A'Levels Geography, Physics and.......Politics?

[everythingisgoingup]

Hi everyone

I started a thread a while back as son thinking of A'Levels, in particular Geography, Physics and Economics.

He was dissuaded from taking Economics but cannot be encouraged to take Maths (although capable, according to teacher).

He is now considering politics as the third subject.

Opinions please? Or other suggestions?

Thanks 😊

Why was he dissuaded from economics?

What does he like? What is he good at?

(My ds is currently taking geography, economics and chemistry).

It was suggested he should take maths over economics as people suggested Uni options.

Physics without maths won’t be easy!

He is good at maths but does not want to do it for A ' Level.

Politics fits with Human Geography and might give him a unique insight into the geopolitical aspect if he makes cross-curricular links.

Oh and physics is good if he's looking to do geophysics at uni (which is sort of the intersection between geography, physics, and often archaeology as it's used a lot to detect sites).

It really depends on what he wants to do long term.

Does he know what he'd like to study at uni, or for an apprenticeship? That's a good balanced combination for something like environmental science, geography, geophysics, urban planning, meteorology, or.politics/political.science.

He us really not sure, which is why we have struggled.

He liked Chemistry back last summer but has gone off of it following a change of teacher.

Wanted to keep options open for Uni's

My DD is in Y12 and took Politics very hesitantly along with Eng Lit and Psych. However to our surprise, she's loved it and studies it the most. She's planning to pursue it more seriously in Uni now. So I guess you never know.,,

DS loved politics A level (along with history and to a lesser degree English) and is now enjoying a history and politics degree.

Thanks, DD is studying politics at Uni, I guess I was wondering if it is a good mix with physics and geography for DS

Or if another option may be better 😀

Dd loved politics and is now doing a politics degree (in her final year)

DH is a physics teacher and says that the mathematicians are actually some of his worst students for A-level, because they think they can just do maths all the way through every aspect of the physics A-level, and physics has got so much depth and requires so much understanding of how and why things work that isn't so maths-based these days, most of his students fall down on the conceptual stuff and the long answers. Apparently he used to recommend maths for physics but doesn't anymore (but doesn't discourage it either).

Is geology an option OP? Geography and geology go nicely together and would still enable him to do a science A-level. Really though, he's better studying things he's engaged with and can enjoy spending time working on than subjects that look better as a combination on paper, as long as it gets him to where he wants to go next (degree, apprenticeship etc). He'll have more attention for them that way.

Our school won’t let you do physics without maths, it’s non negotiable

My DS is doing geography for one of his four A-levels. His (very academic) sixth form doesn’t allow people to do physics without maths - it’s the one ‘rule’ about choices they have, so I would think carefully.

DS ended up doing maths but not physics and physics remains ‘the one that got away’ for him - but he says the mechanics element of maths A-level almost makes up for it.

Thanks for replies, I am interested to hear what people think of the combination, not particularly if politics is a good subject, if that makes sense 😉

I think he would not get far without maths for physics/engineering/geophysical degrees.
Geology usually requires chemistry A level.

Unless he wants to do geography or politics as degree subjects he may be limited with that combo, unless he's interested in something like law.

Definitely don’t do physics without maths. I would suggest he does Geography, Economics and one other subject he likes but not physics. My ds tried physics without maths and gave it up after AS. Luckily he still had 3 subjects to carry on with to A level.

Geography and politics are a good combo! I say that as someone who has just done an MSc under the geography dept at LSE - very politics centred (as you’d expect at LSE). As pp have mentioned, politics forms part of the discussion in a lot of human geography issues. I have no idea/experience with how physics would interact in that mix though.

DS2 did A level Chemistry and Maths. He said those without the Maths struggled in some areas.
It's also the A level that needs the highest marks for the top grades I believe. DS got 85% but that was 'only' an A.
Remember to bear in mind that grades really count if planning on uni. You have to, some extent play the game and choose strategically.

Geography and Politics is an excellent combination.

Physics without Maths in inadvisable, as others have said - if he was willing to take Maths in Y12 as a fourth Option (does his school permit this?) then that would make the combination fit better. He could then consider degrees such as Earth Sciences which would combine the Physics with the physical side of Geography, as well as Humanities degrees such as IR which would build on Politics + Human Geography.

Thanks everyone who has replied.

He really enjoys geography and physics but cannot decide for the third option.

He mentioned politics (his sister does this so it was initially dismissed by him 😂)

I have suggested chemistry to go with physics and geography as another possibility but we have not discussed this yet 😉

I teach A Level Physics.

The main problem with doing physics without maths is that you can’t take it further if it turns out to be your favourite. If he decides he wants to do physics at university, he will really struggle to find one that will let him onto a physics course without maths.

My DS did Geography and politics and biology. Lots of crossover between human geography and politics which he found v interesting, now doing a Geog degree with a focus on geopolitics. Having a science was also helpful for scientific thinking training but agree with others that physics without maths might be hard.