A Level French or Sociology?

[LimeOrange]

Dd needs to submit her choices for Sixth Form soon. She wants to do Maths and Biology as definites. She gets good grades for them. (8s)

She did want to do Sociology as her third option which she has studied at GCSE. She got 7 for that in the last exams.

She now thinks she wants to do French and can't decide between that and Sociology. She gets 8s in French.

She doesn't know what she wants to do later.

Something else to mention is that her exam grades can sometimes be affected by her not writing fast enough and not finishing. This tends to affect essay subjects, but not so much Maths, Science, French so far. It was mentioned by her Sociology teacher at the last parents' eve. He said it could be addressed by doing lots of practice of timed essays to speed up.

I'm thinking French may be the better option in light of the above, and because it may be more useful, although she wishes she could do both. I guess how useful either might be would depend on what she ends up wanting to do.

I suggested that if she decides to do an EPQ as her enrichment option, perhaps she could choose to do it about an aspect of Sociology, so she doesn't have to drop it completely.

Any thoughts? Thanks

Tensix. Yes they offer Psychology but she didn't want to do it.

My DD did a thing at school where they put in their interests / likes and dislikes and it came up with job matches. She got forensic psychologist so not sure what answers she gave but something like that can be useful as a starting point. Obviously need to think about is that right / feasible but you can then look into those career paths and education needed.

That sounds good

Re is not a waste of time!

afternoonspray I missed your post before, but good points.

Engineering would be a very limited option with Maths and Biology. Certainly the main branches of engineering require Physics. Biology and Maths are good for Environmental Science. So she should consider that. French opens up the possibility of a year abroad or joint honours. Sociology doesn’t keep as many doors open but can be studied at university without the A level. However if she prefers Science, then Environmental Science might be the way to go.

Thanks Bubbles. I'll suggest she looks into that

Surely it depends on what she wants to do later on?

Yes, she needs to think about that. It's a good point that Sociology wouldn't be closed to her if she didn't take it at A level as she could still do a degree in it

Having done some sociology at degree level quite a few lectures felt that A level sociology wasn't a good option. Some students found it hard to move on to the critical thinking needed at degree level.

Thanks

I'm dreading this discussion with my son, he waffled for months over his options and is better than average at most subjects. No idea how he will cope narrowing his choices to 3. It's so hard when our children aren't sure what they want to do after A levels.

unsurprisingly, a lot of generalisations and snobbery on this thread!

I am a fan of both subjects. I have an A Level in French and teach sociology. Unless she wants to do French at uni, no university will care what her subjects are. the maths is supporting the science beautifully and the sociology works nicely with statistical ability and enriches essay writing. Sociology and biology are happy bedfellows and may lead to degrees in archaeology or anthropology, for example.

French is also great.

All A Levels are harder than GCSEs!

It is true btw that you don't need sociology to do it at degree level, as not all schools offer it. It would be great to do it, though as she would then know how much she liked it before uni level. It's a fascinating subject.

If you look at a Which University and put in a subject, it tells you where it is done, and the typical A Levels of the entrants to the degree. For sociology, it often says English, history, sociology but many will have a wide and eclectic range. One uni cited maths A Level as a common profile on entry.

Thanks piggy. I agree it's a fascinating subject. Pretty sure I'd have chosen it or Psychology if it had been in offer at my school.

She was all set to choose maths, biol and socio, but then went on a French exchange and came back saying she wanted to do French as well

DD is looking to do her EPQ on something French, one of the topics she would have studied at A level. Maybe French films by a particular director or something cultural like strikes or modern society. She is still going to attend a language school in the summer, will watch French Films at home and the Institute and may take a gap year and spend time in France then. She wants the language skills but not the drawback of studying for a A level she can't get the top grade for. The school advises pupils to do the EPQ in something to write about in the personal statement but I don't think it will harm her to have focused on a language particularly as she has no idea what she wants to study.

I hate what our education system has done to language A levels and I can't believe that nothing has been done to encourage participation.

If they would rethink one recent ed policy, I'd like the government (whoever they might be!!) to rethink the decoupling of AS. This has led to most students taking three subjects only : and has had a direct impact on oft chosen fourth subjects . This includes, commonly, subjects like languages, English , drama , music and the subjects perceived as 'soft'. All of which can be wonderful complements to any A Level suite of subjects.

Just seen this that someone posted. Let's hope they extend it to A Level
www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-50293286

Yes, she'd have been able to do all 4 then and had longer to choose. If I've understood correctly

ASs were after my time, so I'm not au fait with them

She can do a biology degree without Chemistry - it'll rule out a few (E.g. York), but plenty are still happy to take Biologists without Chem A level (E.g. Durham).

If she's interested in a degree with a year in France, French would help.... Otherwise I can't see Sociology limiting her options at all.

Thank you

@cakeisalwaystheanswer

Just to update you on the native speaker thing - the government published a statement today about compatibility across the different MFL subjects but they also mention the disproportionate grading of native speakers at A Level. It is going to be addressed. They don't say how yet, but thankfully it will be.

OP- I am an MFL teacher. Obviously I would always advocate learning a language because it's brilliant! It's enlightening, fascinating, and opens so many doors. But at A level it is heavy. Students MUST read around the subject in the their own time. They need to read news websites, listen to podcasts, watch topical videos etc in order to expose themselves to as much of the language as possible. This has to be self-driven and independent although obviously her teachers would guide her in the right direction.

With regards to essays, they aren't as long as ones in other subjects, but don't forget to account for thinking time. This can mean they actually taking longer to produce a much shorter piece of writing.

Good point Piggy.

At DD's school they start 4 subjects and have 5 hours study for each subject per week until Autumn half term. After barely 6 weeks they are expected to know which subject to drop and will continue with only 3. They have the option to continue studying 4 but as the teaching hours increase to 6 hours per subject per week plus 2 for EPQ and a a few for "enrichment" stuff and games, continuing with 4 means no free periods at all. DS1 was the first year to sit the changed system and he still had to keep 4 for all of lower 6th. If he had been asked he would have dropped French at this point but he completely changed his mind by the end of the year.

The new system just seems to have made 6th form education narrower.