Good Alevels?

[namechangenumber2]

Hi!

DS1 is taking his GCSE's this summer but has absolutely no idea what he wants to do post A Levels.

He's predicted 6-8 in all subjects ( all teachers expecting him to get a 7) so could fairly well pick whatever A level he fancies.

He particularly loves Geography and PE and is a very good Mathematician.

He's currently applied to do Maths, further maths, Geography and Physics at college.

Do these sound good for going on to uni with? I'm sure I read somewhere once that there are certain subjects that are deemed to be seen as a good choice by universities?

Thanks

Those A levels are fine. If he looks at some random university courses, he will find that loads do not specify subjects needed at A level, only grades.

e.g. DS2 is looking at a degree for which no university requires either subject named in its title (History of Art); the only stipulation (and then only made by a couple of universities) being that an 'essay' subject should have been taken at A level

Russell Group have done away with facilitator subjects ('certain subjects deemed to be seen as a good choice') but Maths, Physics and Geography were all on the old and incredibly limiting list - hence scrapping it - and I'm sure you know that they are all good subjects.

This is the old list:

Biology
Chemistry
English
Geography
History
Maths
Modern and Classical languages
Physics

That’s a good selection. Looking forward he might like to think about what people can go on to do with geography or geology degrees?

E.g: www.prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/what-can-i-do-with-my-degree/geology

If he does the subjects he is good at and enjoys, they are more likely to lead to a degree and a career he enjoys too.

With those subjects, what is he ruling out?

• medicine (I think as no Chemistry?)
• MFL (as no MFLs!)
• History probably

but probably not a lot else?

Geography has a foot in each camp so degrees needing a 'humanity' he'd probably be OK for?

Suggest he has a quick look at requirements for a range of degrees and check nothing jumps out as interesting that he'd be ruling out.

I'm an engineer so maths, further maths and physics would be a logical combination for A level. Would 4 A levels not be too much?

Dd is in a similar position except she’s predicted all 7-9’s, school are not being very helpful, at first they offered her 4 A-levels but now they are saying it’s best to take 3 and get 3 good passes rather than push herself doing 4 and get 4 ok passes. She’s being told she should be looking at oxford or Cambridge so will need 2 A’s and a A* to get into the course she wants. So now she’s worried that she may have picked the wrong A levels, she needs maths to get into a uni but it’s not her strongest subject so she will struggle to get a A in A level meaning Oxford will be out of the question. I think she will just go for her original choices (English language, maths and computer science) and not get her hopes up about getting into a top uni.

I think if your DS is unsure what he wants to do at UNI he would be best taking core subjects, maths is always a good one to have as are the sciences. Dd wanted to take History as a 4th but that’s now been ruled out.

Also note that maths and physics are not 'easy' A levels. My aunt is a maths teacher and recommends students have atleast an A at Maths GCSE to consider Maths A level. (So a grade 7 as a min)

Great thanks for all your replies!

@mimbleandlittlemy - that's the list I was thinking of! Thanks! Didn't realise it had been scrapped though

@LarkDescending - thanks for that link!

@Raspberry123 - yes 4 is a lot, I think he'll end up dropping the further maths, however college recommended he applied for it as if he wanted to go on to do Maths at degree level then it's a good idea? We were also told if he does further maths he has to do a fourth a level.
I saw your comment about Maths and Physics being hard, I'm a bit worried about the physics A level. It's always been his favoured science, but Biology is his strongest

Doing FM with a 7 will likely be a struggle. Check with the school about the structure of FM. Are they doing it in parallel with single Maths or not?

Sorry @GHGN I should have been clearer, he's predicted an 8 in Maths and 6-7 in all others, with teachers saying he should be aiming for 7's.

The college only accept a minimum of an 8 to get into FM, DS is unlikely to do it though as he's planning on not doing Maths at degree level. We just thought it was best he applied to do it then not take it, than try and apply later on

Many years ago I got an A for my GCSE maths (pre invention of the A) but was deemed not strong enough for further maths, just maths. I got a B in A level (pre-A days). To do Further Maths you do need to be really strong at maths.

DS is also thinking of taking physics, maths and geography (no FM).

We've been told there is a fair bit of overlap between physics and maths, so actually it might come in as less work than 2 unrelated subjects iyswim?

We went through the same thought process of "what is he ruling out" and it was basically Teen's list. That combination is fine to continue to study physics or geography or geology or engineering or ... (DS possibly interested in computer science which would also be a possibility).

Maths, further maths and physics. He won't need more than that for anything at uni. Drop geography, it's for thick people.

