Help DD with her future please!

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DD is in Y11 and has to give in her preferences for A Levels over Xmas online. The deadline is Jan 1st for her school and she has had countless talks at school and support but she still has little knowledge of what she would like to do and what would facilitate her future etc.

She is toying with these subjects but will have to narrow them down to three.
-History
-Geography
-Spanish
-English Literature
-Drama
-Biology

Biology is the odd one out in a sea of humanities/arts

She also isn’t sure what she would like to do after University and thinks something to do with languages (she also does French but not as keen) might be good at University but she wouldn’t want to just do languages and isn't sure that she would be academically inclined enough to do something to challenging at University.

DH and I are little help as DH is in Politics but had a very maths/IT based career beforehand, which she isn’t interested in and I’m in the art world, but again she doesn’t enjoy art.

Honestly we are desperately running out of time and I can’t believe we have let her ignore the deadline for so long but have dealt with a very traumatic bereavement on DH’s side before the Xmas holidays so this was understandably not at the front of our minds.

Do you need to see her predicted GCSE grades/mock grades to help? I wasn’t sure.

This just feels terrible and poor DD is so overwhelmed.

Since she enjoys and is doing well in Bio and Geo, would go for those two and then choose between English, History or Spanish and pick the one she most enjoys and is most willing to put effort into in her gcses to try and get highest marks possible. A levels are going to be a lot easier for her if she picks subjects that play to her strengths
ie she can do well in the exams and she enjoys.

Another factor could be how much course work, if any, there is for those subjects at A level and whether she is happy to do course work or if she’s got good exam technique and is able to deliver all in one go.

Although geo and history are classed as humanities they are very different subjects. I don’t think any issue with combining humanities or languages with biology, good to have a foot in each camp if she has strengths in both but biology (as a bio teacher has said and I know this first hand too!) is labour intensive with a lot to learn, same for geography. Of the other three possible subjects she should go for the one which is likely to be the “easiest” for her, to give her some balance. A shame she doesn’t enjoy French but as she’s good at French and enjoys Spanish then she may have a natural aptitude for Spanish too.

She enjoys English and if she likes to read and discuss, you could probably help her at home to improve by chatting through her books/poems and developing her written style. Easier to help with English at home than other subjects. I had read some of the books my children were studying and we used to discuss them at home or on car journeys, I find it far more interesting chatting to my kids about English literature now than I ever did studying it at school so if you generally enjoy English literature it’s one you can help her with at home too.

If she’s analytical, curious and got a good memory, history is a great subject to take. Very different to Geography and helps develop different skills. Good for law if that’s of interest to her in the future.

If she had to make a choice right now, what would she pick?

If she’s really stuck on the third, the school deadline might be flexible if you explain the bereavement and that she needs more time to reflect?

Also they will be doing a deadline for time tabling reasons - to try and ensure there are no clashes (not always guaranteed with usual combinations) and to sort out teachers/classes. On results day, many people usually have to change. So it’s not set in stone.

IMO she should definitely do geography and biology if she got 9s in her mocks! Plus Spanish

I'd pick a science if she hasn't already
Then history and English lit.

Geog
Eng lit
Drama

Would be my choices. Geog can be practical as with the drama, eng lit and drama would compliment each other.

If she doesn't seem to have any clue what she wants to do at university and beyond maybe consider whether this is even the correct path for her. There are other post 16 options. Does she have a hobby or interest that is nothing to do with school? An interest in something she has always had a 'thing' for and always makes her happy and something she looks forward to. Maybe she needs to follow a path connected to that.

I think geography and a language would be good. The third option can be led by what interests her about these. Geography can be quite scientific as others have said. I don’t think that history is necessarily too similar either.

I did English, French and Sociology.
I would go Geography, Biology and either English, Spanish or History. Those last three are similar skills - reading, writing, comprehension. The first two are a lot more technical knowledge based.

So maybe English to balance the weightier subjects (though I am biased as I loved English!).

Spanish would be good fun too. You really have to put the hours in though with a language. I spent hours in the listening lab and I also got a tutor to help with the oral.

With English I had barely finished reading the texts until the night before the exam and still got top marks. Not a strategy I am recommending mind.

Geography
Spanish
Biology

Biology is a good combination with geography and Spanish and geography give her interesting options in terms of degree subjects/career choices.

Condolences on your bereavement. Your daughter sounds like a capable and well rounded student whom I am sure will do well whatever subjects she chooses. If she likes drama, are there any local groups she could join? She could do that just for fun but some give you the chance to do LAMDA exams which I think (not sure) can be included in UCAS tariffs

History or Geography plus English and biology.

Decide what career she wants then see if you actually need A levels and a degree.

Until she knows some sort of frame work of what she wants to do I think you could end up wasting 5 years of her life.

There are many careers tests you can do on line. I suggest she does several
They will come up with a range of careers, Then look up related careers as well and make a big list and see what repeats.

I did this with Ds who had no idea. I even did his horoscope.

Sometimes once you know what you want, some careers, although they say they need a degree or A levels, there are alternative routes into the work place.

I do think schools should have proper careers advisors and lessons where you can take tests and research different potential careers.
It would save an awful lot of time and money in the long run.

