Politics/Maths/Physics A-levels?

[Undercoveragents]

My DD is going into Y11 and is thinking about A-Level choices. She is planning to do Maths and Physics (she finds the latter one easy, and it is hard to know if she likes the subject or likes being good at it). She wants to do an essay based subject, and is currently thinking about politics. She doesn’t really know what she wants to do at University. I am worried that without three sciences she will limit where she could potentially do science/engineering/maths should she want to go that route. I am wondering if doing further maths as well might give her more flexibility? I’m also not sure if politics would be a good choice if she decides to do something non-science (law is something that has been mentioned). She has already dismissed ibac as a more generalist alternative 🤦‍♀️ Does anyone have any thoughts/experience? Your collective wisdom would be appreciated!!

No uni science or engineering course requires three science subjects <she says; watch out for someone finding one!>

Seriously tho - with physics and maths most engineering courses (apart from things requiring chemistry) will be open to her, as will physics obvs. If she might want to do a maths degree at a popular and highly rated uni then FM is advisable. It's often done as a fourth tho - is that a possibility then drop it if she's not enjoying it? Pretty sure that if you are not liking FM then a maths degree will not be for you.

Politics is fine - if it interests her then that's a bonus as that often leads to more study and a higher grade. Politics itself doesn't open any doors (as in, it's not needed for any specific degree) but that's not an issue.

Has she considered history or geography instead (not sure to what extent geog counts as an essay subject tho!)? Or economics goes well with maths. Psychology might fit well with those subjects too.

Hello, as a maths teacher I’d only recommend Further Maths as a 4th subject. maths, FM and Physics is very narrow unless you know you want to do maths or physics or engineering.
Maths and Physics will be fine for a maths, physics or engineering degree (though many of the top universities would recommend doing FM too) so the 3rd subject could be different.
In my Further maths class alongside Maths and Further maths I’ve got students studying the usual Physics and Vhemostry, but also Physics and Economics, and one student studying History and Psychology.

If contemplating law, an essay subject is an advantage. Politics is probably acceptably academic at most unis offering law

Just to clarify, if she does further maths it would be the 4th A-level. I don’t think she is really thinking about engineering etc at the moment, I wondered if FM as a 4th might be useful!

I guess my worry was whether or not politics was okay as her only humanity/social science, if that was the direction she decided to go. She has said she doesn’t want to do History (I think because she really doesn’t rate her history teacher, although she knows politics is taught by the same teachers). I was wondering if I should try to encourage history over politics? But honestly, if she is keen on politics I’d love it if that still could open up those doors. She did consider economics but decided (after a taster) she was more interested in politics.

If she prefers politics to history (and has some knowledge of what politics A level is of course) then that is a good choice. History she is not enjoying is likely to lead to a lower grade I would say. The only door closed really by not doing history is a history degree. So if she's OK with that then no worries.

Degrees such as politics, philosophy, law, archaeology, criminology and a host of others with no specific A-level subject requirement would still be open to her.

My dd1 is also about to go into Y11 and doesn't yet know what she wants to do career wise.

She is thinking of taking A Levels in Maths, FM, Politics and either Sociology or History.

@clary -- Cambridge Natural Sciences! (assuming that we're counting Maths)

On the main point, I think this is fine as a combination of A-levels.

Haha really tho? Excellent

History has coursework and politics is 100 % exam if that might be a decider.

Sounds like a great choice to me. FM can be super useful and opens up some universities depending on degree choice.

A point to consider is how flexible option blocks are at the desired 6th form(s). In some cases, selecting FM at a 4th rules out some essay subjects because they are in conflicting option blocks; so worth understanding that.

So your DD will need to decide whether Politics has red lines around it even if it means foregoing the opportunity to take FM, or whether she is prepared to be flexible. For example, it is likely that option blocs will accommodate M, FM, Phys and Econ because, each year, some students are likely to request that.

Equally, FM is often only offered to those achieving 9 or 8 at GCSE Maths, so need to be clear as to DD's likely outcome in that regard.

My DCs did Maths, FM, a physical science and a humanity and really enjoyed the mix. To answer @clary, Geog is sometimes regarded as an essay subject (eg LSE), but often not (eg U of Bath); there are not essays as such in Geog exams, more extended 16-markers.

One of my DC seriously considered Politics A level and it does look interesting; worth downloading past papers to get a real feel for it.