Going round and round with A Level choices

[shesacomplicatedlady]

DS has just done his GCSEs and is going into sixth form. He is still so undecided with which a levels to choose. He has absolutely no idea what he wants to do career wise but would probably like to go to university.

GCSEs were Maths, English x 2, Triple Science, Geography, History, Drama, RS

At the moment he is choosing between English, History, Psychology, Business Studies and Economics A Levels.

Added into the mix is he prefers the English A Level (Lit & Lang combined) offered at college, but the History syllabus that's offered at his school. His school only do English Lit which is putting him off.

I think Economics is only being looked at because he thinks it's a good a level. Whereas business studies looks more exciting but he's worried the top unis won't like it.

He works hard and should get good gcse results across all subjects.

Any advice gratefully accepted.

Can he do all combinations at his school? E.g my son wanted to do economics but it was in the same option column as another choice - and he preferred the other choice....that helped him narrow it down. We went from his favourite.

Also with regards school or college....which do you think is a better environment? I pushed hard for 6th form as he is familiar with the school and teachers so an easy transition. Plus he can carry on with his extra curricular music.

If they choose and change their minds there is usually a bit of time to swap the first few weeks.

Economics is HARD

I would take economics out of the list because doing an A Level because you think it is a good one is a really bad reason.

I would also suggest only taking up maximum of 1 new subject (what if you take up 2 and hate them both!?)

Have a look at uniguide to see what A Levels universities are interested in for particular courses. There is no reason why business would be considered any less favourably than any other A Level (if no particular link to degree subject).

If he's starting A Levels in September, has he not even had to submit his current choices? What were they? He should be aware that he may not have free range to change them.

Does his school offer English Language as well as English Lit? If he likes the English Lang aspect of the Lit and Lang course, that might appeal.

I'd also consider the volume of NEAs in each of his possible choices. My DD picked 3 A Levels that included a total of 4 NEAs, and it felt like her entire life was focussed around them in the spring term of Year 13.So if he hates/loves course work that might be a factor.

For history - I assume it's the specific areas covered that appeal more at college? Have a check to see what proportion of the marks are covered by that area. I think to some degree you won't know how interesting it is until you start, but if you know you're not at all interested in the main period of study, that would be off putting.

To hopefully answer a few questions, School wise it's two quite different choices

Choice 1 is his current (independent) school sixth form. It is very much like being in school. Have to wear a suit, can't leave school grounds in between lessons etc

The only offer English lit
History - will be a definite here as he loves the time periods they have chosen.
I am confident he will be able to take any combination of subjects here.

Choice 2 - (state) sixth form college, wear what you want, you only have to be in college for lessons.

Much prefers the combined English Lit & Lang A Level
Not keen on history here as two of the 3 modules they have chosen are same time period as the ones he did for gcse and no interest in the 3rd module.

Will be harder to change subjects here, but they have said to speak to them after results day.

He is currently down to do English, History & Economics at both

What are his uni thoughts? Economics isn’t much use without Maths if he is looking at that route.

No idea, that's half the problem. He was contemplating maths a level but found the gcse harder than expected so is thinking it may not be a good choice (although we've obviously not seen results yet)

At college he could do core maths alongside a levels. The school only offer EPQ

Historically red brick universities have not recommended studying economics and psychology at A-level.

I think English Literature (not Language), History and Business are the 3 strong options here. Of course it matters what he wants to study at uni. If he wants to study psychology I’d recommend not doing business and doing science (esp biology) and if he wants to study economics drop history and do maths at A-level.

He doesn't know what he wants to study at all so is trying to choose 3 that keep options open for longer and hopefully choose 3 that he really enjoys doing!

Just read your updates. If you can afford it try to keep him at his independent sixth form. This will cause the least disruption. I was glad to have stayed through to year 13 in the same school, just easier.

His choices should be guided by the university courses that he wants to apply to.

I would say that there are very few combinations of those A Levels that open or close particular doors.
English and History degrees probably need the corresponding A Level. Other than that .. can't actually think of anything.

@redskydarknight do you think they are a bad combination? I assumed that as they both used to be facilitating subjects it would keep options (obv not maths/science degrees) open.

I wish his school did IB I think we make them narrow down far too early here.

My own DD did English Lang, English Lit and History, so, no, I don't think they are a bad combination :) But she was fairly sure she wanted to go in the English Lit/Lang/creative writing direction at university, so being comparatively narrow wasn't an issue for her.

It's impossible to choose 3 A Levels without closing doors. If your DS is keen on those subjects (and if he'd prefer business over economics, then he should do business) then he will hopefully enjoy and do well in them.

Several points to consider:

Learning environment: familiarity of 6th form vs fresh start of college; structured at sixth form vs potentially much more self-directed at college; which would be better, not withstanding subject choice availability?

Maximising grades: which of his existing subjects that are potential A level choices does he enjoy the most and what are his predicted grades in those?

