Sorry another A level choices thread

[IdontknowwhyIcare]

Ds is making his choices for 6th form. He doesnt find reading easy at all and has struggled with the two books for this years Eng Lit (mice and men, and Lord of the flies) and he has a diagnosed learning disability which entitles him to an extra 25% time, a scribe, use of a computer and someone to transcribe if he uses a grid system like in science multiple choice (bit like a lottery ticket).

He is very interested in politics and would like to work behind the scenes in government, or head and NGO.

He is happy to go with History, Government & Politics and economics. His fourth choice is proving more problematic. I suggested Eng Lit as you cant go wrong with that (IMHO) but he is worried (and I can certainly see his point) about the amount of reading coupled with the other subjects.

My question is this, would Psychology be a better option? Useful and maybe more relevant and therefore more easily digested reading? Is Psychology considered a useful subject? I'm checking the UCAS site for links to course he is interested in, like International relations etc. Any advice would be more than welcome. TIA

As campaigner said,if he's thinking of studying economics at university then maths would be a very sensible choice.

I wld second the Geography suggestion - I did a Politics degree about 1000 years ago and did A Levels of Pol, Hist, Geog and Econ. As long as your syllabus has a fairly strong human geography element and doesn't do too much on glaciers, for someone who is social science minded, it's a pretty logical choice and doesn't seem to have the "easy" rep some A level subjects, including politics, have.

I teach A Level history and I would say that reading is the number one, key, must do activity. I set large amounts of reading every week, as well as expecting my students to 'read around 'what I give them!

Good luck with his choices - you're doing the right thing to really think about his strengths and weaknesses - so many don't!

I did 4 'soft' subjects to a level including psychology and sociology and got into a good Russell group uni, I did get 3 A's and a B though.

Go for sociology it is piss easy, I did so little work for it its untrue and got an A.

My dd did AQA Psychology A level last summer, very little reading apart from the textbook but a lot of fact learning, much more than for Government and Politics. So if your ds can absorb and remember vast numbers of case studies he would be fine, there was also a considerable mathematical section in one of the A2 papers about methods.

Interesting reading this thread. Apologies for being away, its been mocks here, before the 2 resits and modular components in january. It seems relentless, or maybe thats just me and DS.
He and I have spoken in detail about the reading component for history and he is adamant he will do what is needed (I do know it WILL be a struggle but he is passionate about it).
Reading is his issue, he can talk eloquently about all his subjects but getting it on paper is just plain very vvery hard work. He doesnt really like art drama music etc, politics is his passion. He is still wavering about economics, loves the subject glued to all the news about the Euro etc but is already having tutoring. Its hard to tell if he is just making up for lost time before he was diagnosed or if he really doesnt get it. His tutor seems to think he can get an A but it hardly seems fair to go ahead to A level and study a subject you need a tutor for IYSWIM. Decisions decisions.

Sorry meant to say tutoring for maths.
Also I like the idea of geography. He was put off taking it for GCSE, too much volcanos and stuff. I will ask the school what syllabus is offered for geog, and also for psychology and sociology.
Thanks very much for all the really positive help. Good luck to everyone else.

have you thought about not taking 4 at all? My DS has dyslexia and rather than taking opted to have private study instead of 4th subject. The extra time meant better grades on the other three and he is now at a good uni studying history.