Do A level History, Sociology and Media studies make a good combination?

[DiscoDiva70]

My ds has chosen these courses for sixth form and is due to start College next week.
He did well in his GCSE's, including a grade 7 in English Lit and Lang, and an A in History. (He will have to resist maths)

Ds isn't really sure what he'd like to do in the future, and I'm unsure if Sociology compliments History or if they're too similar maybe?

I did suggest that he may want to consider choosing English A level instead of Sociology but, at the moment, these (and Media studies are the only courses he wants to do )

Because he hasn't done Media/Sociology, am I assuming rightly (with good studying) that he'll be ok in these subjects given his GCSE results in English and History?

And what routes can he go down in the future with these subjects?
I appreciate any advice!

Make sure he researches the course content of English
Language carefully before opting for it. It is nothing like GCSE!

These are the areas of study for OCR Eng Lang A Level, for example:

Phonetics, phonology and prosodics: how speech sounds and effects are articulated and analysed
• Lexis and semantics: the vocabulary of English, including social and historical variation
• Grammar including morphology: the structural patterns and shapes of English at sentence, clause, phrase and word level
• Pragmatics: the contextual aspects of language use
• Discourse: extended stretches of communication occurring in different genres, modes and contexts.

Back later, thanks once again.

Sociology sounds just right for him.

It really infuriates me off when posters on MN, race into threads to disparidge Media Studies.

You are talking absolute rubbish!.

It's one of the hardest subjects to get an A in, for a start.

Both my DDs got straight As at GCSE, both went on to do Media A level, both getting As and both going to their first choice RG unis.
Dd2 studied Eng Lit at uni and said her Media A level was extremely helpful with essay writing and analysis, in English Lit.

Stop spreading untruths about this subject.

One thing I'd want to check - whenever I've come across sociological research it seems to be based on statistics. Does this figure in the A level spec, if so might a student who is weak at maths find this aspect difficult? Maybe they just need a qualitative understanding of appropriate methods and interpretation of results rather than actually doing stats? Apologies if this is a daft question, it just struck me as something that could be relevant.

What does he want to do afterwards?

The facilitating subjects stuff only really matters if he wants to apply to Oxford/Cambridge or a Russell group university. If he doesn't then there are no problems with his choices (& even then I know someone who got into Oxford with a psychology A level, so it's not quite the be all and end all).

Errol There were statistics, but generally you don't have to 'do' the stats, just understand them. There is, or was (I did my A-Levels in 2008/9), a whole module on research methods which examined various ways to collect and interpret data, as well as why you'd select a certain method over another. An understanding of the maths behind the stats is helpful in interpreting things, but not essential. I got a C in both maths and stats GCSE, but an A at A-Level sociology (no A* in 2009)

errol, in my experience they need to show an understanding of how quantitative research works but you are right in thinking that it is about the understanding, application, comparison and interpretation of the studies/results, and be able to apply data when required. So no actual stats needed. If that makes sense. Different in psychology, where they actually have to complete a unit entirely on statistics (again, in my experience).

loops - good, thats what I was guessing.

I think that universities are realising this more and more (as an example, to get onto the same Sociology course that I did at a top 10 RG uni, far longer ago than I care to remember, the entry requirements are now AAB).

What you write is meaningless.

The numbers of students getting higher grades has increased considerably over the last 20 years. When I went to university 20 years ago, a top RG maths course would ask for ABB or BBB. Now such courses ask for A star AA.

Over the same time period all subjects have increased their grade requirements. AAB for a RG course is still on the lower end.

But in any case the grade requirements reflect popularity more than difficulty of course. Physics is pretty undersubscribed and top 10 physics courses allow students in via Clearing at ABB and even BBB. Courses in Law at the same university may well not go into Clearing or drop so low. That doesn't mean that Law is harder than Physics, but that it is more in demand.

boxes - Yes, I asked because I knew someone who started psychology and came unstuck on the maths.

motherinferior

I wasn't being snarky, actually.

Ok, sorry about that.

It's one of the hardest subjects to get an A in, for a start.

Without disputing the value of the subject, curious as to what you base that on?

