Anyone with experience of politics A level?

[BlackRedGold]

Dd is thinking of politics A level for next year.

Original plan was a Cambridge Tech certificate in Media, plus history and French A levels, or leaving current school for History, French and Classic civilisation at 6th form college.

Dd now doesn’t want to do media for a couple of reasons - inspiring head of dept is leaving, plus she was looking at admissions info for Cambridge uni and they advise against technical quals and media. (Not sure if she will end up applying there in any case, but it just made her more certain that she didn’t want to do media).

She is thinking of politics partly because she didn’t particularly like the other subjects she did 6th form taster day for - Eng lit and sociology.

Politics seems like it fits well with French and history.

But was hoping for experiences to help decide if it is right choice.

Dd has good memory for facts and analysis and is a good problem solver, but is no mathematician. She doesn’t know much about politics currently.

Does it sound like a good fit? Is it an interesting course? (I think it is British and American politics they study).

I did politics and history A levels (many years ago) I did the UK/US course and found it very interesting. If the history course is not ancient or medieval the two subjects are quite complementary, either way, essay writing skills from history are very transferable to politics.

Yes Politics is a good fit with History and at most schools is taught by History teachers. It suits good essay writers who are prepared to think and learn material. Those who come in believing it's all about debating and being examined with short answer questions are put right quickly! No maths is needed beyond very, very simple interpreting the odd graph or poll. Some students are political animals, but it is also perfectly possible to come in with limited knowledge and learn along the way. Best to keep abreast of the news once you are doing it though as it is helpful to have current examples to hand.

DS took A level politics a couple of years ago and achieved an A he found it very easy.

I did it aeons ago. What jumps out at me here is that you say she doesn’t currently know much about politics. Is she interested in it? It’s a good fit with her other potential subjects but I suspect she’d find it both easier and more interesting if she already took an interest in politics.

DS took A level politics, economics history and maths. Joint honours degree political science and economics. Now works in Westminster. He is very much a news hound and a fact person.
In my day Oxford wouldn't accept media or business studies at A level. Not sure what they agree now. The best advice is study what you love. Your DD has at least forty years of work ahead!

I have a DC who gave Politics A level (AQA) serious consideration but ultimately chose another subject instead.

I bought them one of the relevant study guides and suggested they look at some past papers to get a sense of 'I can imagine myself studying this and answering exam questions like these'.

Although they chose another subject, they thought it looked interesting. Some observations they made were:

A lot of it is about constitutional arrangements in UK and US; you are either going to find that fascinating or rather dry (they were actually drawn to that).

The AQA exams are very essay heavy; again, that aspect is very binary; you are going to embrace that or run a mile.

At DC's comp sixth form, Politics is taught by the History teachers who take it in turns to teach it as they find it so interesting and nice mix with the History.

My ds doing politics history and maths. His favourite is politics but he is very into politics anyway. He finds history much harder as more tick boxy. I don't think maths really features. Politics is his passion though. He likes history generally but he is struggling with the course structure and wishes he had chosen geography!

Thanks everyone that took the time to post, lots of insight and lots to think about.

Somebody asked if she was already interested in politics. Not sure. She has certainly been interested in political events as part of learning history - she’d happily discuss JFK and Kryuschev or Margaret Thatcher, or maybe even Donald Trump.

But she is not glued to the TV when the election results are coming in or anything. And she isn’t a campaigner, I don’t feel there are really political causes she feels massively strongly about. I know some teens are passionate about a cause, she isn’t.
She has a reasonable awareness of current affairs, but I don’t know what her answer would be about which political party she would vote for, for example.

I think it’sa good idea to try and have a close look at the syllabus.

@BlackRedGold My DD did A level Politics. She didn’t have any causes either. In fact it can make you blinkered! The A level is not a debating society. It’s more fact and evidence driven. You learn the structures of politics. DD found it less interesting than she thought. She did submit a politics essay to Oxford for MFL and got an offer. She has political opinions and knowledge but never was a campaigning teen. Thank God!

Did it many many many years ago. It’s quite a lot like history, lots of facts.

What does she want to do a university?

I did if a hundred years ago, but I really enjoyed it. I also did UK and American systems, it was interesting then - would be absolutely bloody fascinating now. I also did history and I think politics was a lot less dense in terms of reading.

She should check the syllabus and meet the teacher, but she has a decent interest in current affairs she’s quite likely to enjoy it and have her interest enhanced. You don’t need to be a politics geek.

BTW I work in the media and I think it’s generally better to stay away from media courses unless you are aiming for a technical career and it’s that kind of course.

My d sis did 'Government and Politics' back in the day.
She was most offended when my dc was studying the exact same time period (unrest in the 70s leading to Margaret Thatcher coming into power) for their History A-level

So I think there is a definite cross over between Politics and History.

At the moment she wants to do French at university, possibly joint honours with history, or possibly just modern languages, picking up another language.

Hmm, I’m thinking politics could well be a good choice, I can see how it reinforces understanding of history and vice versa.

It's a good combo.

Politics A level is quite dry imo.

My ds is starting his A Levels in September, History, Politics and Film. He's hoping to do History and Politics joint honours at uni taking some of the optional modules from film. Some of the politics content at the sixth form he's going to is taught by the history tutor and vice versa. He's very interested in politics and his favourite parts of studying history for GCSE have been the political elements (Cold War etc.) so I'm hoping he'll enjoy it and the two courses will complement each other

DD is starting History, Politics and English Language for A-Level in September.
Her college said that these subjects work well together and hopefully she'll enjoy them.
She's not sure what she wants to do beyond that but she loves History so I can imagine her probably doing some sort of History degree.

DD did French, Politics and English Literature A levels. She was involved in our local Youth Council from before choosing A level subjects, but I'm not sure how much of an influence that was - iirc, she initially considered Sociology rather than Politics. She is about to graduate with a BA in International Relations with French.

Sounds like it is a well-trodden path!

Best of luck to all those taking politics.

Dd will try and get a meeting with one of the politics teachers after half term and go from there.

I did A level politics many years ago, for something to do on a weekday evening. I was always very interested in news & current affairs, listened to R4 even as a teenager, always read the Guardian & Sunday Times, read political biographies etc etc. I was also a Labour activist for a period so I found it very interesting.
It was pretty straightforward compared to the A levels I did at school (Physics, Chemistry & Biology), probably because I was already a politics geek. In some respects, I knew more than the teacher and was able to give a different perspective from my experience of campaigning in a key bellweather marginal seat in the 1992 & 97 general elections.
As for Oxbridge & RG Unis, as far as I’m aware they weren’t keen on politics A level and preferred applicants to offer more traditional academic subjects. Don’t know if that has changed.

Cambridge produce a very useful pdf called Subject Matters which is clear that Politics A level is regarded by them as a suitably rigorous A level. Crucially, it also places that in a wider context of how different A level choices can work together.