History
Biology
Spanish

That way she has a wider basic knowledge a science and a language.

IMHO your DD should ask for extension for the decision as long as there are not limits on the numbers of students wanting to do the subject

I also think that your DD should look at the exam board syllabus for all of the A level choices to see which parts of the subject are going to be studied

History - which time period?

English - which texts?

Geography - which area is the course leaning towards?

etc

Has anyone from the school told DD about timetable restrictions?

It might be that there are timetable differences with each subject - choose one subject from block A & block B & block C & block D (one block will mean study sessions or free periods)

Some subjects might be in all 4 blocks and some might not appear in more than one

Some subjects might have limits to the numbers of students either if too many or not enough students opting for it

I do think that the lack of AS has made it harder to go to 3 at this age

Perhaps after research get your DD to write lists of the FOR and AGAINST for each subject and exam

I also agree with others that DH should make it very clear that this is DD life and is not important to follow him and siblings to X

As Y or Z might be the right place for her

I also agree that after the GCSE results there might be wriggle room to swap

Another vote for Geography, Biology and Spanish. the first two appear to be her best subjects and a language is helpful.

Also, speaking from experience, beware of taking too many essay writing subjects like history and English!

Not spanish unless she wants to do languages plus alevel is much harder as the subjunctive is introduced, a tense we don’t have in English (I think).

The subjunctive is a mood, not a tense. And we do have it in English. If I were you I'd look it up.

I get that she doesn't know what she wants to do later, a lot of DCs don't at that age and it is difficult to be aware of all the possibilities but would this way of thinking about it help her?

Is she invested in doing as well as possible? Then she should chose her strongest subjects.

Is she interested in studying (for part of her degree) abroad? Then she should keep at least one language.

Is there anything on that list she cannot live without? Drama maybe? Then she should keep that.

I get what you say about the bereavement, and at least one poster on this thread has been awful in their approach, but there is some truth in the idea that she needs to make this decision for herself. The timing is awful and I am very sorry for your DD. I completely get why you would want to help her, but I worry that she may regret her choices if they are not genuinely her own. Is there any flexibility in the deadline for choosing, especially given the recent bereavement?

My experience was the same as @Annasgirl - I read Spanish at University as a combined degree having gained an A at A level and an A* at GCSE and i ended up with a 2:1 when I could have got a first because I was nowhere near the standard needed to do well in a language degree. Most of the people on the course were bilingual and some were actually Spanish - nobody warned me. It was mostly Spanish literature and translation and there was no continuing teaching of language and grammar. If your DD is interested in a languages path she might consider spending some time abroad perhaps an intensive course at a language school gaining fluency first, and she would probably need to pursue French and Spanish to have any chance of a career in translation or as a language teacher. All the secondary teaching jobs I looked at were asking for two languages.

That's not to say she shouldn't take Spanish or French A Level as part of her set (or even pursue it at university if she goes with her eyes open) as being able to speak another language is a great gift and I'm so glad I did it for other reasons; academic grades and career pathways aren't everything in life.

I would go for Geography, Biology and one other. If there’s even a chance that she’s interested in a university course later that has a medical element to it, such as nursing, a science is useful. Languages are good at A level but less so at university level. Getting the best grades you can is important.

I'm a sixth form teacher of Economics. I think Geography and Spanish based on what you've said. I agree with other posters that Drama, Eng Lit and Biology are only for the truly committed.

However, having taught quite a few students who are only doing A-level because everyone else their age is, and have little genuine interest in their subjects (which is awful for the student and the teacher!) I'd say get to a large branch of Waterstone's and look at the Big Ideas Explained Simply series - a flick through those for the relevant subjects will give her and you a clue as to which subjects genuinely engage her. I would be astonished if someone could flick through the Economics one and not get an idea whether it's their cup of tea. It's what I always recommend unsure students do when they come to me.

Can recommend she seriously thinks about the Biology before choosing it

I haven't RTFT but would reiterate this. DD is at a selective grammar and the amount of pupils who did really well at GCSE biology who have dropped it at AS level is higher than most subjects. The new spec apparently contains a lot of maths and inorganic chemistry, so if your maths isn't great I would seriously rethink it.

I know several people who have degrees, but do jobs that are so far removed from their degrees, but they have a rounded level of education

Their degrees opened doors of opportunity

However, a ' good job' also depends on your personality, drive, enthusiasm, flexibly, soft skills like good communication, turn up on time, learn new skills, on the job training etc

I would suggest
English

Geography
Biology
Spanish

Or
Geography
English
Spanish
Based on what others have said about Biology.

Don't do Drama if she's academic - it's a soft subject.

I would definitely do Spanish as I think a language is really useful - and when she chooses a Uni Course it gives you the option of a 4 year course with a year's study abroad, so she may come out fluent in a language without studying it at Uni.

The other 2 - whatever she enjoys. It's fine to combine Biology with a humanities subject.

DS is struggling with Eng Lit A level at the moment ... loves History.

DS1 did a language A-level, went on to do Maths at a UK Russell Group Uni and is now spending an Erasmus year studying Maths in the country of that language.

He will be fluent at the end of it and a 2nd language really increases your employability.

She should definitely keep a language in the mix.