A Level Choice Dilemma

[lattemum]

My dd needs to make a final decision about her A Level Options. She is thinking she would like to study Psychology at University with a view to working in some form of Therapy with children eventually. She was going to choose Biology, Chemistry and Psychology A Levels, but has now been advised by her School to consider choosing another option in place of Chemistry as Chemistry is seen as one of the hardest A Levels to get a top grade in and unless she specifically needs it for a particular degree course there may be A Levels she could choose that she would stand a better chance of getting a top grade in. I can see what they are saying but would welcome further advice! The subject she is considering as an alternative is Drama and Theatre Studies, but I know she is concerned about the amount of essay writing in this, though she would love the practical side, and also how highly regarded this A Level would be. I wonder whether she should also consider Maths. She got a 9 in Drama, 8 in Chemistry and 8 in her Maths GCSEs, but 6s in her two Englishes which is why she is concerned about the essay writing side of the Drama A Level. Appreciate any views!

Take a look at the course spec for a couple of psychology degrees and weigh up the maths content. I think there is usually quite a lot of statistical analysis, so maths may be more use than drama.

I am a bit surprised that the sixth form would try to put someone with a grade 8 off taking A level Chemistry to be honest . I would have thought she would be more than capable.

Maths would be a nice complement to it, help with the stats side and no essays. but only if she enjoys it.

In light of her grades the schools advice not to do chemistry looks very unusual - any background issues?

Thanks for all your advice.

No background issues. The school hasn't said she can't do Chemistry. They just want her to consider that with Chemistry being such a hard A Level she might find it easier to get a top grade in another subject and since she is already doing Biology and Psychology a Uni offer would not be dependent on a certain subject but would be dependent on getting certain grades e.g. A*AA or AAA.

AQA may not be the examining body used by your dds sixth form but these statistics suggest that a greater percentage of pupils obtained a grade A or A* for Chemistry than for Drama & Theatre Studies nationally in 2018
filestore.aqa.org.uk/over/stat_pdf/AQA-A-LEVEL-STATS-JUN-2018.pdf.

I’d look at maths too, it’s a facilitating subject and viewed as ‘robust’

I wouldn't rule out Maths either but the statistics above aren't relevant for this option because the students who have completed Maths A level in 2018 are the last group to take the old specification.

Biology and Psychology are pretty easy A levels comparatively speaking so if she is happy to stretch herself, then go for Chemistry. It is hard going, not as bad as Physics though and no way as hard as Maths.

Sometimes it comes down to a love of the subject and a really good teacher.

Psychology has quite a lot of essay writing.

Maths is definitely the one to consider. ds is about to start the final year of his Psychology degree and having A level Maths has definitely helped him.
If she decides she really wants to take Drama, it would be better to drop the Psychology and take Maths, Biology and Drama. She will then still have two facilitating subjects if she changes her mind on course later (which frequently happens).
Universities don't require Psychology A level to take Psychology, but a lot of them will expect two from Maths, Biology and Chemistry.

I did psychology a level, lots of essay writing and stats. I enjoyed it and did well. However must people who study psychology at uni won’t have studied it at a level so they do the entire a level syallabus again in the first couple of terms.
I guess it’s worth doing the a level to see if she’ll enjoy it but it will be no benefit in getting on the degree course or during it.
I would do maths is she’s capable, that will really help her at degree level due to the stats content which a lot of people struggle with, plus if she changes her mind it’s a facilitating subject so gives her more options.

My DD has just graduated from a degree in Psychology and says look really carefully at the modules of potential uni psychology courses to see which ones have a lot of stats. She had Maths A Level and found the stars very easy and was able to score very highly on all her stats papers. Non Mathmeticians coped, but found it more of a slog.
She also says that there was a lot of essay writing in a Psychology degree- in her final year, two 3000 word lit reviews and a dissertation ( between 5-10000 words- hers was 9000).
Some unis offer The subject as a Bsc ( look for 2 science A levels) and others a BA( or MA in Scotland ) where entry is for those with fewer science and more arts subjects .

Thank you so much everyone. We are finding all this advice invaluable. She has decided against Drama now so the decision is just between Maths and Chemistry. She is very keen to take Pyschology and I think this will help her decide if she enjoys it enough to study it at degree level.

I'd defintiely agree that maths would be an asset for the course, as well as being a good A level for many other degrees.

Late to the party, but Maths is massively facilitating for Psychology.

Biology and maths would be excellent A level choices - most undergraduate psychology courses have a lot more biology and stats than people expect. It would enable her to go down the neuroscience route (understanding brain and behaviour) if she was interested. To be honest, Maths, Chemistry and Biology would be fabulous choices for undergraduate psychology.

Sorry, I know this isn't helpful, but I can't let it pass.

@livingontheedgee biology is not an easy a-level relatively speaking. It's bloody hard and you need be extremely interested and motivated to succeed. I absolutely hate it that biology is seen as the easy science option. It isn't and I can't stress enough how hard OP's dd will need to work to be successful. Sorry OP.

And breathe....

I teach A-Level Psychology, Biology and Maths and a good combination with it, especially if she wants to do Psychology at degree level.
The stats for A-level psychology will be very accessible for her if she's already strong in maths, but the maths will be useful for all the stats assessments on her degree course.
However, she does need to be aware of the huge workload, for both biology and psychology.
Psychology is heavy in essays, etc, and has a huge content to be covered in the 2 years. Biology is also huge in terms of content and actually a very challenging A-Level to do.
My students doing Biology & psychology combinations found they complimented each other very well, but were also under a lot of pressure due to the workload, intensity and content of both these subjects.
It does sound that she's a strong student, so I'm sure she will cope with it fine, but she definitely needs to be prepared for it to be challenging.

Biology and Maths are (not and) a good combination with it, that meant to say!

Lattemum I would also look at the schools results for the A levels, personally I think that is more important than the national picture.