English language or physics A level last minute dithering. Help needed.

[Tiggerdig]

Obviously GCSE results tomorrow might be unexpected but fingers crossed.

There is no subject ds loves despite being academically very bright.
He had settled on maths, further maths, chemistry and physics. Tonight he says he might swap physics for English language as It sounds more interesting.
Obviously physics goes better and is the more obvious choice but then perhaps English would show a greater range of ability? Or in theory I guess he could do both and drop further maths.
What do I you think? He has no idea what he wants to do at university.

Those are very different subjects! What does he think he wants to do after A levels as this might help direct him.

I was a long time ago but switched from French German English and Geography to Maths, French and Physics.

What degrees is he considering? I was aiming for law so free choice basically.

Is English Language still less valued than English Literature? It used to be for no logical reason.

Physics will be easier as a 4th A-level than a completely separate subject - there's a decent amount of overlap.

English is likely to be tough for workload and far less predictable for results - as essay subjects are much more subjective.

It depends on his plans for afterwards I guess. Maths, fmaths and chemistry will be a good combination for many degrees. Yes there is overlap with physics but something like English will give him a different perspective and develop other skills like writing. If he's keen then maybe he should do that. I don't think either choice is a bad one.

It's been about a decade since I did English language, but my thoughts are:

• essay subjects require a particular writing style, and the ability to - well - write an essay. If he's largely doing more practical subjects, and subjects with a right or wrong answer this may be difficult to adjust to.
• english language was interesting and didn't really have any required reading or memorisation (other than a few quotes from linguistic theorists to pepper into essays). If taking heavier subjects, it might prove some light relief.
• his other courses lead towards sciency/maths/stem degrees or careers. Having English language might give him a bit more to fall back on if he decides that isn't the route he wants to take

One of our best students this year did Maths, F Maths, Physics and English Literature. She got A A A A, with one of the A*s in Literature. I don’t think he’ll go far wrong by studying a subject that sounds interesting to him alongside his maths, F. maths and Chemistry.

My son did Maths, Physics and History. Will be studying History at university.

DS did this last - kept the Maths A Levels and Physics in his case, then took a completely unconnected fourth instead of Chemistry. He hasn't regretted it at all and has really enjoyed having something so very different to do in his studying. I don't think it will make any difference to his uni applications.

He needs to be sure that he's unlikely to want to do engineering if he drops the physics. Or physics, obviously... while maybe the A level syllabus is a bit dry, that's because it's such an awesome subject you're still at an early stage at school (I'm a chemist not a physicist btw).

If really he's got no idea of what he wants to at uni (and beyond) it might be a good idea for him to browse some uni websites for subjects he might possibly want to do and check out their A level requirements. It's obviously a shame there's no open days but there's an abundance of 'virtual open days' to look at.

Thanks all. He claims to have no clue about university but I would imagine maybe something maths based. In my head physics seems to kind of join maths and chemistry together. He has got 9s in them all at GCSE so that doesn’t help narrow it down.
I wonder if he should drop further maths and do an epq to keep the writing side going. I started off doing biology chemistry and physics a level then swapped the physics to maths which personally I found much easier. This was a very long time ago though!

Check carefully what English Language A level involves - it's very different to GCSE English Language if that helps.
It's also not regarded as particularly academic.

I think he should think through what options he might be closing down by dropping Physics, but unless that gives serious pause for thought he should go for what interests him. It can be good to have a bit of a contrast I think?

Why English lang and not lit? Top Unis would require Lit or Lang&Lit to study English and it is generally more highly thought of (though that might not matter if more likely to pursue Maths)

I too Maths, FM, Physics and Chemistry. For about 3 days. It was dull. I missed English. Switched to Maths, FM, English and Economics (random gap filler). Thought I would do Maths at Uni but made last minute swerve to PPE. Became an Economist.

I think it is OK to follow your instinct, with a just a little bit of moderation.

Has he thought about economics? Still a fair bit of thought / writing skills required and the opportunity for classroom debate. Ds has decided to swap out physics for this option. (Same subjects)
(Will probably do maths at uni.)

There is a lot of crossover between maths/mechanics and physics/mechanics. Much easier to do well in either if you do both, IMO. I couldn’t persuade my DS3 of that, though, and he did maths, FM, chemistry and computer science in Y12 and dropped chemistry in Y13.

So, basically, if he want to do maths at uni, and the school offers FM, he should take maths and FM, probably physics and then something else he enjoys.

Keep physics. But I am a physics teacher so a bit biased!

It is an interesting A level in its own right but also a great gateway subject. If he doesn’t know what he wants to do next then physics keeps a lot of doors open.

Eng Lang is basically linguistics and language acquisition stuff, it’s so so so different from GCSE. Physics is gold plated.

English language goes surprisingly well with maths. We had a student this year with A* in maths, chemistry, Lang and physics, and although it's not considered a "facilitating" A level, it's never done any of my students any harm at all!!
But it's not at all (thankfully) like GCSE.

Physics! Simply because the country needs more physicists.

.... And if he doesn't know what he wants to do, he can be a physics teacher until he decides.

The country needs more physics teachers!

I know of two DCs who had similar dilemmas although were able to do 5 A levels (at the time of A level transition). One did Maths, FM, Chemistry, Physics and writing subject. Physics changed from the afterthought to firm favourite with maths and has remained so. The other DC did similar but ended up doing English at Oxbridge. Both DCs got 5 top A level grades but would not have assumed equal ability as well as interest in all their A level subjects at degree level. Tell your DS not to judge subjects simply from GCSE content and teachers.

Philosophy links up English, maths and physics and can be a combined with either maths or physics as a degree. Economics, as mentioned by PPs, another possible subject for somebody drawn to both writing and maths but he has I guess already excluded this.
I am going to bet that he will stick to his original choices .

Check carefully what English Language A level involves - it's very different to GCSE English Language if that helps.

Yes - I'm assuming he's researched the content of the A Level and is interested based on that. GCSE will have given him no flavour of the sort of work he'll be doing at all - they really have nothing in common.

Why don't you just ask him OP what he wants to do?

Why English lang and not lit?

It is a lot easier to engage in arts subjects outside of formal study than it is with STEM.

I did arts/language Alevels and read anarts subject at university. I suggest physics!

It is a lot easier to engage in arts subjects outside of formal study than it is with STEM.

Yes, I think that's a very good point.
It's one of the reasons why there are more absolute subject requirements for STEM subjects - they need to be able to start the course from a position where everyone already has the groundwork in place.