Which 3rd a level to go with RS and German.

[TiredTiredVeryTired]

Decision made to take religious studies and German. What would be a good 3rd?
Current thoughts/conversations have included, in no particular order

• History
• Physics
• DT product design
• Politics
• Geography
• Environmental science
• Electronics

And with no particular career in mind.

I’d go history or politics.

Can they do 4? Give more breadth. Are they set on RS? Any thoughts at to start they'd like to study at university?
I'd go with history or politics (both if they would consider dropping RS), and then a maths or science subject, economics might fit well, or the physics from your list

Law?
My dd loved Alevel RE. Had a fantastic teacher who really captured the class.

Aiming for uni and if so any thoughts on what subject at uni?

I'd do electronics (and environmental science - if it's actually science and not all about power discourses).

What are the future plans?
Any career objectives?
Any idea what / whether to study at university?

There are science and humanities subjects in the list that on the face of it are quite far apart.

I wouldn't do physics without A level maths.

Something STEM related could be useful to keep STEM routes open if they don’t yet have a career in mind

I'd go with geography if they're thinking of doing something with German at uni and history if they're thinking of doing something with RS. Also check which religions are studied at A-level for the RS one, my local college did a completely different religion than the two main ones I'd learned about all through school and done for GCSE so I ended up not doing it because I didn't want to have to start from scratch with a completely new belief system at A-level.

4 is a possibility, but sticking to 3 is probably best. Better for quality over quantity. We can explore this further though, we’re not completely ruling it out.

Law is not a possibility because it’s not offered. I also don’t think economics is offered - will check.

Aware that the subjects listed are quite far apart. Currently the career plans are all up in the air. DC has no idea what to do/which direction to go in. Wants to go uni but no clue what to study. I can see DC going in some sort of social science direction (but could be wrong). DC loves the logic, reasoning, debate and questioning side of things hence the wide range of subjects which have those aspects.

RS and German have been chosen so far because of enjoyment of the subjects, does well in the subjects and the content of the A levels.

I was also thinking physics without maths is probably not a good idea so thank you for confirming that. I’m also wondering, it’s been mentioned about keeping a STEM in case DC wants to go in that direction, but would that not be seen as a bit of a random outlier subject. I would think the majority of STEM based subjects would also want maths or at least 2 STEM subjects?

Think about whether coursework or 100% exam is preferred as that could steer or refine the choice.

History or Politics.

I would also check how many of these require coursework. DD was torn between English Lit and Sociology but as History has coursework she didn't want another one, so Sociology won.

I think RS and German are very unusual choices and if either is likely to be pursued at University the courses will be very limited. Language courses (even French and Spanish) are being reduced in number and RS in any form, is an unusual choice now.
If they are just A levels that will be decent grades to access a less socialised degree that doesn't require particular A levels, just good grades, that's fine.
RS at GCSE is not a highly regarded GCSE academically, I don't know about at A level. I don't know of a secondary school in our LA or neighbouring LAs that offers German at GCSE or A level any more.

I think RE is pretty well regarded isn’t it? It’s essentially philosophy and ethics.. A friend’s highly academic child who goes to a top private and has eyes on Oxbridge is doing it… And they’re a family that’s pretty clued up about this stuff.

I think physics without maths would be hard. I’d go for something social sciencey if that’s a potential direction at uni.

Agreed that languages at uni (esp German) would be unlikely as those depts are getting axed right left and centre and lots of them have cut German already from their offering

Go with whatever they enjoy and get good marks in, the rest will fall into place. If they were set on a career path, my answer would be different.

You say they like logic/ reasoning/ debate. They would probably find a legal career really fulfilling. Have they done any work experience?

I initially wanted to be a psychiatrist so I did chemistry, biology, religious studies and business studies for my A-levels. I think my mixed bag A-levels actually helped and had been a talking point in interviews.

Any of those would be great – depending on what they enjoy and what they will do well at. But yy I agree physics without maths is a challenge and not very common tbh.

History and geography both keep open doors to those subjects at uni (tho in fact some unis do not require A level in those subjects for those courses).

I wouldn’t encourage taking four tbh as it is a lot of work for no specific gain (and often lower grades all round). Also there is nothing wrong with RS at GCSE or A level, it’s a perfectly good choice.

Wrt German (yay! MFL A level) there are still plenty of unis offering MFL degrees. Yes, some are cutting the subject which is sooo depressing, but it is still offered in lots of places. A random search shows Leeds and Warwick offering lots of options inc German alone or combined with various interesting subjects.

What is their expected grade at German GCSE? What about their expected grades for the other choices? My immediate thought veers towards history/Geog/politics as that feels more in line with their other choices and what you say about a possible future direction, but it is worth checking about NEAs as a PP says.

And yes, if they take physics alone or another science on its own, the options are more limited (though you can still do a science degree with one science - but you might need higher grades).

I don't know of a secondary school in our LA or neighbouring LAs that offers German at GCSE or A level any more.

@LuluBlakey1 wow that is depressing indeed. Tho tbh in DS2's year, his school was the only one in the city (so out of about 7/8 sixth forms) to offer German A level. A lot of settings require minimum numbers which is always a challenge for MFL A level. But not at GCSE? Certainly offered at at least four local secondaries. Agree that it is less common than French.