Lovemusic, I don't want to be discouraging but A A A often isn't enough for Oxford or Cambridge anyway. They just have too many good candidates to choose from (and some of DD's friends predicted three A have been turned down).

Maths, further maths and physics. He won't need more than that for anything at uni. Drop geography, it's for thick people.

Funny.

OP - please ignore this.

People who say geography is for thick people are thick

My son loved maths and got an a at GCSE. He found further maths really hard. As your son loves PE, would maths, physics and biology be better? He could study physiotherapy, or sports science at uni.

Maths, further maths and physics. He won't need more than that for anything at uni. Drop geography, it's for thick people.

Hopefully that was meant to be a joke?

FWIW that's exactly what DD did, because she knew for certain that she wanted to do engineering and was good at maths (old GCSEs maths A* and gcse FM A^ but I don't think would describe herself as a 'good mathematician'!). Those three alone are fine for maths, physics, comp sci or engineering except chem eng, but other subjects are likely to have some other requirements - chemistry for some things, a humanity for others.

Ive a young relative who did maths, physics and geography, did geography at Cambridge with a heavy slant towards physical, has a PhD and now does extremely interesting research. Thick she isn't.

@MrsGolightyly - I feel he should be looking at biology too , based on his current grades it's his top science and I can see him being interested in doing something like physiotherapy - he's doing really well in his PE GCSE.

He really just doesn't know what he wants to do. He's picked subjects based on his favourites and the ones he feels he should do due to his ability. So he's always thought he'd do Maths, and because he's good at that he'd then do physics. However, this year he's had a wobble in Maths - fortunately has turned that around- and his mocks are certainly making physics sound like an OK choice but not an great choice IYSWIM? Geography - he has a passion for that, always has, so that felt a natural choice for him.

School have been rubbish in regards to careers advice, I've tried looking for private CA but can't find anything? So just feels like he has to make a choice and hope it's the right one..

I just feel so bloody anxious about it all ..

What about Maths Geog PE FM then?

When I did them A levels were a significant step up from gcses so to do well at a level you need to enjoy it and / or have a bit of a flair for it. I did maths, physics and chemistry at school. There is some overlap between maths and physics but I still found them hard enough and couldn't have done a 4th. 2 years later I did economics at night school in 1 year and I would say that was significantly easier . This doesn't sit well with DH as economics as its one of his 3 a levels .

Those A levels sound fine. However, if he is unsure, would the college allow him to change his mind later?

Dd chose to start with 4, one of which is FM. Her reasoning being that it would be a lot easier to drop one if she found it too much than to start another if she wanted to do a different one once A levels had started.

Do the college do EPQs? Not all do, but this could be another factor to consider.

Ds is doing FM, Maths, Physics and Computer science at A level, he got 9s in Maths, Combined Science and Computer Science at GCSE last year.

You have to love maths to do maths and Further Maths because 50% of your time table will be maths. Physics massively overlaps with maths.

Usually for Oxbridge it is A A A for A levels, it isn't about being good enough to get it they are massively over-subscibed for obvious reasons so they cannot take everyone. They had 21,500 students apply for 3,300 undergrad places. Simple maths.

It is best to try to take A levels you love as there isn't the variety of subjects on a day to day basis like in year 11. Plus you are looking to just ace them, a 4th A level isn't usually recommended unless it is Further Maths purely because universities offer on 3 A level results. There may be an occasional 4 but I have only ever heard of that on here.

Further maths, I believe, is pretty much always taken alongside Maths. Although unis don't require it they would like you to have it for maths based subjects. The best thing to look at is what universities are asking for based on possible subjects he may want to do. So for Ds1 he wants to do computer science. Most unis want a Maths A level not computer science.

There may be an occasional 4 but I have only ever heard of that on here.

Nowhere requires 4 A levels. One or two places (the only one I know of for sure is Cambridge) will make the offer based on 4 grades if 4 are taken.
It's worth starting with 4 to increase the chances of ending up doing the best 3 for what you want to do at uni. (And just to learn more while you've got the opportunity!)

If the OPs lad currently doesn't know what he wants to do and is looking at mostly grade 7, discussion of oxbridge is probably irrelevant except as a sort of 'upper bound' - if they don't require something then chances are it doesn't matter iyswim. And if his subjects would get him on a course there then they probably will at most other decent unis.

If I was the OP (or better, her DS) I'd check the requirements for a few subjects he might want to take at the sort of unis he might realistically want to go to. Just google eg 'requirements '.