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Further education

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

Original poster

Are these good A-levels to do?

55 replies

lovesunshine247 · 26/08/2022 13:50

Can I ask for advice about these A-levels - ICT, Economics and Politics.

What courses and careers can these lead to?

OP posts:
RoseslnTheHospital · 26/08/2022 15:38

The only way to know would be to check the website of the actual sixth form and see what it states is the grade requirement for Maths. I just checked the sixth form I used to work at, and the two in the town I live in which all stated a 6 as the requirement.

TeenDivided · 26/08/2022 16:12

I wouldn't do A level maths with a 6 at GCSE.

It isn't really worth discussing A levels without knowing the academic background of the pupil and their aspirations.

Original poster
lovesunshine247 · 26/08/2022 16:34

Yes I agree that maths A level would probably be too challenging as DC worked hard to achieve the 6.

The last thing I want is to advise to take maths and they struggle with it.

Economics is something they enjoy and Politics was the original plan. I will ask them to check ICT is an A level or not and possibly change that to something else

Thank you everyone.

OP posts:
isitaline97 · 26/08/2022 16:35

@LobeliaBaggins I somewhat disagree to that, medical wise I am a qualified veterinary nurse.

isitaline97 · 26/08/2022 16:37

@LobeliaBaggins also my degree was a Bachelor of SCIENCE with Honours ☺️ I didn't do sciences at college.

aramox1 · 26/08/2022 16:39

Is an arts or humanities subject an option? Or a social science? Agree about maths, no-one I've heard would advise doing it for A level with a hard-worked 6.

Original poster
lovesunshine247 · 26/08/2022 16:40

isitaline97 · 26/08/2022 16:37

@LobeliaBaggins also my degree was a Bachelor of SCIENCE with Honours ☺️ I didn't do sciences at college.

Do you mind if I ask you what you did at college?

OP posts:
Original poster
lovesunshine247 · 26/08/2022 16:42

When I was at school (which was a long time ago) grades A-C were considered good grades.

All his grades are above a 4, but the choices offered are quite limited. DC feels like a failure at the moment

OP posts:
isitaline97 · 26/08/2022 16:47

@lovesunshine247 I did photography, film studies and English language at college. I was big into photography as a teen 😂 then decided I wanted to work in the veterinary field

Original poster
lovesunshine247 · 26/08/2022 16:49

That's interesting.

I assume you did an additional course for you to be able to work in the veterinary field?

OP posts:
isitaline97 · 26/08/2022 17:04

@lovesunshine247 yes I began working at the vets as an assistant whilst studying for my degree. When I finished I went straight into a diploma in veterinary nursing, this took 2 years, 1 day a week study, the rest was spent in practice ☺️ I could have straight up done a veterinary nursing degree if that's what I wanted to do at the time, but I had no idea what I wanted.

I think what I'm trying to say is if you absolutely know what you want to do as a teen then great, study what you think will benefit you, but if you don't there are always other options further down the line. 16 is such a young age to know what you want to do with the rest of your life!

I remember my parents having this worry when I was picking my A levels, although I never pursued a career in photography/film, I'm so glad they didn't stop me studying them because I enjoyed them, and if you enjoy something your obviously much more likely to succeed and do well in it and IMO that's what matters most!

titchy · 26/08/2022 17:17

I could have straight up done a veterinary nursing degree if that's what I wanted to do at the time, but I had no idea what I wanted.

That would be very unlikely now, but I totally support your point that decisions made at 16 do not have to determine the rest of one's life.

isitaline97 · 26/08/2022 17:37

@titchy why would that be unlikely? Have things changed much recently? I'm only 25 so it's wasn't too long ago, however I understand even in the last 5 or 6 years education has very much changed x

titchy · 26/08/2022 17:43

Vet nursing usually needs at least one science subject at Level 3.

hop321 · 26/08/2022 17:55

My son did economics and politics A levels. School made it very clear that he couldn't do economics at a degree level without maths.

Just to add that A level maths is bloody hard. I wouldn't even consider it if you're not getting an 8 or 9 at GCSE.

In terms of careers, financial services careers (accountancy, investment banking etc) are happy with a degree in pretty much any academic subject from a good university.