I would say history. It fits with the first two the best, and has all the elements your DS is looking for.

Geography is considered an overlap between social science and science. Physical geog and human geog are the main elements.

Economics (depending on syllabus) can be either philosophical or leaning toward maths at university level.

History of Art might work well with RS and German.
Philosophy might tick a number of boxes.
Ditto History.
Would he be interested in Psychology?

I'd be very inclined if I were him to keep up the German at university.

As an RS teacher (who has had several students go on to Oxbridge and far more to Russle Group unis ....) I would suggest History as it has some really interesting parallels to the RS course, obviously depending on what units they do. At my school they do an independent study for coursework in History, which may or may not appeal.

Quite a number of my students do English or Sociology. Because of the nature of the subject and the exams in RS being 100% essay based, they tend to be pretty solid essay writers.

One thing about German A-Level: DD did German GSCE as an additional topic, she is bi-lingual. She wondered if she could do a 4th A-Level with the same minimal learning she did for GCSE, a big no.

We spoke to the school's A-Level teacher and also the school she is going to know. Both said that A-Level German is less about learning the language but learning about German culture, polictics and history.
So one school's focus was on the fall of the Berlin Wall, the changes in East Germany and they read a variety of books. The school wants at least a 6, the other a 7 in GCSE to do A-Level.

So, I would thoroughly recommend looking at the curriculum.

I was under the impression that RS (or RE) was quite highly thought of with it being, at A level, mainly philosophy and ethics. And that’s is also how the syllabus reads to me. I know someone who went to Oxford to do PPE and he had RS so I’m if the opinion that it is definitely not a subject to be completely dismissed as ‘poor’ or ‘waste of time’.

German seems to (currently) be non-negotiable. (Also, all our schools, except one, offer German at GCSE and all the sixth forms offer it at A level. How strange that some areas aren’t offering it).

Projected grades; (for some reason the school don’t use predicted, but basically the same thing) English Lang 6, English lit 5 (maybe a 6), maths 6, sciences 6-6 (maybe higher), German 7/8 (borderline), geography 7, RS 7, electronics 7.

Sixth form require a 6 in German GCSE and there are no form requirements for RS but if taken at GCSE then they want a 6.
They also seem to want a 6 for all the subjects I originally mentioned in either the same subject or related subjects if it hasn’t been taken at GCSE.

Some suggestions alternative subjects to have a think about, thanks for those, (although history of art is defiantly not offered). We can dig into the curriculums of them all later on, but from memory, I think DC wasn’t over the moon about one of the topics in history? I can’t remember exactly, it might have been something in politics, will have to check. Also some good suggestions over the type of assessments, I’ll make sure that is considered.

Ah so they don’t currently take history GCSE? Assume the school is OK with A level history without GCSE (plenty are IME) but I would wonder why they didn’t choose the GCSE if it is of so much interest.

German GCSE projected grade is good; IMO a min of a 7 is needed for A level. There is a lot of language ability needed for A level, but it’s true that that is not all – A level MFL is by no means a walk in the park for someone bilingual, as @reluctantbrit notes – there is study of many political and social topics; there are 12 topics altogether (for AQA) and all will be studied. I think a 7 is needed as it shows the required level of language skills, which will be assumed on starting the A level. Also one book and one film is usually studied (though you can do two books but why would you??). I imagine you know this @TiredTiredVeryTired as you say you have looked at the specs, but I wanted to flag as @reluctantbrit suggested multiple books are studied which is not usually the case.

Unfortunately I am aware of a number of schools that are phasing out study of German altogether and certainly it is less common at A level than Spanish or French. If your DC enjoys it, is good at it and has the chance to study it further then that’s all good.

You are quite correct that RS is a perfectly good A level.

Any evidence to back up your first sentence @LuluBlakey1? Total baloney.

Lots of people go on to study philosophy at degree level following an A level in RS from my DCs school. Religious studies is popular due to debating ethics, providing important reasoning and conversational skills that equip students well for a range of subjects.

@TiredTiredVeryTired My DC is a good all rounder and not sure what to do for a degree / career wise so keen to keep options open. Alevels applied for are:
RS, Biology, Psychology (new subject to them) and AS level German. That way they can continue to learn a language but also could drop another subject and continue with full ALevel German if the workload becomes too much or they don't enjoy a subject. Would AS Level German be an option at the sixth form your child will attend?

@TiredTiredVeryTired I also think this decision really comes down to your DC, the curriculums on offer and who will teach them as to how much they will enjoy them and how well they will do!
History would be a good fit but my DC ruled it out as felt the curriculum for ALevel was too close to what they've studied at GCSE (Cold War following on from WW2) whereas they would have liked to study ancient history or classical civilisations but it wasn't on offer at their sixth form. Has your DC gone through the course specifications to see which interests them most?

I would probably go history or politics from this list.
Physics is difficult (but not impossible) without also doing maths.

Geography or environmental science are completely fine choices too.

I think it could really be as simple as which one does he enjoy most and what kind of thing is he thinking of doing after school?