A Level choices

[Horsemad]

DS has 6th Form info evening tomorrow, he wants to srudy Computer Science at uni & is planning on doing Maths, Physics, Chemistry & Further Maths at A Level. Are these sensible choices?

Very sensible

Sounds sensible to me, if his teachers think he's up to it. Has he looked at relevant university courses to see what the requirements are?

Very good subjects that keep a lot of other options open if he changes his mind on the computer science. F. maths is the one that some dc struggle with and often drop out of, but if he's keen, prepared to work at it, and good at maths (especially algebra) then he should be fine.

This is the thing, he is very bright, does amazingly well without much effort, BUT is quite lazy & I'm not sure he's prepared for the workload. He's not a natural mathematician so it will be interesting.

It's very difficult to know how he'll find it until he's actually doing it imo. Quite a few v bright dc dropped out of ds's f maths class, but balanced by about the same number that saw it through too. It's a very useful A level to have for computer science (possibly essential at the top universities), so he probably should give it a go and see how he gets on.

He may find he needs to put more effort in for all those A levels compared to GCSEs anyway.

Thanks gelo he definitely wants to do Computer Science, so if it's required then he's going to have to apply himself isn't he?!

Exactly Horsemad. In the main, youngsters seem to rise to the challenges A levels present fairly well - especially if they have a specific goal in mind.

Those are great choices but they are hard work. DD is doing maths, physics, chemistry and biology. There is a huge step up from GCSE to A level especially in maths / further maths. I'd be very surprised if he is able to be lazy and still achieve decent results.

My H has a Maths degree so he'll be keeping an eye on him hopefully!

The British Olympiad in Informatics is a nice competition to enter (if he can persuade his school to enter him). It would be something to talk about on his PS if he does well and there's the possibility of an expenses paid weekend in Cambridge too (or even a week in Australia next year if he does really well). It's not as well known as the science/maths olympiads, so arguably a bit easier - it tests programming skills and maths puzzles (algorithms).

Ooh gelo that looks good! Will mention it to him later - thank you!

SO pleased to see a child who has made good choices

I'm back - it was interesting and thought provoking and a bit scary too! I'm now in a small flap as I've convinced myself he is not motivated enough to do these I know he's clever, but he's so 'meh' about everything. I feel he's only choosing these subjects 'cause he needs them for uni, not because he actually has a passion for them.

Computer sciences - great choice - and it opens up a world of possible career choices. Has he had a look at www.Careers4u.tv? They have loads of info about subject combinations and hundreds of videos of youngish people talking about their careers - some in the computer games industry that all require maths and computer sciences. That might get him motivated. My DS found the site helpful.