Niece struggling with Chemistry/Biology/Pscychology/English Lit which one to go?

[EachandEveryone]

If push comes to shove? She always wanted to go into medicine but is realising how hard it’s going to be. She got all A’s at gcse but the jump to A Level has been a shock to her system. She likes Psychology even though she’s never done it before. The school is giving them extra lessons in Chemistry. She has no idea what she wants to do now. She isn’t queasy and I can imagine her going into some kind of emergency healthcare or path lab. She keeps everything in though so we don’t know what she’s feeling. She also has a Saturday job in a restaurant and she’s booking more and more work as she likes the money. Even my sister says she might be better off learning on a job. What do you think?

Have you gone over study techniques? How much does she work and does she really have to work that much? It's a trade-off between fun now and fun later, I guess.

If she has an idea what she wants to do then she should check the entry requirements for that course or career and see which A level will be of least use to her. She has four very demanding subjects in terms of the amount of work there. Three are enabling for research universities and Psychology is fascinating but lots and lots of reading.
Many science degrees require three science A levels so the Lit would be the easiest to lose but it very much depends on the subject...especially as Lit is so well regarded as an essay/critical thinking subject.

She really has no idea she’s got a lot on her plate. She has to work for the money for her expensive make up habit but she enjoys it anyway getting away from the houseful at home. The school does a lot of studying with them she’s there full time mostly.

Drop English lit. If she's serious about medicine she should swap the paid work for voluntary care work.

She hasn’t got A*s at GCSE though and I think this is where the difficulty is coming in. Chemistry and Biology will be difficult without top grades and she should re evaluate what she wants to do. There are lots of medical services degrees that she can study, eg Nursing, Occupational Therspy. Eng Lit not necessary.

I would either drop psychology as it's non facilitating or English Lit is she still wants to do a medical related subject.
For the Sciences, there is a big gap between GCSE and A level (particularly if your dd took double award) so I would give it a bit more time (perhaps until the start of the January term) to see if she can keep going with the Chemistry.
A level Sciences should be OK with a grades at GCSE but for medicine as a degree unis may prefer candidates with A*s. I would also suggest that your dd sees a career advisor at her sixth form to check how giving up one of these subjects would affect future options.

Why is she taking four A levels? Three is enough for any course, including medicine.

She should drop one - Psychology is not held in as much regard as Eng. Lit. but on the other hand if she enjoys it she is more likely to get a high grade.

Psychology is a science though so for medicine it may be better than Eng lit. You don’t need 3 facilitating subjects however lots of medics would offer another science or maths.

Usually Y12 pupils will give up their weakest subject at some point in the year. But for a medicine application she will need both Biology and Chemistry.
It really depends on why your dd is having extra chemistry lessons. Is this because she took double award Science and needs some extra lessons to catch up or is it for another reason?
If it's the former most students catch up but a few don't. So you may need to wait a bit longer to find out.

I think as your question is hypothetical at the moment I’d hold off and see how it goes with assessments - she can make her final decision in the summer. Those are 4 very demanding subjects.
There’s more of a red flag in how much paid work she’s doing at the weekend - it won’t help her medicine application if she does want to do that and she needs time at the weekend to do coursework and to relax a bit.