Third A-level

[berrymerry]

DD is choosing A-levels now. She wants to do History, maybe English Literature and then a third which is not so essay heavy. We were thinking maybe Computer Science, she's predicted a 6 or 7 at GCSE but not confident at all. She doesn't think she'd be able to get that high on the gcse, let alone a good grade on the a level. She isn't amazing enough at maths so that wouldn't be an option, but doesn't want to do all essay based. Advice?

[Ginfordinner]

DD did geography A level last year, and it is essay heavy, as is psychology.

[cantkeepawayforever]

DS - has ended up doing music, but still a history geek - did Politics as his 3rd A level and loved its overlap with history.

[DrDreReturns]

I'd go for a language. Very useful for examining a non English historical source (as long as it's the language you studied of course!)

[boys3]

DS1 and DS2 both did / doing history at Uni - history and eng lit for both then geography and, for one, classical civilisation. I suppose the question might be what is the broader "essay based" concern, as someone rightly pointed out up thread lot of hard work needed in the non essay subjects. Playing to your strengths does have its advantages.

[BackInTime]

Philosophy, Politics, Economics?

[PostNotInHaste]

If she is thinking can I suggest she sees if she can borrow the text book from someone to have a look at. I’ve known a few DC take it at A level, not really know what to expect and have found it wasn’t at all what they expected so well worth researching it well before hand.

[Abetes]

What about a language? Different to History and English, always a useful life skill, well regarded and not essay based in the same way as the other two.

[Comefromaway]

It's difficult to say without knowing exactly what subjects are on offer to her. I think that Computer Science is a hard subject to do and really to get the best chance of getting into a good university (as xenia said history is a competitive subject) then she needs to think about what will gain her the best grades.

Economics or psychology are worth thinking about if they are on offer or maybe Business Studies

[Xenia]

If she wants to read history at university as said and wants a non essay 3rd A level I suggest one of economics, music, geography (or a language if she is up to that). Maths is riskier and she does not want to do it. if you are very gooda t it you might well get A* but if you are not Ds are quite common so my children's school said only pick it if maths was really your thing.

Also she wants to read history. That is a very popular subject. If her gola is a high paid career then the status of the university (how hard it is to get into ) can determine that to an extent so she might want to consider if one of the other A levels she does could be easier to get into the best universities with or a non A level subject.

[badgermushrooms]

I think comp sci and maths might be very useful with history, actually. For most historical periods you're working with a very limited set of sources, and they're the same sources everyone else has and has had for decades, so the cutting edge work is in finding new ways to interpret them - like statistical analysis. I did medieval history to postgraduate level and spent a lot of time wishing I had the knowledge to construct a really good database to work from.

[daisypond]

What subjects are on offer at A level? There’s often several that might not be offered at GCSE. One of mine picked all-new subjects at A level.

[wellmadecake]

@Piggywaspushed I think OP should stick with essay based if that's what she's good at, but subjects like Comp sci and maths would give a break from the long writing aspects and utilize a different part of the brain. So in that area technically it will give her a bit of a break, that is of course if she is good at the maths/comp sci

[Piggywaspushed]

Of course maths is always useful , but I cannot see its use to history or Eng Lit. Comp Sci likewise is left field!

Just because something isn't essay based does not mean it isn't hard or intense in some other way. if she is doing Eng and history she must be good at reading and writing essays, so she should go with her strengths.

[IamHyouweegobshite]

My ds doesn't really have much of an idea of what he'd like to do for a degree or career, but he knows what he definitely wouldn't want to do (quite a few things) . He came home yesterday, he wants to choose maths (predicted 7/8), psychology and he is now thinking art, but hasn't taken it as a gcse, not sure if he'd be able to.

[PotteringAlong]

Sociology? What’s her objection to RS? It would go well with her other a-levels and very useful ultimately for history.

[Fifthtimelucky]

Does the school/college offer history of art? That would go well with history and English too.

[crazycrofter]

I’m not massively familiar with psychology as dd hasn’t started it yet but at open days we were told the exams contain a mixture of multiple choice, short answer and some longer essays (but not that long compared to history).

I think it helps with the statistics element to be decent at maths but it’s not advanced stuff. Maybe have a look at some papers on the exam board websites? It sounds interesting anyway!

[Fifthtimelucky]

Psychology is not essay based. One of my daughters did it. The maths content is mainly statistics.

[Xenia]

My twins who are at Bristol both did History and geography. Geography might be a good one if economics is not for her. Classical civilisation ( essay heavy however) has been done by some of mine too as an A level. It goes well with history particularly if she might read ancient history at university - English history and classical civilisation was the combiation of one of mine - mine all did 4 AS levels and then 3 A levels.

So for non essay heavy I think economics or geography (music may be? One of mine did that one)

[wellmadecake]

DS1 did A-Level Classical civilisation, History and Computer Science. He got an 8 at GCSE and for the A level knew people who didn't even take it. The highest grade those got was a B. He said having done it before really helped.

[SpringFan]

DS2 did History at Uni - he wouldn't say Maths would have been much use to him . He did a Psychology option in 1st year and found it interesting and quite useful, so A Level might be worth it.
He toyed with A Level Classical Civilisation but it is essay heavy.

[SpringFan]

DS2 did History, English lit and Biology, and AS Politics. (School offered AS Politics as a subject for added breadth).
DS1 did History, Biology and Geography with AS Economics.(Decided not to continue to A2)

[berrymerry]

@clary She wouldn't do drama, biology was an option we discussed so may do that. Someone mentioned Physchology do DD is having a look at that.

[berrymerry]

@crazycrofter what does Physchology involve, she hadn't considered it before but we'd had a look and wanted to know how much maths and science there is in the course.

[clary]

Are there any subjects you can start at A level on offer? My DCs school does gov/pol psychology (tho that needs good maths) sociology - all essay heavy tho I guess.

Drama? Biology is a popular choice too.