Opinions welcome on A level options

[uggmum]

My dd wants a future in science. She is interested in research or neuro-science.
She would like to do A level biology and chemistry but is unsure what else they go with.
She doesn't want to do physics or maths.
Any recommendations/opinions are welcome.

She is identified as gifted in science and projected A* at present.

I have a postgrad biochemistry degree and a b at GCSE maths and a willingness to learn a bit of Stats would have been quite sufficient for anything I ever did.

(I have done more maths than that, but never needed it).

Meanwhile DH has done chemistry and computer science and used and still uses his maths and some of his further maths A levels all the time.

Why, not because that level is necessary for all chemistry or computing, but because he's choose areas where maths is valuable because that's what he enjoys.

If your a brilliant statistician there are corners of population genetics that will love you, but most research posts just need you to chuck your results in the right computer program.

Surely the way to go is to look at university courses that appeal, and see what the entry requirements are?

I would say maths is important for sciences and a lot of science courses either require or strongly recommend it. I'd also say that maths at A-level and above is quite different to maths at GCSE and below, so if she doesn't have confidence now or finds it boring, it may be partly because they don't introduce the more interesting parts until the higher levels, so I wouldn't necessarily discount maths now if she just doesn't like it. In fact when I was her age, I only did maths as I needed it for what I wanted to study at degree level, half way through my UCAS application I realised I enjoyed this more interesting side of maths so much I ended up changing my application and doing a joint degree in it!

I am a university research scientist. I would say her third option should be a writing based subject such as English or History. Being able to write is extremely important in research and she won't get through even her degree without a solid ability to write. And her AS option should be maths. There is absolutely no way around maths in research, she will need it to interpret her own results and those of others.

I am not familiar with the biology syllabus. If biology is an essay based subject then I would switch around and do maths as the third option and english as the AS.

And throwing your results into a programme is an absolutely terrible way to do your stats. It leads to all kinds of crap interpretations and I cannot believe anyone would get away with it. Certainly not beyond student level.

I did a bsc in biology, I had biology, history and Eng lit at a level. I did struggle with the biochemistry (which your dd won't) but the maths was basically stats and we had separate lessons (maths for biologists/physics for biologists) which covered these aspects. ( I had a b in both maths and physics gcse taken 24 years ago)

Check with the unis she wants to go to.

Sometimes you have to work hard at things, I really think she should do further maths even if she expects "only" a C. Speaking with experience, wish I hadn't been put off of calculus because I had to work hard at it; I came to love it anyway.

My DD's state school requires a B at maths gcse to take A level sciences. DD is doing maths and sciences at A level and she says every lesson involves maths.

A C at GCSE maths will close off university options for science. Many courses require a B as a hard minimum requirement. Having two sciences at A-level will be essential, and a third may be prefered (although this will usually include psychology, geography and maths within the scope of science A-levels). If she has an interest in neuroscience, then psychology might be relevant.

Is she picking 4 AS subjects? If so, I agree an essay based 4th subject would be a good idea. Science subjects at university will usually involve writing essays, and this is generally easier if you've also done an essay based A-level.

Science degrees do usually contain quite a lot of maths- stats, formulas, graphical representations, models etc often require a knowledge of maths to understand. The level of science learning at GCSE doesn't normally require this kind of mathematical understanding. If she really doesn't like maths (instead of not just being especially tallented at it), she may dislike this part of her degree. Science degrees will often have specific stats modules which she will have to pass to progress.

I agree that looking at some university websites to see what courses actually involve would be a good idea. If she can find an area that interests her then she should be able to pick suitable but enjoyable a-levels.

I bet I can find some science courses where only C in A-level maths is necessary (I managed it recently for computer science!).

lljkk - I think a lot of science A level courses will require a B in GCSE maths though (I know the schools round here generally ask for that)

Are you sure that it's the maths itself, rather than the teacher ? I say this because being identified in all 3 sciences as gifted goes hand in hand with capability in maths - otherwise she would not perform so well in physics and chemistry as so much of it, particularly physics, requires mathmatical skills

My school closed down in my GCSE year, I had always struggled with maths but as soon as I was taught by a different teacher I suddenly grasped topics that had completely passed me by before. In two terms I went from a D in my mocks to getting a B in the exam. Hence the question "subject or teacher ?"

Many schools wont allow taking Physics at Alevel, without taking Maths as well and many schools wont allow you to take Maths Alevel without an A and A* for further maths.