Physics or Economics A level alongside Maths & English...

[loveyouradvice]

Hi all... I'd love general advice on:

• how these are viewed by employers/unis
• which is tougher?
• how you would help DC decide

She wants to study Psychology at Uni - but definitely the more behavioural side... and likely to use it in her career, but again not as a psychologist but within human behaviour parameters (possibly consultancy)

At the mo, she can't make up her mind and I am encouraging her to talk to A level students to see what is really involved ... but am aware I should probably be encouraging her to think of more than this

Thanks!

Absolutely no issue with either subject, but economics bridges the gap nicely between maths & English due to the combination of maths and analysis of why things happen.

"which is tougher?" No idea, but Physics is a facilitating subject whilst Economics is not.

You can do A level psychology, surely that would be more useful. If it’s not available then I would suggest biology would be a better choice than physics or economics.

thanks... biology might be more useful but she's not that keen... and not required for psychology.....

Yup, Physics strikes me as more "powerful" subject to have - facilitating, less people can do it.... and you don't even need economics to study economics....

More to think about!

she should do which ever she would enjoy the most.

1 - look up potential uni courses and see what their entry requirements are.

2 - Look up the A level course contents

These are both Google-able

Then, as a PP has said, she decides which she would enjoy the most.

You do not need A level psychology to psychology at degree level.

I like the mix of English and maths, as a third physics, further maths, history, anoher facilitating subject. What does your daughter fancy?

I did a physics degree so I am obviously biased, but from my experience the finance sector readily employ people with a physics degree but I do not know a single economist working as a physicist. Make of that what you will!

P.S I know you are talking about a levels and she already knows what she wants to do at uni, but I still think what I said in my previous post is relevant in terms of the transferable-ness of the subjects.

1 and 2 just aren't really questions that matter. She has two facilitating subjects, she knows what she wants to do at university, so all she needs to do is check a few likely choices' entry requirements.

My brother did maths, English and economics, iirc. Behavioural economics is an interesting area - I was listening to something about this year's economics Nobel prize winner, Thaler, and his book Nudge the other day.

Doesn't matter a bit. Why not Psychology? Does she realise there will be biology component of a Psychology degree?

As she wants to do psychology, then I thinking riding anither science would be useful (check entry requirements to see which if any are required, and in somewhere like Student Room to see which are widely expected/desirable)

I'd suggest a science - probably chemistry, physics, biology (in that order, based on usefulness should she change her mind about university subject).

But having an older teen studying the subjects she is really keen on is in itself important. If that's the subject she really wants to do, then that's what she should do.

If her 6th form offer Psychology, then why not that if that is her chosen degree course, it seems slightly odd to me that she wouldn't do it, I know plenty that did it at A level only to find that it wasn't what they thought. Surely it's better to find out at A level than embark on a degree and find out you do not enjoy it!?

DD did psychology up to AS level and discovered she hated it.

Agree behavioural economics is fascinating, you can approach it from psychology or economics. I think she should do what she finds interesting. English and maths are facilitating subjects and the third subject will not matter so much.

Yes doing Psychology A level is a good idea. At least you find out whether you like it. I suggested biology as a degree in Psychology includes some human biology. Maths is also useful, as Psychology includes a paper on statistics.

Most Psychology degrees have a large element of Biology. You can on the course without Biology A Level but the course is much harder without it.

Sorry, was on my phone earlier and it died. If your DD has the option to try psychology as a 4th option it would give her an idea of whether she would enjoy it as a subject. DD and a lot of her classmates hated it, and a lot of students dropped it early on. DD continued to AS then dropped it.

Could she start both of them and try them out for a few weeks. Probably wouldn't work timetable wise but worth a shot. One might have an awful teacher and the other a brilliant teacher or whatever.

Otherwise, I don't think it matters too much. Physics used to be the A level that was the most 'over' predicted. i.e. The majority of students were predicted TWO whole grades higher than they actually achieved. Admittedly this was maybe two or three years ago and I'm sorry but I can't be bothered getting the data out however it might be worthwhile you having a look.

I'd also find out what the achieved grades for both subjects are are your kids school. Obviously not super relevant but might help form a picture. IYSWIM

Her school doesn't do Psych A level but does do two taster sessions of one term each.... and they excel at Physics!

I so agree about trying to find out whether Psych is actually what she wants.....would be a real shame if she had geared everything towards that to discover it wasn't what she wanted!

My DCs both chose psychology at A level and hated it. Not at all what they were expecting.

Get her to look in to it before committing to a degree in it.

DD found psychology mind numbingly boring, and the workload was ridiculous. She said it wasn't difficult, but the volume of work was almost as much as her other 3 subjects put together.

I have A level psychology and I absolutely loved it. I got an A following just one year's study.

That was the same for my DCs. Boring.

They said it wasn't hard was just dull compared to their other A levels. The teacher was lovely too so if he couldn't make it exciting god help anyone with a bad teacher.

I did physics and economics at A level (decades ago though). My ds has also done both but in a very different school system, and he is now taking economics and astronomy at university, but in a system which doesn't specialise until after two years of university (he also has courses in history, politics, maths, computing and english). Psychology is a very popular first year university course here, but I don't think very many major in it.

Given your child is a long way off having to decide what they want to do for their degree and have already picked two very flexible subjects I'd encourage them to pick the third according to how much they enjoy/are good at physics now, how good the economics and physics teachers are, what feedback those teachers can give on the courses. Otherwise if she is more interested in how people behave and why then economics seems more likely to appeal.