chem phys maths if she takes subjects that "make sense"