A level Business, Media Studies & Sociokogy/Psychology

[kimlek]

None of these are GCSE options at school but DC considering them for A level. Is very definite about Business (defo not economics) and interested in psychology or maybe sociology but know little about the A levels. Very interested in Business/Marketing/Digital marketing/the fashion industry (but not arty), so also thinking the 3rd could be media studies. Not yet done GCSEs but probs 6/7’s. Any thoughts please?

Sociology is harder than history. Which noone expects because of the image of sociology as some sort of easy made up
subject, and history as ’proper’ academic. Sociology has more dates and theorists and arguments to remember, and more having to make your own good, critical arguments too.
Psychology has more maths than many expect too (so does sociology but mainly at degree level, if you do a BSc, which I did)

But sociology can sit well alongside media at forming a critical view of looking at things around you.

How do they do at writing and forming arguments?

It’s hard to gauge how mathsy psychol will be. I do know it’s a proper science and well respected. DC is interested in psychology but probably not the bio related aspects. Not very science oriented and struggles at all 3 - probs 6’s maybe a 5.

A couple of thoughts about psychology as DD is halfway through the A level and I am halfway through an OU degree.

I know psychology likes to think of itself as a science but at A level at least it doesn't really feel that way. You should have a look at the spec for your board, but in DD's course there is very little biology so don't worry about that, just some basic brain anatomy and a bit about the nervous system. Nothing like the detail and difficulty of A level biology or even GCSE.

The maths is easy and 6/7 at GCSE should be fine. It's mostly about understanding data, so mean/median/mode, interpreting various representations of data like bar charts, pie charts, scatter graphs, choosing which would be appropriate and why etc. There are various statistical tests but in DD's course it's more about understanding them and being able to write about what they mean than about doing complicated calculations. (They do have to work out standard deviation but it's not difficult.) Again nowhere near as hard as Y12 maths and because it's quite a small and specialised bit of maths, they can really practise and get good at the few things they might be asked.

But have a look, as the specs might be quite different - you could also have a look at some past papers to see how many of the marks are for mathsy questions.

Overall DD is really enjoying it - like many she finds the research methods bit quite dull but it's not hard. For her the hard thing is that there's a lot to learn (according to her, but I'm sure not as much as sociology!) and there are quite a few studies and references. But she finds the studies themselves really interesting and is glad she chose psychology.

Feel free to PM me if you want more detail on the biology and maths content.

Btw I looked up the experimental psychology degree at Oxford, so this is the most sciencey bit of psychology - maths A level is not required and they recommend 7+ at GCSE. So I'm sure 6/7 in maths will be fine for the A level.

It's really odd this idea that people have that sociology is somehow new fangled!Maybe because it's tied up in ideas about 'wokery' ? But, yes, it's a proper, longstanding academic subject. Perhaps when it was more the domain if dead, white males it was taken more seriously...

Some sociologists argue that all other social sciences, including human geography and social history are subsets of sociology. It's the 'father' subject. Imagine if it had been listed as a 'facilitating' subject how differently it would be viewed....

I'm sure psychology wouldn't be so keen to be branded a science if sociology were better respected, and if we weren't so stem obsessed at the moment. The OU psychology degree begins with a very broad social sciences module, not a whiff of maths or biology.

oh crikey @Piggywaspushed we’ve gone from 30 to 100! It is A level we are talking about though, which is such a step up from gcse. But to know a hundred studies is quite something!!

Thank you for that @singingstones Ill find out the exam board albeit they may change it (as seems to happen frequently).

@BuffaloCauliflower Im thinking she’s going to need to be pretty literate and good at forming arguments for all those 4 options. It’s definitely something she’ll need to work on! Do you really think sociology is harder than history? History is incredibly precise regarding how questions are answered and the 4000 NEA is quite a slog. She likes history & it’s one of her GCSEs but she’s not loving it enough for a level and the periods the school have chosen aren’t grabbing her.

@smooththecat I have just looked at the (potential) school’s results - media studies Astar/A is 30%, Astar/B is 90%. Which seems pretty good? Sociology is 35% and 60%; psychology is 40% & 70%; business is 30% & 60%. Her current school only offers psychol out of the 4 she fancies hence the potential move. Are these results in line with what you were thinking? Huge thanks!

Those results are very high!

@kimlek I think it comes down to what you enjoy, on what’s harder. I loved sociology, and then did it at uni, so yes it was hard but enjoyable hard? If she likes a good debate, learning about society, and forming arguments, she’ll be ok. I’d say it’s pretty similar to history in skill set, but depends which she vibes with more. Sociology feels more current, though there’s lots of history and old theorists within in, so there’s crossover there. History and sociology complement each other

Mmm I did wonder. It’s the local state school’s 6th form. They don’t seem too restrictive on grade entry from what I can gather.

