Would you let your child choose “easier” A-levels to get better grades?

[ainawatson]

My child is about to start sixth form and we're having a bit of a disagreement about subject choices.
They're considering subjects they genuinely enjoy and feel confident they can get good grades in, but I'm wondering whether they should choose more traditionally academic or “useful” subjects instead to keep more university and career options open.
Would you prioritise enjoyment and the chance of higher grades, or choose subjects based more on future career prospects?
Interested to hear what other parents and students would do!

I'd advise not to do Economics without A level Maths - ds did this and he really struggled compared to the other kids who had done A level Maths - fortunately he failed his end of year exam and decided to go through the Maths course thoroughly. At ds's graduation I spoke with the Professor who taught ds maths and he said that was the subject they lost most students to in first year, they didn't insist on A level maths but they really did need it.

He should do what he enjoys. Doing something they find harder but because it’s useful can backfire as a lower grade achieved will not be useful at all.
As long as they are clear where the subjects they choose to study can take them then they should make the choice.

With these kind of questions there is a huge gap between what people say and what they do

lots of people want to say they let their kids choose but I have seen in reality that a lot of parents steer their kids towards certain subjects

An important factor is what they might want to do after. For certain degrees/jobs you need certain subjects

So try and decide with them what makes sensend in view of what kind of job they might want to do

there is a lot of “follow your passion” and I know some bright kids who did things like dance who then found they really restricted themselves when it came to uni options

ultimately the child will need to figure out a way to live independently and be able to earn a living somehow. It seems that gets forgotten sometimes.

we are not at all rich so the need for our kids to be able to support themselves as adults was also a factor in their A level choices 😬 I know some wealthy families where that did not play a role as parents could just buy their kids houses and give them an allowance/support whilst they followed their dreams

With both our children we researched what subjects they would need to study and get good grades in to qualify for the university course they wanted to do. Both wanted to study STEM degrees so knew they needed Maths and 1 or 2 science subjects. However other than that support they ultimately chose their own Highers and Advanced Highers ( we are in Scotland)

Interesting, we’re approaching this from the other way. My DC has picked 3 very traditionally difficult subjects and I was hoping they’d switch one out for a subject that is still fairly respected but they’ve found easy just to take a little pressure off. But not my choice!

I have had the opposite experience. DS has insisted on pressing ahead with chemistry, physics and maths A-Levels. I encouraged him to do music tech at 6th form, with a view to doing one of the sound engineering/ music production courses at Salford, but he’s adamant he wants to do chemical engineering at Manchester Uni. “Do you want me to be poor, Mother?!” 😅

He got a 6 in GCSE chemistry and an 8 in music, mainly because he found the chemistry boring and did very little work, whereas he really enjoyed his music. But it’s his life, I can’t only advise. Yes, he’ll have better employment prospects with a chemical engineering degree, but will he get that far with a subject he doesn’t enjoy? We’ll see, I guess.

@LikeGoldToAiryThinness, I notice that Cambridge has actually quietly dropped its longstanding antipathy towards Law A level - at least as articulated on the relevant uni web page. I agree with your point that students don't always appreciate that pathways are necessarily closed off by A level choices.

I’d encourage A levels where they would do well, and enjoy them. But ‘easy’ is relative. Had my daughter done maths, she’d have achieved maybe a C. Had my son done Politics, or Geography, I shudder to think what he’d have achieved. As other posters have said, it pays to keep in mind what pathways may be closed off with their choices.

I disagree with the poster who said it is none of my business. It is very much my business!

@Gardenhabit, thanks for the context; it is an interesting issue. 2/3 of Edexcel Maths A level is pure and 1/6 stats; yet the latter is the most useful foundation for economics and the former many students' nemesis. 40% of my children's sixth form took A level Maths and another 40% Core Maths (the statistics variant) partly to ameliorate an issue that can also affect other subjects at degree level. Hopefully your son managed to regroup and push through.

Think long term. What do they want to do after school? Choose subjects you're good at and enjoy, but think about future careers as well.

They should do subjects they enjoy and will have motivation to study. Likely to lead them to a career they will enjoy and have motivation to turn up!

I really disagree with this. Information is power. Schools very often provide little or poor or even wrong advice.

So obviously don’t force a dc to do the subjects you want if their talents/interests do not align with them, BUT give them a pointer about what subjects are required for certain degrees, or to give some subjects a swerve, eg Psychology is now (after Maths) the most popular A Level and is becoming the new “Meedja Sudies”.

Going against the grain here…it really depends on the mix. Sorry, but I believe film studies will be objectively easier than say maths … and it is viewed by certain universities as such. I’d balance 1 ‘easier’ with 1 or 2 academically recognised if your child is able and wants to go to a well renowned university. And before everyone piles in…that is my belief re FS (and PE, drama, social studies) - they have higher pass rates and more coursework. No prior GCSE is required. Would never let my DC choose subjects like that.