English language vs literature - again will depend on what he wants to do. A RG uni will probably prefer Lit. But if he wants to become a speech therapist they will much prefer language (along with biology and psychology - so a combination of A levels likely to raise the hackles of many a mumsnetter).

He needs to start with what sort of thing he is likely to want to go on to after school and look at what that needs.

There's a pesky little thing called research based evidence which shows media to be the hardest subject to get an A in. there are a large number of reasons for that!

I might backtrack slightly on myself now . Eng Lang is quite a rare A level : many schools don't offer it. It is quite dry unless you are very interested in the development of language (which my DS actually is but his 5 at GCSE Eng has put him off).

The GCSE has actually become a little more like the A level insofar as it examines texts form different time periods. But I do think Eng Lang and Media would have rather a lot of overlap and he might get bored of the English Language.

motherinferior is your judgment of Media based on having looked over the actual recent , reformed specs and/ or sample exam papers? It just feels like a bias. I too am an English graduate (Russell Group! Shock!) but don't think that is what equips me to offer judgments and opinions on A level study!

Also, OP, consider coursework! is your DC drawn to coursework? The exam load at A level ahs become heavier and there is a cap. Media is one of the few reaming subjects with appreciable coursework. Eng Lang also has coursework. Don't know about sociology. He should look into and think about that.

There's a pesky little thing called research based evidence which shows media to be the hardest subject to get an A in. there are a large number of reasons for that!

Research based evidence isn't pesky. I was curious to know what the evidence for this actually was - and then if it is the hardest to get good grades in then why that might be. The only data most of us have is how many got what grade in each subject, which clearly doesn't show which subject is hardest to get high grades in.

There is data on how GCSE performance map to A level performance, and if fewer students with a high KS4 average point score achieved an A*/A in Media than in other subjects, it might support the argument? Haven't looked at it for Media though. Not my subject.

I'd just say that doing two new subjects at A level might be tough...I can see that point is bring lost in the usual "x subject is soft" debate

At the end of the day he should do subjects he wants to do because A levels are tough and he needs to enjoy the subjects and B he'll do what he wants anyway!

It is entirely bias and I am prepared to accept I am talking out of my arse.

Oh, but it's also based on teaching students who were clearly not interested, had taken media as a soft option and were now doing a media-based degree because they couldn't think of anything else to do and were clearly not remotely concerned with any of the actual journalism skills I was teaching them.

I've also taught rather good students whose Alevels I never asked about.

So it is the bias of an occasional lecturer in journalism who admittedly would take some convincing.

Doing two new subjects at A Level can also have some positive points. When I did my A Levels not long back, I started off with four (two new subjects, two that I had taken at GCSE.) I dropped one of the subjects that I had carried on from GCSE as I found that I was just no longer interested or passionate about the subject. My love for it at GCSE had totally faded by A Level.

Whilst it may have some risks as others are suggesting such as it not suiting the student, there are definitely perks. A new subject allows you to explore a whole new discipline and discover new interests. So your DS shouldn't be put off!

Yes, I can see how that bias would evolve mother. Unfortunately, those kind of students do gravitate towards media A level and degrees precisely because of the campaign against the which can put off better students!

When I taught comms our students ran the whole range from ne'er do wells up to amazing, talented and committed students, many of whom now work in journalism , one at The Sun, one at Empire Magazine, one at Sky Sports, one at the BBC and one has gone into media law. I don't lay claim to their successes but they do say that A level comms and/or film started the ball rolling for them.

I think the op's choice of subjects is a great fit. The risk, as already mentioned, is getting to grips with 2 new subjects! As long as he's checked the specs and had a look at the text books he should know what he's in for.
I know someone who teaches English and media studies and he always had half the class drop out by the first half term because it was much harder than they imagined.The problem with labelling something as 'soft' is that people think it's an easy option. There is too much critical theory in it to be easy!
I wish I hadn't read this thread as I now want to do Film Studies!

Both my DCs took Media Studies at A level and both adored it BUT it was hard and a lot of work. Lots of coursework.
One took it with History and Eng Lit and went on to do History at university. The other is off next week.

I think it's been invaluable for both of them in terms of analysis, critical thinking and just the way they question everything they read and see - I might say it's made cynics of them both.