Calling Year 12 parents....

[Sparklingbrook]

DS1 (Year 11) is about to choose his A Level subjects. No idea of any career path but a vague interest in University. Been going round the 6th form open evenings etc.

Any hints and tips or things you wish you had known from this time last year?
Any subjects turn out to be not quite what they thought?

So far we have...

Maths, Further Maths, Chemistry , French, German and Music. Not going so well with the elimination....

With languages they need a vv good grade to even attempt it at A Level. DS1 loves Chemistry but hates the other two sciences so that's rubbish.

Sparkling, a couple of the sixth forms we have been to see specify A or above for Maths, Sciences, English Lit and MFLs - the jump up would be too great otherwise. No pressure there then

I feel like asking the school what they think DS1 should take TBH Tilly. I'm not sure what he actually would like to do comes into it.

Sparkling, I'll give you advance warning: it only gets more stressful!
Honestly, DS1 has had me stressed out since we started looking at unis. I keep wishing we were 3 yrs from now with DS2 in uni!!
I am going on a looooong holiday the day after we take DS2 to uni!

I can't even think further than getting through the GCSE's!

thanks for the wine, I definitely need it!

Neither must disagree with you Re the maths,
It depends WHY the DC is not an A* pupil.
DD1 (yr13) got a mid-A at GCSE maths, but had no problem with the difficult stuff, just makes a lot of careless mistakes. Went on to get a mid-B at AS and predicted B at A2. Seems to be a low drop out rate for maths at her sixth form, over half the year group took it, and they are ability set.
I recall one other on the yr13 thread with an A at GCSE getting A at AS, and has an A prediction at A2.

'I am going on a looooong holiday the day after we take DS2 to uni!

a you probably won't be able to afford it with 2 of them to support!!

I would say only do FM if you have a genuine love and interest for maths

I would recommend getting hold of some study texts before deciding on STEM subjects because they are very different to the way they are studied at GCSE.
As DS(1) put it GCSE physics and chem are more learning about the subject whereas at A level you start learning teh subject itself.

Ds has to hand his options form in next week He wants to go into Law so was thinking about RS. I've suggested History, English Lit and Classics (AS). Do you think this is essay overkill?

Same stage here with child no 3. Trouble is we thought we knew what was what but bloody gove .... Nuff said!

My thoughts from having dd1 do A levels (arts) and DS (science) ..
Music is quite easy if you have a good sound performance ability and play often - only grade 6 at AS and 7 at A2 needed really (don't play virtuoso pieces averagely , play easier pieces like a virtuoso!).
The ethics based RE was huge fun.
English lit she gave up as pulling stuff she loved apart was almost upsetting !

Critical thinking ( and general studies - that DS did) honestly - waste of time. If you can write good essays you can write good essays - evidenced by a high grade in a narrative subject. These add nothing and aren't rated by academic courses. Yep even an A*.

Dd2 isn't even being offered them.

EPQ - dd 1 did one, enjoyed it and got distinction. Was it worth the time? Not really - dd2 may have to do it but we will guide her into a field of study that utilises niche current interests and adds breadth to Areas Of A level work (eg they study the Tudors in history, she sings lots of Tudor church music ... What she doesn't realise is how much of the political situation is reflected in the music - Protestant vs Catholic composers, english vs Latin text etc)

DS and sciences? Take maths if you possibly can at least to AS ( though I reckon that applies anyway!) don't do physics without A2 maths as well. Be bold, if you do biology it really is hard to get far in a science field without chemistry as well. A level chemistry is very hard - almost in the same way that A level maths is- a huge step up - it's wasn't just DS who found this. Biology and music were and " upwards slope" rather than a vertical cliff!

Dd2 doesn't know. She's thinking law conversion eventually but something humanities 1st eg humans sciences. She's chosen so far music (easy win for her) maths ( loves it) English and history. However we've been chatting to friends and it's been suggested she look at economics instead if English? Anyone advise us on that? She/we know nothing !

Hi Circular, I think it's my DD you are referring to. I agree that you don't need an A at Gcse to carry on a subject to AS level. DD1 didn't get As in any of the subjects she has continued with and has managed fine. Chemistry at AS does contain a lot of maths so taking maths does help. I think physics really needs maths as well.

' don't do physics without A2 maths as well'

why?? The maths in physics isn't that meaty at all.I could easily follow DS1's physics with just an O level.

I think it may depend on which syllabus. DD did AQA B for physics and it was full of maths. The ones who didn't take maths beyond GCSE were the ones that struggled the most. Also as DD did maths and the 3 sciences, she said the subjects fitted together well and her brain was always switched on to the right mode. I think it is much harder doing a mixture of science and humanities/essay subjects - but that does keep more options open if the student doesn't know which direction they want to go in.

Dd had to think about this early as the sixth form she wants to go to required her options in September.

Her process started with what do I not want to do! Which easily took out maths and physics, probably chemistry. In turn this made biology alone look a bit lonely.

In the end she plumped for English Lit, History and two languages.

She has to sit an exam in those subjects a couple of weeks ago.

DS who is ensconced in said school can afford to be far more relaxed!

ds is doing three essay subjects. He has a looooootttttt of work compared with his friends doing sciences.

He dropped Music because he saw immediately that the workload was going to be huge and impact on his other more favoured subjects (and he is no slouch at music, btw). If Music is a "passion", then that's fine, but if it's not your first choice then think carefully about how much time it will take up.

marina

I think syllabus dependant too. You make it so much harder for yourself not having the maths and if you want to take physics/engineering type things further you must have the maths ( as it it's usually an entry requirement and that you'll find it very hard otherwise).

DD1 is doing 3 essay subjects (Eng, Hist and geog) plus music which is not exactly an essay subject like the others but not without plenty of writing.

She reckons if she didn't love these subjects and find putting the work in a pleasure, it would be very hard. There's so much reading around the subjects to do. Since she does love them, she is enjoying it all. But her 6th form experience is vastly different than mine - I was doing 3 very easy 'rest cure' subjects (maths, further maths and music (which was easier by far back in the day)) and only one 'toughie' (history).

There's a heck of a lot of work in a music subject, Rabbit.

LadySybil I know, but there's not as much writing as in History or Geography. It's not an 'essay subject' like them.

As I said, it's significantly more difficult at A level than it was in my day (which is not the case for some other subjects).

If it makes any difference my best friend has PhD in Chem, but that was her only science at a level

Marina
A lot of schools wont let you take physics without maths.
My dd yr 12 is taking maths,physic, biology, history and drama. Its a lot of work but she isnt taking an epq. The drama is supposed to be for fun but its a lot of time out of other subjects when they had to rehearse for a performance and maths dept not happy.
She actually wanted psycology instead of biology but it clashed with physics, so school persuaded to do biology. Her career choice either wants biology or psychology.