Psychology and Sociology A-levels

[dollybird]

DD is planning to take these A-levels plus maths at college next year. However, she's just had her mock exam results and done much worse than predicted in English and History (2 for English Language and History and 4 for English Literature, with predicted grades now 3+, 4 and 4 respectively).

She has been assessed and is now eligible for extra time in her exams. She's a bright girl, and is predicted 7-8's in her other subjects, and according to her English teacher, everything she's written is what they want to see, just not enough of it. I think she is better at the structured subjects like Maths, Science etc, and am starting to wonder if psychology and sociology a-levels might be difficult for her if she were to only scrape passes in written subjects like English and history. Her science teacher was very positive about her ability, so wondering whether biology or similar might be better for her. She doesn't have a career goal in mind at the moment.

Anyone?

Biology is also a lot of writing. My DD is studying A levels in Biology, Psychology and Geography and finds Biology the hardest. Mostly in terms of the huge amount of content but also in terms of exam technique and answering questions in a particular way to pick up marks. She got all 8s and 9s in her GCSEs and goes to an average comp and is very hardworking. I would suggest Biology would be a better A level but possibly Chemistry? To a certain extent her GCSE results will help her choose.

My dd wants to study the same subjects at A level. She has been told she must achieve a 6 in either English literature or language to study them.

apart from her results in english, psychology and sociology a levels are bad choices in general when it comes to university admissions. she's much better off with traditional academic subjects like the sciences .
have you read the thing the russell group published about facilitating subjects?

russellgroup.ac.uk/for-students/school-and-college-in-the-uk/subject-choices-at-school-and-college/

My son’s school insisted on a grade B in English to take A level psychology.

They’re not a great combination.
What about geography?

I've checked her college entry requirements and they need grade 4's in English Maths and Science for Psychology plus an average grade of 5.
merrybloominchristmas thanks for that link, very useful. DD doesn't know yet if she wants to go to uni or not, but good to know.
Etino not sure how she would feel about geography as she dropped it in year 9 in favour of history as she thought it was boring . DS thinks in hindsight she may have found it better than history given what we know now...

The way schools teach doesn't work for a lot of young people. It sounds like DD would benefit from a more practical way of learning. Have you considered getting her qualifications via an apprenticeship rather than through a school/college? That way she can learn on the job, earn money AND get a qualification!

The problem is she doesn't know what she wants to do career wise, and I don't know if an apprenticeship in any old thing is a good idea. Maybe after a levels, that's certainly what DS intends to do (engineering)

A levels are much harder than GCSEs and psychology is pretty in-depth if you haven't done it at GCSEs . I would be getting her a tutor if she has missed her target grade by so much .

Is psychology even an option at GCSE in many schools? I appreciate that a levels are harder, but she doesn't intend to do English or history at a level. DS got 3s in English and geography last year in his mocks and managed to get 5s in the end. DD is much more diligent than he was about revision. As I said before, the teachers have said she knows her stuff, just had difficulty getting it down on paper in the time allowed, so hopefully extra time will help.

Yes my dd does it in state secondary .

Lots of schools only offer psychology from A level. The issue I would have with maths, psychology and sociology is that maths would be the only facilitating subject. I would recommend maths and one of psychology/sociology and then a second facilitating subject. One other subject that she does well at at her GCSEs. That could be bio/Chem or physics as she seems to be good at sciences. Maths biology and psychology or sociology would be very good.

Ok... banging on about Geography!!
Can you talk to the school about A level and the feasibility of picking it up for A level? It’s very well thought of, very interesting and you can a get a good grade through graft whereas History definitely requires several eureka moments. Psychology and Sociology not only are v ‘English heavy’, they’re not so well regarded, doing both would raise alarm bells.

If a DD is not really sure about University, what is the purpose of the A Levels? What difference willher choices actually make?

I am not sure a high ranking university is on the cards anyway, so who will care about facilitating subjects? Many universities want bums on seats and are not competitive. They are recruiting. So if she does not aim too high, she will probably be fine.

However, I understand Psychology has more maths in it. Sociology has more writing. Therefore the best idea could be Biology, Maths and Psychology. Geography is possibly a non starter without the GCSE. It depends if they can assess her likely success in the subject. Not liking it before does not help. She is also looking at two subjects where she has not taken a GCSE in it. That is a bit of a risk. What if she does not like them? That is why I might look at Biology instead of Sociology or Psychology but for many universities, it really will not matter.

Why don’t you find out what grades the pupils at your DDs college get for their A levels. If, for example a lot of students do exceptionally well at psychology then that might influence your daughter to chose it.

Although the combination of maths, psychology and sociology might not be desirable for something the more competitive Unis and courses they would be fine for the vast majority of them. She will still have one fascilitating subject and although some courses will be off limits she would still have plenty of choice.

TBH Although it’s important to keep as many doors open as possible it’s also crucial that she chooses A levels that she is interested in and is most likely to achieve high grades in. AAA in Maths, psychology and sociology would open a whole load more doors than ACC in Maths and two other facilitating subjects. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Ugh sorry for the crap English and typos!!

(I didn't do English A Level )

"and psychology is pretty in-depth if you haven't done it at GCSEs "

DD did psychology up to AS level, but found it boring and unchallenging. Her school didn't do it at GCSE and it is one of the few subjects that you can start from scratch at A level. She got an A at AS, but dropped it.

Her school only allowed students with a minimum of a B at GCSE to take psychology BTW.

Boyh my dd's did maths & psychology - it is very popular now - some schools have to turn people down and psychology is oversubcribed at uni - its not officially a facilitating subject lots of unis accept it - it does have quite a bit of writing but mostly remembering facts and tables so not like english which is more subjective - whereas sociology is more wordy - personally i wouldnt do both - how about something more practical as third option - art or graphics - photography or media

Thanks for all your advice everybody. Will certainly bear in mind all the suggested options over the next six months before she needs to make a decision (and obviously see how her GCSE results factor into that). It's such a hard decision at only 15 when she doesn't have a career goal in mind.

Non Facilitating does not mean it’s a subject some universities won’t accept at all. It means that they narrow down degree choices and don’t facilitate a wider choice - hence the term!