Choosing a fourth A level alongside German, Biology and Maths

[Stowickthevast]

DD has just finished GCSEs and needs to decide on her A levels.

She is definitely doing German, Biology and Maths but her school does 4, and takes an AS in 1 at the end of Y12. She'd like to do an essay subject but it's unsure which to choose from History, RE or possibly English Lit. She's not taken RE for GCSE, but thinks aspects of the course sounds interesting - the ethics bit more than the religion bit. History and English she's predicted 8s in, seemed quite into History when she was revising it but is worried the A level course doesn't sound as interesting. She's always been good at English but didn't have a great GCSE teacher which put her off.

Any advice? Is RE considered "lighter" than the others? She's not at all sure what she wants to do later or what she will drop. Possibly Modern languages.

Hi Piggy, I thought so too. It's Eduqas. Annoyingly that's at her current school and I think she's decided to leave. I can't find what board they're doing at the new school.

As I have said on books thread you can get through AQA doing entirely pale, male, stale.

Over 20years ago, my A Levels were German, Maths, French and RS. Like your DD, i chose RS because I liked the sound of the philosophy and ethics element, more than the religion element. Actually, ive quite regretted that for a while once I got to uni. I remember very little of it now so it hasnt really been useful. Plus i went on to study Russian at university and there were so many interesting history modules over the 4y degree, that it would have been helpful to have a more solid grounding in history (I also did RS GCSE rather than History). I caught up with peers, but i could have made life a bit easier for myself. My experience is obviously very out of date but maybe worth having a look at the modules for the MFL courses she is interested in and whether she thinks History A Level might help her more? I actually ditched maths after AS Level as I didnt do as well as I had hoped but for the last 15years have worked with numbers in the millions so it just goes to show that you never know what life holds!

If she’s considering changing school, look at alternative History exam board options - DD is studying German and History and the history includes German history and so they work well together.

Thanks Tuik. She's done quite a bit of German history at GCSE - rise of the Nazis and Cold War - but does have the option to do coursework on whatever she likes so could chose another German topic.

My DD did an English Language A level and enjoyed it. From what I recall they did modules on how children acquire language and other sociolinguistic elements such as gender, dialect, changes over time. Lots of writing skill development, writing for different audiences, textual analysis.

@Stowickthevast you might like to know that Cambridge recommend maths for students wanting to take MFLs there. It’s on their preferred A level list. If she’s good at MFLs, can she take another one? Alternatively, an essay subject is a good addition or possibly economics.