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Further education

You'll find discussions about A Levels and universities on our Further Education forum.

Original poster

Help- which A level to drop? Biology or History

33 replies

Swarskid2184 · 09/09/2018 17:37

My DD is doing Maths, further maths and chemistry....and currently also doing history and biology. The school will let her do both until half term- but then she has to choose. She has literally no idea of what she wants to do at Uni, so no help there...

Currently she is enjoying both!

OP posts:
ShalomJackie · 09/09/2018 19:39

Could she drop the FM Leaving both humanitiès and medicine/vet/dentistry open?

Original poster
Swarskid2184 · 09/09/2018 19:52

No- they can only do 3 A levels....with the exception of further maths if they are doing maths

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LosingNemo · 09/09/2018 19:53

It’s very early days yet (assuming she’s year 12). Give her a few weeks to get a feel of each subject and revisit the decision then. She may well have had some work assessed by then too so may have a bit of an idea which she thinks she’ll do best at. I’d say that she should continue the one she likes the most (unless she decides to do something medical - in which case the suggestion of the PP would be good).

LosingNemo · 09/09/2018 19:53

Sorry cross post re further maths.

Original poster
Swarskid2184 · 09/09/2018 19:54

And it looks like you can still do medicine etc without biology as long as you have maths and chemistry

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Original poster
Swarskid2184 · 09/09/2018 19:55

She got an 8 in both at GCSE....so sort of equal in ability at the moment

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Scabetty · 09/09/2018 19:55

History is a shed load of reading according to dd who is year 13.

mumsneedwine · 09/09/2018 20:09

Biology more important than maths for medicine. Not sure anyone wants maths but some require biology. Not all but an increasing number

Original poster
Swarskid2184 · 10/09/2018 20:35

Maths is a definite, as is chemistry. No plans for medicine...

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Racecardriver · 10/09/2018 20:37

Drop biology. She is doing chemistry so she will learn all the lab skills, data analysis etc there. She won't gain any skills from biology whereas history will be useful in developing her writing and anyltical skills (I know they do this in sciences as well but at a lower level).

Racecardriver · 10/09/2018 20:37

*analytical research skills

YetAnotherThing · 10/09/2018 20:44

Agree history will keep her broad and develop different soft skills to the sciences. If she doesn’t know what she wants to do then she’ll keep more options open. If she wants to do science it’s good to have a different dynamic and strength/outlook beyond science too (particularly medicine). I’ve done med school interview panels for uni and love students like this. I suspect pure science UG courses similar.

mumsneedwine · 10/09/2018 21:05

I'd say definite History then. Keep options as wide as can. Do what he loves the most as that tends to lead to higher grades

Original poster
Swarskid2184 · 10/09/2018 21:45

I am advising history....but subtlety...as a parent recommendation is currently not favoured!!

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mumsneedwine · 10/09/2018 22:03

Maybe advise biology. If like mine they'll then do history 😂😂

LIZS · 11/09/2018 20:13

Is she y 12 or 13?

Original poster
Swarskid2184 · 11/09/2018 21:22

DD is year 12...now has 2 weeks to choose between biology and history...

And now saying that she is not enjoying chemistry 🤨

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BackforGood · 11/09/2018 23:45

I'm confused.
There is a lot more than 2 weeks until half term. You said she had until half term.
My dd is in Yr 12 and hasn't even completed the first week of lessons yet.
Why not let her see how she feels end Sept / first couple of weeks of Ot and have the discussion then. Maybe it is chemistry that will need to go.

Fucksgiven · 11/09/2018 23:50

I'd look for somewhere where 4 A levels is allowed, then encourage history as a counterpoint to the sciences. It's weird to only allow further maths as a fourth

Original poster
Swarskid2184 · 12/09/2018 06:53

I had thought it was until half term - but she was told yesterday end of September.

Fucksgiven- it would be 5 as maths and further maths and absolutely definites...

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Xenia · 15/09/2018 08:06

It probably won't matter unless she will do really well at one and worse at another (in which case pick the one that will get her a high grade). If she wants to go into a science career it might make sense just to have science A levels and drop history. If she wants to go into law science A levels are fine too although you write an awful lot so essay type subjects can be very useful for that including history.

Original poster
Swarskid2184 · 20/09/2018 13:16

So after lots of conversations with her teachers and research on line, DD has opted to do history rather than biology, so is doing Maths, further maths, chemistry and history.

Advice was that you don’t need biology to do medicine or veterinary- but do need chemistry. And a less obvious mix of A levels both interests universities and gives a wider skill set../

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mumsneedwine · 20/09/2018 18:04

I'm sorry but that is rubbish advice. Lots of Unis do need biology to do medicine and a few for vet I think. You are limiting choices without it. And that's the last thing you want to do when applying for medicine !

Original poster
Swarskid2184 · 20/09/2018 18:17

Have just looked at the link and says that for medicine you need chemistry and one of EITHER maths, biology or physics....so in line with schools advice

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