A levels, gaming system/softer subjects?

[Peverellshire]

It seems like RG universities etc care mainly about your ‘score’ not subjects?

Looking at other DC, say if you want to do English Lit at Newcastle, Exeter, Durham, etc, 3 A stars will trump a lot, no matter what subject? As long as A or A star in English? The subject you want to study.

Maths at Durham (?: A star Maths, Further Maths A star Classical Civilisation, A star, media studies, A star (?)

Does that trump: A Maths, A Physics, C Chemistry? For example.

Do we all make it too hard at Uni entry level?

@poetryandwine GS doesn't exist as an A-level any more! 😀

I have taught Drama for a decade, and many of my students have gone on to read non-English/Drama-type subjects at Russell Group and Oxbridge: Economics, Physics, Engineering, Geography, Philosophy, Law, Psychology.

The two students I know who are 'native' speakers were encouraged to do their MFL A level early as a fourth subject.
As to ease of this subject against that, surely it depends on the students innate ability. My daughter did Art as she's good at it (and likely future career) - History as she's interested and likes essay writing, and Psychology as it was new (to her) and also interesting. The first was more time consuming than hard, the second required the most time and rigorous study, the last relatively easy for her. If she'd taken maths she would have found it impossible and therefore science too (though she earned 8s for physics and chemistry at GCSE, math is her Achilles heel and she got a 6). She knew her strengths and chose accordingly, and with a lot of hard work earned A stars for all.
A classmate, who's mother is a maths teacher, excelled in that subject and therefore did that and FM (no idea of other two subjects, but is going to Leeds to do Economics). She would never choose a creative subject, as she had no interest or affinity for them.

Some courses state the A levels . Durham chemistry for instance - the A levels have to include Chemistry and Maths

Of the subjects my dd took this year - Psychology (often regarded as a soft option) has the lowest % of a stars at 5.7%

I think one of the issues with the “softer” subjects are that they are often untried subjects as many schools don’t offer them at GCSE level. As a result, many of the A level student who choose them do so because they didn’t achieve the grades to study the more traditional academic subjects at A level.

This happened at DD’s school where loads of students chose psychology, then discovered it was more boring and not as easy as they thought it would be. A level Psychology at DD’s school had the highest dropout rate.

I also think that maths has such a high pass rate because those who struggle with maths just don't continue with it, so only those who love it or are naturally gifted at maths take it at A level therefore ensuring that it has a self selecting high pass rate. (I hope this makes sense).

This made me just think of the subject I used to teach. Computer science is a hard subject to get a good grade in. On par with physics and maths. Plus it has the extra element of project worth 20%, making it even more time consuming. Thinking about when my son does do alevels, I might suggest he does at least 1 easy subject instead of the really difficult ones if he has intentions of doing all difficult ones!

Yes - you always need to have the formally required ones (and informal ones such as having FM if your school offers it, it's only not an absolute requirement because some schools don't)

And it is good to have another one that is obviously useful to the proposed university subject. So for example for English lit, it helps to have another language, history, RE (not just because they're humanities, but because the content as well as the skills are useful). But for a third A level, it's OK to do the thing you're most academically curious about

I might suggest he does at least 1 easy subject instead of the really difficult ones if he has intentions of doing all difficult ones!

Don't you mean easy for him?
DD took biology, chemistry and geography at A level and found them all equally difficult. She would have found English literature much more difficult than her subjects, yet her English lit friends would have really struggled with chemistry. It's all about playing to your strengths.

I'm not sure OP did equate soft with arts subjects. As a PP pointed out it's easier and more common to get higher marks in maths and/or sciences because a higher percentage of the marks are objectively 'right'. Arts subjects mainly rely on subjective marking so it's harder to get higher marks.

@RampantIvy iz right. Astars can be low in subjects where DC do not have higher grades in core subjects so choose a previously not studied one. Media is exactly this and is often swerved by the brightest.

Law is greatly helped by drama. Also helped by English Lit so not remarkable at all that Law grads might have these A levels and Philosophy too. There’s no subject requirement for law but some subjects are better prep than others.

*Maths at Durham (?: A star Maths, Further Maths A star Classical Civilisation, A star, media studies, A star (?)

Does that trump: A Maths, A Physics, C Chemistry? For example.*

Yes it does

Durham state they want 2 A stars in Maths & Further Maths plus A in ANY OTHER SUBJECT. (the 2nd A star can be reduced to A with a high Step score.). So if you are likely to get a C in Chemistry but likely to get A or A star in Media Studies the latter gives you the best chance of being offered a place.

As Universities regard all subjects as pretty much equal, with caveats around 2, what’s ‘soft’ or otherwise depends on your own strengths & weaknesses.

Pretty much yes.

I mean my son's strength is music. He's also not too bad at maths. But give him an essay subject like Media Studies and he would absolutely bomb it.

Someone else might be really good at constructing an argument and analysing film/literature but be discalculic.