Economics at degree level does require quite a lot of calculus, vectors and matrices. And stats, but it isn't true to say that stats are the most useful foundation for economics at degree level. Universities which require A-level mathematics for economics would not accept A-level statistics in its place. There is a reason LSE prefers A-level Further Maths for economics!

Yes this could well be the case now, as my information was from a few years ago (when facilitating subjects was still a thing, etc).

But also, dropping it from the official web page doesn't mean it might not still be a bias in the eyes of admissions tutors, especially at some colleges, so it is still something to consider researching.

The main point, though, was that things that might seem obvious to a sixth former - like 'do Law if you want to study Law', might not actually be true - both whether it's needed, or even whether it's actively discouraged. And the people who are least likely to know this kind of thing, or have schools who advise well, or have connections who can give inside advice and experience, etc are those who are unfamiliar with the university system, which can be another barrier against them getting into the top places. It might not be specifically a thing about Law these days, but in general, the more you know about university, the more you can choose well/strategically at A-level, and the better your chances. While 'do what you love'/'follow your passion' sounds good in theory, in practice it can be good for students to have some more practical directed advice, particularly if they are from a more disadvantaged background or school - universities really do want those applicants, and they can and do work around non-traditional courses/subjects/grades etc, but it can make it harder when they have been poorly advised.

I’m a mother of three post uni DC, a teacher with 30 years experience and a 6th form tutor. Absolutely let them choose what they enjoy. An example- ex- student got in touch last year as wants to do PGCE to become an English teacher. Did Maths A level rather than English because hudDad said it was more useful. With the exception of paths like medicine etc which have very specific requirements useful doesn’t really mean anything. Also as our Head of Maths said, Maths is not difficult if you’re good at it. You haven’t been clear about the potential subjects which makes it trickier to comment.

Very helpful; thank you.

What are the “easier” subjects @ainawatson?

Mainly their choice BUT they should think of some university subjects they might ultimately be interested in and check the prerequisites. They might accidentally be blocking off the options that they themselves want. Maths, for example, is needed for an awful lot more than maths!

Do the subjects they enjoy.

My ds has chosen to do 4 'hard' subjects but for him he prefers the format of those exams etc and so for him they are easier and he enjoys them.

@LikeGoldToAiryThinness I agree with your points overall for sure, but this But most French degrees wanted an essay subject – I don't know when you are referencing but that's certainly not true now. Even Oxford only wants the language A level (though Cambs has a (disputed!) list of recommended A levels). Unis such as Warwick literally just want French and 2 others. Just wanted to flag in case anyone read this, wanting to take MFL without an essay.

FWIW (MFL is my subject) I studied MFL at Bristol many years ago without an essay subject as I took three languages at A level.

@PerpetualOptimist I actually just went back to your first post and saw that you were explicitly talking about Economics degrees with a policy focus rather than a quantitative focus. So I wanted to apologise because (while I haven't looked into those degrees, I can imagine that) for those degrees, you would probably not need the background in pure maths that I described. The pure maths background is required for mathematical modeling / econometrics in a traditional economics degree but I expect that would be skipped entirely in the degrees you were referring to. So you may well be right that stats is most useful for those degrees!

No at that age you guide and offer advice but you don’t “let” them take their choice or persuade them to choose something else.

As long as they have sensible future degree/career options in mind just let them do what they enjoy.

3 high grades will be more favourable for universities than 3 lower grades in “good” subjects. There aren’t many degrees with specific subjects that are compulsory, as long as they don’t want to take any of them let them crack on.

I really don’t get the idea that some A levels are considered difficult. I did all science A levels then STEM degree/postgrad/career. If you are good at STEM and enjoy it they’re not more difficult than doing an Art subject. All A levels are difficult and time consuming. I would have found doing an English A level harder and way less enjoyable than Chemistry!

You’re wrong though. What if they wanted to do sports science or physiotherapy at university? PE would be a great A level for those subjects.
Likewise social sciences/Drama if they wanted to take a related degree.
An A in Drama is more valuable than a C in English when applying for universities

Would you find maths A level hard @Berniestavern ? I would. But DS2 (who took it) would have found Eng lit or even film studies much harder, I suspect. I wonder if bc maths is the most popular, it is taken by students with a range of abilities, which means that some who take it will perceive it as harder than others?

I'm with @MrsAvocet in the fight against PE being seen as an easy A level. DS took it and it was basically biology (which he also took). Yes there is CW but then there is an NEA in Eng lit and IIRC in history. Are they hard or easy?

Assuming bio is a "hard" A level btw, it's interesting that DS got the same grade in both.

I have never heard of social studies A level btw – is it actually a thing?