They want grade 5 in English Lang/lit to study Business, media and sociology at A level & grade 6’s in English & maths for psychol. Is that would you’d expect?

@kimlek my ds is in year 12 doing Sociology and Business (plus Criminology) and he needed grade 6 in English for Sociology and in English and Maths for Business. I can't tell you too much about the courses as my ds is a bare minimum/leave it till year 13 type 😱He has said that Business is easy though and he likes debating so Sociology seems to suit him. His GCSE results were split between 6s and 7s, with one 8 (in Business).

My dd did Psychology A Level (with History and RS) and said it was the easiest out of the three. Lots to learn, but the Maths was very basic. She's doing the degree now and it seems that that is harder!

Yes OP , it's fairly typical for psychology to have slightly higher entry requirements (because STEM piggy grumbles darkly to herself..)

Many state comps only require 4s in English for most social science and hums subjects. At my school I managed to demand a 4 for maths as well.

Although it was a very long time ago, I did media, English lang, sociology and psychology at A level and loved all subjects. They were new to me, I thrived writing essays and developing critical thinking and loved moving away from 'school' subjects. My degree was in law and politics. I've had a great career in journalism and communications and would encourage anyone to take this kind of combination of they want to keep their options open career-wise.

@crazycrofter ahh so sociology involves debating? She’d enjoy that. I wish her current school offered these at gcse.

I think she could be a critical thinker @Gherkingreen given the opportunity. A lot of what she does now is regurgitation of facts. The current school is a little oppressive (v strict) and doesn’t promote freedom of thought. Another reason for wanting to move her for 6th form.

@Piggywaspushed would you recommend sociology A level without first doing the GCSE? Not an avid reader (dyslexia so a strain) but ok ish at English (probably a 6, at a push a 7 in Lang). The school rarely has 7’s in lit. But interested in the world around her, feminism, human rights, justice. Thank you.

@smooththecat is there anything she could be doing now that’d help test the waters for A level media given it’s not offered at gcse at her current school please?

Yes, definitely. Not many schools offer the GCSE. In fact, I think A level after GCSE can rehash all the same content. Students also have to learn a whole new way of writing, basically unlearning some GCSE stylistic quirks.

I teach Business A Level and he definitely doesn’t need the GCSE. Just needs to be aware that it involves quite a lot of essay writing skills, at least that is so with AQA. It is a useful A Level to do though.

That’s really good to know @Lovetotravel123 @Piggywaspushed I think Business, Sociology & Media are sounding good options and she can keep psychology as a reserve if there’s a clash. thank you everyone!

@kimlek With a dd who did a fashion course at LCF, (not design) please be aware jobs are very hard to get. Very. So I would strongly suggest she does plain marketing to keep options wide open. It does have a maths component. Fashion is so much who you know, it’s difficult to get anywhere. You are better off having transferable skills. Would she want to work in London post degree?

Thank you @TizerorFizz that’s good to know! They are just very broad ideas atm. Fashion was an add on as she has an interest but she’s mostly keen on business & marketing & communications. She’s not done GCSEs yet so hasn’t thought about post grad but she wouldn’t mind where she worked including London. We don’t have any fashion contacts though. In fact no useful contacts in any industry! I know what you mean about transferable sills. Makes a lot of sense.

Our skills lay elsewhere too! DD realised fashion was a dead end and retrained for interior design. Instant job and she is respected for what she can do. Early days though. I agree.

Ahh that’s so interesting @TizerorFizz as DD bangs on about being an interior designer but I just can’t imagine it as she can’t draw/sketch. I also imagine it’s a tough business to develop.

@kimlek The whole process is computer aided design! Don’t think DD sketches much. She possibly could as she did Art A level but there’s a lot of using computer programs. She’s good at that though. DD works for a small company and has a lot of variety. Plus they definitely have wealthy clients! I would not say she’s ready to run a business but she’s trusted and respected by her employer.

Re Psychology are they sure about those results - 2019 only 17% of students got an A or above!

Fwiw my dc did Psychology Biology and Chemistry.
She enjoyed Psychology and said it was easy alongside the other two she also said it wasn’t a proper science and the Biopsych stuff was very much Biology lite. The maths content at A level is really very easy. My elder child also did Paychology alongside Geography and Politics and again found it the easier or the 3.

@KittyMcKitty thanks. These are the schools results published online from last year. We can only assume they’re correct. They don’t seem to have previous years as a comparison. But they are at least last years when they had exams as opposed to tags etc. It’d be interesting to see their 2019 results but they’ll probably publish this years soon enough.