New subjects: Economics and Business A levels are different experiences; consider buying CGP style study books for the relevant exam board and download some past papers to get a better feel for what they will feel like in practice (same tactic can be helpful when considering Psychology).

NEAs: Both English Lit and History (for certain exam boards) have NEA components, so be ready for that and understand when such work typically falls (Y12 in some settings, Y13 in others). Doing an EPQ on top of two NEAs is a big commitment, especially if sequencing is not well planned by the school.

Keeping quantitative skills alive: Not all will agree with my view, but core maths alongside non-quantitative A levels can be useful for many students (my DCs' comp promotes this and students get good outcomes); equally be aware that Economics and Psychology have useful quant elements and so would tick that box in place of core maths.

Being clear what is fact and what is prejudice: A level Economics does not 'have' to be taken with Maths A level (it is just he absence of the latter precludes quant heavy Econ courses); Economics A level is not 'better' than Business A level (only Cambs and LSE specifically prefer Econ over Business).

Largely agree but as secondary school teacher whose husband teaches Econ and Business some thoughts: Econ is generally done by more able academic students so that might actually affect his experience in the classroom. Both DHs and my schools are independent and every year we have students who leave to go to 6th form college and then return pretty speedily. Class sizes tend to be bigger and students left to their own devices more. I’m an English teacher and don’t really rate the joint Lang Lit course, it’s a bit of a mongrel. History, Econ and Eng Lit are a good combo.

Good points @Notellinganyone

I’m pretty certain that’s not true. Both Econ and Psychology are perfectly good A level subjects. We have a v big 6th form and lots of kids do these. Generally Econ is a stronger A level than Business.

Historically it is true. https://www.adviza.org.uk/news/navigating-a-level-subject-choices-understanding-the-russell-groups-guidance#:~:text=Facilitating%20Subjects%20included%20Mathematics%2C%20English,Languages%20(Classical%20or%20Modern).

Econ and Psychology were not facilitating subjects (when that was a 'thing') and can both technically be studied at uni without having taken them at A level but there is no prejudice against them by 'redbrick' unis or otherwise.

I think we have to be careful when we say Econ is a 'stronger' A level than Business. Academically stronger candidates are more likely to present with Econ than Business (for a variety of reasons that are more about student & parental perceptions at time of A level selection, I'd argue) but that does not mean Business is a softer A level. If you are more likely to get an A in Business than Econ, that has to be a consideration.

The point about class sizes and average ability is well made. However, I have DCs who achieved Astar in Geog at a comp sixth form where class performance was more typically C/D. So strong performance is still possible in a large class with a relatively wide ability range; you do have to be used to pushing through with extension work with only limited teacher input.

My dd did History and Psychology (with RS) and my son did Business (with Sociology and Criminology). Dd found History the most work in terms of content, and probably the hardest, and it also has coursework which took a lot of time. She enjoyed it a lot though and got an A. Her favourite (and easiest!) subject was RS though. Psychology was interesting, but lots of case studies to learn. The exams are a mix of multi-choice, short and long answers, which she found less pressure than all the long essays in History.

Business is similar in that regard to Psychology - ds didn’t find it dumbed down at all, there are some challenging topics in year 13. He resonated with it though and enjoyed the topics; we’re waiting for results so who knows how he did! His favourite subject was Sociology, which is worth considering if it’s an option at the college. It’s similar in some ways to Psych as you cover research methods, case studies etc, but it’s a bit less numerical/more writing. It wasn’t an easy option, but very interesting.

We're in the same loop OP. DS is certain he wants to do History and English Lit. The third subject is up or grabs. He has no option to remain at his current school and has kept three offers - at the first choice the third subject is Classical Civilisation. At the other two the third choice is Maths.

He's now debating changing to Economics as the third subject. The offers he holds are subject specific so there's no guarantee that he could change but he can ask the question on results day.

DS was considering EPQ but was dissuaded by pretty much everyone as too much work with three essay subjects. I've never heard of Core Maths - it's not offered anywhere locally - but I'm reading the AQA spec and at first glance it could be an alternative to EPQ taken in year 12?

DS was considering EPQ but was dissuaded by pretty much everyone as too much work with three essay subjects.

When do they complete the EPQ? DD managed it with 3 essay subjects, but she completed it in Year12, and the essay subjects NEAs in Year 13. I agree that doing an EPQ at the same time as multiple NEAs would be too much!

It's supposed to be completed by end of year 12 @redskydarknight Has it proved useful for your daughter to have the EPQ on top of the essay based A Levels? Would she recommend doing it to other students in her position?

Historically it is true. https://www.adviza.org.uk/news/navigating-a-level-subject-choices-understanding-the-russell-groups-guidance#:~:text=Facilitating%20Subjects%20included%20Mathematics%2C%20English,Languages%20(Classical%20or%20Modern).

@Mykingdom2024 that link does not say that RGs used to dislike Psych or Eco

Both are perfectly rigorous and respectable - and always have been.