FlorettaB · 26/08/2022 18:24

If all his grades are 4 or above that’s a C or better in every subject (in old money.) That’s great.

If you know what you want to do at 18 (and what subject’s you need for that) or you really love a particular subject then things can fall into place quite easily but I think loads of teenagers will be feeling a bit confused about their next steps now. Those that want to do sciences and maths or modern languages or art or music know what they want. The rest can only look at the options and try to figure out what they think they can do well at, because good grades in subjects that are well regarded keep their options open.

SherwoodForest · 26/08/2022 18:32

Most sixth forms will not allow you to study Maths A level with grade 6 GCSE Maths. My GD desperately wanted to do Maths A level but cannot do so having go grade 6. Her preferred sixth form won't let her do Physics either.

Original poster
lovesunshine247 · 26/08/2022 20:16

Thank you all for your advice and your kind words of encouragement.

This will give me plenty to help DC think about the options and has helped with my understanding too.

OP posts:
clary · 26/08/2022 21:12

Hi op I would echo those who say maths A level with a 6 (a great grade for sure) is not a good idea. Someone in ds2’s maths a level class got a 6 and really struggled.

Those choices sound fine if the student is interested in them; what I would say is that they close a lot of doors and don’t particularly open any others.

What I mean by that is that there are some subjects which are essential for some degrees - maths for a maths degree, French for a French degree, Eng lit for an English degree (tho I am sure someone will tell me otherwise, but at least in general).

Obv any A level choice will close done doors. My dd took Eng lit, French, geography. So she couldn’t do engineering or biology (etc) but she could still do those subjects.

Economics politics and ICT are not specifically needed for any degree (most econ degrees want maths). Lots of degrees of course require no specific subjects - class civ, sociology, criminology, law, politics.

Are there any more traditional (“door opening”) subjects he could take? History, biology, geography? Just might give a few more options post 18.

NotYourOscarSpeech · 26/08/2022 21:19

It doesn’t officially exist anymore, but there used to be a list of “good” A Levels that I think Cambridge Uni published and other Russell Groups supposedly used - I know for sure politics wasn’t on the list as it put pupils off of doing it. It was scrapped but it does give you an indication of attitudes towards it as an A Level by some unis.

Gherkingreen · 26/08/2022 21:20

DS got maths grade 6 at GCSE (teacher assessed grades during pandemic) and passed A level maths, grade C. It was v tough especially during the first year of the pandemic where he was learning online, but do-able.

Goosygandy · 26/08/2022 21:22

At this stage I'd do the subjects your child is interested in. It's hard to study subjects you don't enjoy. If they were really interested in medicine and engineering, they wouldn't be choosing to study politics and ICT so I think that's a red herring. There are options if your child decides to change tac in any case. People can study foundation science at uni before going onto study a science related degree, for instance. My son did a BSc Economics degree at a decent university and people who didn't do maths A level were able to do a supplementary maths course in the first year.

My other son studied history, politics and geography and they all seemed to complement each other.

clary · 26/08/2022 21:33

@NotYourOscarSpeech that's the old list of “facilitating” subjects I was alluding to.

Unfortunately people used it as a list if subjects to study; but what it really was, was a list of subjects which facilitated more degrees. If you chose three subjects from that list, fewer doors were closed.

I do agree tho, that if a student is keen on medicine or engineering or whatever, they are likely to want to study science or maths. So ultimately a good choice is subjects you enjoy and will do well in.

Marotte · 26/08/2022 21:57

Computer Science would be better than ICT. Maths is useful with Economics (and certainly used to be required for Economics or PPE at university). With those specific A-levels as you said them, they could look at some but not all Computing-related degrees (as many of those want more maths and/or programming they'd get in ICT & Economic), lots of different flavours of business/finance degrees or higher level apprenticeships (but again, Maths...), Politics. I don't know what else, not my area.

More good news is that if they get good grades but realise they want to change subject for uni, there are quite a few degrees with a Foundation Year at good universities, especially to swap into the sciences/maths/medicine. All is not lost if they choose "the wrong" A-levels so they should do what interests them, and have a look around on the UCAS website experimenting with different subjects they might like to do at uni and ditto websites about apprenticeships.