A levels: Maths, Economics and....

[Goingdooolally]

Which third one?

He doesn’t like French or English. Is quite good at Chemistry but doesn’t like Physics or Biology. He likes History but doesn’t enjoy essay writing. Maybe Geography but he doesn’t seem that fussed.

Maths and Chemistry are his strongest subjects (targeting grade 8s) although he is doing Trilogy Science.

What do others do? He’s not sure what he wants to study but I’d say he might suit something Business/Economics/Maths related as he’s interested in the business field/how economies work.

Thanks!

@Oneliner

Maths, further maths and chemistry. A-level economics is BS.

BS = bull shit or Business Studies? Wrong on both accounts obviously

[quote Iamsodone]@NotDonna My DC needs to choose 4 subjects to start with.
they are also encouraged to try an EPQ
They can indeed drop the 4th subject at certain points in time (but not at anytime). They do not get to sit the equivalent AS, but I know that the fact they have studied that 4th subject will be included positively in the school reference. I like the idea of doing an As with that 4th subject but the school doesn’t ![/quote]
That's the same for my DC too.

For those not keen on A level maths do your school offer Core Maths? It’s a one year course (A/S level) that’s very useful for those taking sciences or humanities where that additional maths would be useful.

This is all really helpful thank you! He’s refusing to talk about it so I’ll leave it for now and just information gather myself.

He is really into History but is determined he won’t do it due to the essay content! Geography may be a possibility. I think it will be Maths, Economics and then either Geography/Chemistry or History. He’s got a trading account on 221 and I’ve suggested I give him some to start with and he can invest/trade a bit (not much!) it may spark a bit of interest as he’s gone full on teenage in his bed on YouTube!

He says he’s “good at learning to do maths” but finds the problem solving harder. I think he put off with words. He should get an 8 in Maths and I know he was sitting pre Christmas on 7s in History, Chemistry and geography. I think he got a 2 in Biology though 😱

Oh and he can start with 4 and drop one at half term which is good.

I work with a lot of economists, and computer science might be a good one. Lots of economics jobs torn out to need to build computer models, very little pencil and paper maths.

@Goingdooolally

This is all really helpful thank you! He’s refusing to talk about it so I’ll leave it for now and just information gather myself.

He is really into History but is determined he won’t do it due to the essay content! Geography may be a possibility. I think it will be Maths, Economics and then either Geography/Chemistry or History. He’s got a trading account on 221 and I’ve suggested I give him some to start with and he can invest/trade a bit (not much!) it may spark a bit of interest as he’s gone full on teenage in his bed on YouTube!

He says he’s “good at learning to do maths” but finds the problem solving harder. I think he put off with words. He should get an 8 in Maths and I know he was sitting pre Christmas on 7s in History, Chemistry and geography. I think he got a 2 in Biology though 😱

Sounds like a plan. A bit of research & send him links. No point in trying to converse if he’s not in the mood. He’ll come round.

Computer science is a great idea if the school offers it - not a given at A-level.

Not CS, he’s not done the GCSE.

@Kolo

I did maths, economics and French - French because it would help me with work in the EU 😞.

FM is good, or physics compliments maths well. I'd advise any young person to study what they enjoy, though. They're more likely to do well.

Snap! What did you go on to do afterwards?

When I was at school maths and economics was a popular combination. The third subject for some was biology, but one person wanted to do it with chemistry.

The chemistry teaching was awful so they had the sensible idea of doing chemistry at the local further education college and maths and economics at school.

I did maths, economics and biology. Later I did law. However, I wished I had done maths, chemistry and biology as science would have been a stronger option at uni.

@Goingdooolally would there be support in place if he were to choose history? DS has auditory and visual processing disorder (similar profile to dyslexia in many respects), but has a grand passion for history.

He’s looking at economics/ classical civilisation (undecided on this), government and politics and history with an EPQ in an obscure part of Chinese or Russian geopolitical history.

His (state) secondary are already suggesting ways in which he can be supported through this essay-heavy workload. He has a subscription to History Hit for example which covers a lot of the curriculum through film and documentary, which he finds easier to watch and study from.

Just a thought, as the idea of being able to move on to studying the things he’s really interested in is what is getting DS through his school work at this point in time.

@QueenofLouisiana that’s really interesting thank you. Yes he already gets extra time, electronic reader/pen and coloured paper. I will look into History Hit - sounds very interesting. He definitely prefers audio books and avoids reading wherever possible!

There are loads of terrific video resources for Economics too. It is certainly possible to study it effectively that way.

There is no requirement to have done gcse computing to study A level, the course stars from scratch. If you search for stem key stage 5 online lessons you can find some example lessons.

My son did Economics and History A levels. There are just as many essays in economics as history. He might like georgraphy as there are less essays and more short answer questions and there is crossover between humand geography and economics.

I did Economics, Eng Lit and French and studied Economics at a Russell Group. My lack of Maths A Level made my first year at Uni in particular VERY difficult, and I elected to do fewer of the maths-y options, and more of the wordy options, ending up with a BA rather than the BSc my pure Economics friends had.

DH did Maths, FM, Economics & Physics.

DD is probably doing Maths, Economics and Classical Civilisation (!).

So I think Maths and Economics definitely go well together, wouldn't do BS, that's just too similar. May as well go for the breadth of knowledge when only studying 3 subjects. I think choose a third that he really enjoys.

I did Maths and Economics, my 3rd a-level was Spanish, but I really enjoyed languages. Don’t do Business Studies, it not good to do with economics.

I’d suggest either politics or a science if he likes that. Would have suggested History or Geography, but it sounds like that’s not for him

I went on to do Economics at Uni, then worked in the City and now work in retail banking

We had a similar discussion when my DD was looking at her A levels. If you look at degree entry requirements for subjects your DS may want to do then that may help him decide. If he wants to do science then physics and chemistry together with maths gives the most options. If business studies, many universities like more essay based subjects like geography. If his love is economics then maths is the most important subject (more then economics) and geography seems a good overlap.

I had a combination of Economics Accounting and Maths and that got me into top university