Firming up alevel choices

[makemineadecaf]

Dd has to start with 4 subjects and then will drop one by October half term. She is also doing the EPQ.

Essay subjects are her strength and she’s brilliant at English Literature so that is a definite.

Then she needs two definites to continue with out of psychology, history and biology.

She is flitting between a law LLB or physiotherapy MSc.

My thought are English literature, psychology and biology will keep both of those doors open but she really loves history too.

Thoughts?!

Surely the whole point of starting with 4 then dropping one, is you see how they are going and then decide? Deciding now defeats the point.
But agree, if considering a degree in law or science it makes sense to do the A levels you said to keep options open.

Check physiotherapy prerequisites carefully, pretty sure my dh’s niece needed 2 science a levels (she had biology and maths) law is more flexible but one essay subject eg English lit or better still history is very useful.

Agreed - psychology counts as a second science for many physiotherapy courses

Still undecided! She’ll start with all four and hopefully it’ll get clearer for her to decide . She has until half term to drop one.

4 subjects and an EPQ is a heavy workload. Your DD will be shattered during that first half term. Psychology is especially content heavy.

It’s the programme at her school sixth form. You can drop the fourth one as late as October half term.

English and history both have a lot of coursework that often seemed to come at the same time.

It’s daft to drop one after a few weeks.

We both see this as a good thing though to take the gas off the final exam a bit

The NEAs only account for 20% of the final marks.

It’s daft to drop one after a few weeks.

Why @MrsKeats ?
I disagree. I think the school has a very sensible approach. Quite a few of DD's peers started psychology at A level and found that they really disliked it. Those who had started with 4 subjects happily dropped it. Those who started with 3 had to struggle through to the end as it was too late to swap to another subject.

Then she’ll need to keep biology and psychology if she wants to keep the door for physiotherapy open.

My daughters all chose 4 with the option to drop one by end of October . It was godsend . Eldest who lived geography at gcse disliked it at a level , dd2 realised psychology wasn’t for her and our youngest decided she loved history of art which she’d never done before to Spanish. They all dropped their least favourite . Both eldest and youngest did a subject they’d never done before at gcse and picking 4 allowed them to try them without stress.

See if she can go to a couple of early open days at unis in September to find out a bit more about law or physio? Understanding where she might be going with it is likely to be helpful.

In all honesty this isn't what happens. Those exams seem just as 'gassy' and NEA deadlines usually aren't negotiated or coordinated across the school ( largely because of exam board deadlines) and often come at the same time as revision for exams , in school tests etc...

We are booked into one in September (Southampton) which does both courses which will be great and two others in October which will obviously be too late for alevel choices by then but should help her firm up her pathway.

Thanks for this. Her strength is essay writing though so I do think it’ll be a good thing for her. She’s also doing the EPQ.