Economics A-level with Maths, French and Latin

[oriol]

I have read a recent thread about the Economics A-level but it focussed on students going on to read Economics at University and suggested that Further Maths was more useful. My DD wants to read modern languages but unsure as to career. As she is strong in maths, took her GCSC a year early and achieved an A*, it seems a good idea to keep maths on. She has recently said she finds Economics interesting and I wondered if any one had thoughts on the combination and the wisdom of taking four A levels.

No useful comments on economics.

But if looking at doing ML at uni, can I ask:

• why no 2nd modern language (is it because latin is a good root language?)
• can she do Italian A level 'ab initio' ?

Lots of people do take 4 a levels. Our local high performing 6th form college seems to recommend it for people achieving As and Bs at GCSE.

I don't think that there is anything "wrong" with her choices, but would've thought a second modern language would be preferable to either maths or economics if she wants to do languages at degree level.

I don't know what maths she is doing now (presume Year 11), but may be a bit rusty if she will have had a year off before starting A Level.

My dd has just started yr12 and said the other day that maths is great because you just do the exercise (for homework) & it's done whereas for other subjects work is much more time consuming. Her other subjects are 'big' subjects. How do her school anticipate A levels changing or will she still have AS levels?

Sounds a good combination. Maths, essay subject and language. If she is good at maths and reasonably well taught, it won't take as much time as the others.

The range will open the door for combined degrees. Law and French, economics and European studies etc if she finds the economics interesting. And if she decides on economics she is a good candidate for a course with a year abroad.

4 A levels is standard at DCs private schools. If one proves too much drop it after AS. On one level having the extra subject reduces pressure as you can afford a bad day in the exam room and still achieve your University offer.

I think that maths A level is almost never going to be a bad choice if you're good enough to have a decent chance of an A. It's solid evidence of real numeracy that will improve your employability in a whole range of office/business related jobs.

I would say maths goes very well with Economics - i did Economics at uni and really suffered for not having Maths A level ( i know you cant really do that now - need maths a level for economics degree).

But as she doesnt want to do Economics and wants to do MFL at uni, the argument doesn't apply.

As one with kids who've all finished a levels, i would say that the hardest combinaiton was for my DS who did sciences plus a MFL without any other humanities subject - as your DD is proposing to do. His worst score in his modules overall was in the coursework for Spanish which was an extended essay on a novel. Without the structure of another essay based subject to rely on, he just didnt have the skills to do brilliantly in that aspect.

So it depends on the subject content of the French A level itself and how much guidance she'll get on how to write the essay part (if thats still on the syllabus).

On that basis, id say that an essay based subject is the best complement for MFL.

And would likewise suggest that you assure yourself that just one MFL will be enough to position her for the degree subject she wants to take

People should get to follow their interests at this age (or any age). I think she should take the four subjects that interest her, and see where it leads. Your daughter sounds like a clever, academically able person, and Economics would probably be quite easy for her.

I'd recommend that your dd takes a look at the universities in which she is interested in applying - will they accept the combination of courses? I had problems with my Cambridge offer because I had Psychology, which was deemed to be a science subject, while my other subjects were humanities. Ultimately Cambridge accepted that we did a lot of essays in Psychology so it was ok (and I did five A-Levels).

As an employer though I'd say it's a great balance of serious, rigorous subjects which could stand her in good stead professionally. Those subjects would be perfect for a foreign rights director at an academic publisher

This is a strong academic combination and exactly what many universities eg LSE suggest students take. Econ contains lots of writing and essays as well as more numerical / logical questions. She might not want to do Mfl after a levels as she is still very young to decide but this combination would open up may doors for her.

May open up many doors I agree, but may also close off a small number in the area she is most interested in!

They're a great combination for someone who doesn't know what they want to do, and a great combination for a potential social scientist, but most MFL applicants will have two MFL A levels, and the obvious question would be 'if you're so interested in MFLs why didn't you study a second one?'

Thank you all so much for such helpful comments. On the language front my DD is taking German, Latin and Ancient Greek for GCSC and has already sat her French and obtained an A*. She really does not want to continue with German for A-level and would like to read French at Uni with Italian ab initio. I did ask the head of ML at school about taking an Italian GCSC in sixth form but she seemed to think it was better to do some informal Italian conversation etc. and keep it ab initio for Uni. We thought the Latin and French combination would help when it came to Italian. I am hoping that Economics will have some essay writing to keep this skill going. The general consensus seems to be it is a good combination but may make reading ML at Uni difficult. Does anyone have experience of one ML and one Classic language at A level?

Hi OP, I did Latin and German at A-Level - several years ago, so don't know how much they may have changed, but both were quite heavy on essays for the literature analysis parts of the course. Latin especially had a lot of essays, and for German, we did essays in both German and English, so I wouldn't really worry about that skillset. If I remember rightly, I think the literature aspects were reasonably large parts of the overall mark too. I didn't take ML at uni as a major, but Latin was quite well thought of when I applied due to the emphasis on grammar and structure.

I think your DD is doing a great combination of subjects as it keeps a lot of different doors open (especially Maths - wish I'd kept it up). I would slightly disagree with your DD's head of ML though and suggest she might want to at least have a look at some basic Italian grammar books (perhaps the one for the uni course) as although Latin will help with Italian, when I took a language course from scratch at uni, there were quite a few people (almost half the small class) who had done GSCE or a course so weren't absolute beginners but not advanced enough for the intermediate level class. They found things a lot easier in the first few weeks, while the rest of us were dropped in at the deep end a bit as the course was quite intensive. But it should even out in the long term.

My DD did French and Italian at University with both at A level plus History and Politics. However, doing Italian at even the best Universities is not overly competitive because so few students have done it at A level and the universities are desperate for MFL students to keep MFL faculties buoyant. Therefore it is perfectly possible, and common, to do it ab initio but I would second doing it at GCSE and Latin won't help as much as the GCSE/conversation. There is a lot of essay writing at the top universities so I would have thought the Economics would help with that. Obviously the year abroad will bring on the conversation but being able to read the books and understanding the grammar is important so actually doing some Italian would be useful. I agree that plenty of others will have. I would also have thought German, rather than Latin, was better preparation for MFL as it shows commitment to MFL. With the combination of languages, economics and maths though, there are plenty of open doors.

I agree with some other posters and would urge your DD to swap Latin for a MFL at A-level - preferably one she is going to continue at university. IMVHO studying a MFL at university ab initio is unwise (and I say so as someone who did).