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.

She completed it on a subject that she was interested in that was outside of her A Level study, so from that perspective she enjoyed completing it. However it was very stressful with everything that needed to be done. She also learnt some useful research and independent study skills and, whilst her history teacher particularly was at pains to say that NEAs were not like EPQs, I think it did help her NEAs that she was used to the experience of researching and creating a longer piece of work. Although one of her friends did her EPQ with an artistic portfolio - so it's worth remembering it doesn't have to be essay/research based.

A bonus for DD was that some universities will drop a grade in their offers if you get an A or an A star at EPQ, as she went into the UCAS application knowing she had a high EPQ grade already in hand. And ultimately it's given her the chance to select a university (she's waiting for results) with a slightly lower offer to give her some wriggle room if results don't quite go as she wants.

She doesn't regret doing it and recommends the experience, but suggests you do need to be clear what you are getting themselves into :)

Hi @waspie, at my DCs' school core maths is completed in Y12 and the examination sat at the end of that year. This works well. However, EPQs are substantially completed in Y13 and collide with NEAs in some, but not all, relevant subjects; this works less well. Some unis give reduced offers in some subjects if you have an A or B in core maths (eg U of Bath).

Thank you @redskydarknight, that's very interesting. I hope your daughter gets the grades she needs for her chosen Uni. DS did have an EPQ subject he really wanted to do that tied in with one of his hobbies, but, having found out the exam board and syllabus for history, it is too close in subject matter unfortunately.

Core maths sounds interesting @PerpetualOptimist thank you for answering me. I have shared the AQA documentation about Core Maths with my son and he's interested. It would need to be online learning as nowhere locally appears to offer this course.

Choose the theee subjects that interest him the most.

If he is quite bright then I suggest
English lit, History and Economics
He doe snot like enlish lit (nor did my twins) so they did geography (along with history) instead. History, Geog, economics for one of them and one did history, geo.g and classical civ. That then means 2 of the traditional harder facilitating subjects (either history and geog or history and english lit) and combining with economics which is regarded quite highly too would be good. (My twins qualified as solicitors earlier this year)

However he really needs to work back from university subject as some A levels are needed for particular subjects at university.

The English Language A-Level is a bit of an odd ball one.

It has little relation to the GCSE, which is more about functional literacy and comprehension, but has more in common with University level Linguistics, which is so different as to be practically a different subject altogether. I would choose straight English Lit and explore the linguistics side of things later at University if they go down that route.

Regarding the combined English - look closely at what the texts they are studying for the literature on that course are. DC has just done English Lit and the main reason for it’s popularity over the combined Lit and Lang A Level was the set texts for the combined are not very interesting choices

That’s also true. Way back when I did English A Level there really wasn’t such a thing as English Language A Level nor Combined Lit and Lang. Pure Linguistics existed as a degree as did English as a degree but I don’t think a combo was a thing. This was the early 80s though

My DS couldn’t choose his third after English and history and eventually went for ancient history as he decided he knew he had the skill set and he wasn’t choosing a subject “blind” . He is now finishing a masters in history so he still loves history !
DD did the IB which is a tough but great course

I would think about careers and then work backwards to degree and then A level. I know that seems mad at 16, but with students leaving uni with £50,000 worth of debt, I’d want to know they were making good choices.

I’d revisit maths - there are very few careers/courses that wouldn’t want this. Otherwise economics has a maths element and is well respected.

I taught Lit and Lang A levels - what exactly appeals to him? Is it reading or analysis of language? Lit has plummeted in popularity in recent years because the nature of the GCSE has put so many people off. If he does Lit, is he really prepared for the study of difficult texts and the extended writing about them?

History always a good choice but I wouldn’t want to revisit periods I’d done at GCSE.

I also supervised and marked EPQ and am a huge fan. It gives students something to write about for UCAS, talk about at interviews and shows wider knowledge and understanding. Even with the new UCAS Q and A format it allows students to demonstrate their difference.

These are random thoughts and probably don’t help at all. Our school allowed changes within the first two weeks if students felt they’d made the wrong choice.

dd did ancient history & history too. Her third was Politics. She graduated in history last year.

I did the sciences, maths and economics a level. Economics was the easiest by a country mile and I wouldn't think you need maths A level to do it.

Unless he's looking to study business studies at uni I wouldn't do it for A level.

Psychology is apparently very on trend and hard to get into at uni so I would only choose that if he is very keen.

If he's bright and good looking to go for a top uni then more core subjects like the English and history sound good.

@Mykingdom2024, sorry, but I think that is very outdated info as far as Psychology is concerned. It was one of the most popular A level choices in 2020 and 2021 - DS's RG red brick uni certainly had no problems with the fact he had studied it to A level (2020) and neither did Cambridge or Durham for three friend's daughters who all studied Psychology there after taking Psychology A level. At ds's school they had to run two classes because it was so oversubscribed so there were 50 children taking it and going on to uni.

Quoting Education Datalab:

In 2001, psychology was the ninth most popular A-Level choice, but in both 2020 and 2021 it was the second most popular – and the number one choice for female students

English lit & lang

Business Studies

Plus one/two more

Don't do something just because top unis will like it. A levels are a lot harder than GCSEs so it needs to be something you really enjoy.

It’s actually more of a hybrid - there is some linguistic stuff, language change over time which is more historical, Child Language Acquisition, science/psychology and other topics like language and gender/ global Englishes etc. It’s got a bad rap as it can be jargonny but if taught well is quite interesting. I’m an English Teacher and have taught it although lit is my thing.

Lots of misinformation on this thread. The Economics thing is particularly bonkers. It’s a really strong A level and more highly regarded than Business. Also it hasn’t been Business Studies for years! It’s just Business now.

I have put this on the Higher ED thread, but we are struggling with A levels.

DD wants to go into Sports, coaching/PT/teaching and is doing a PE A level (has done GCSE)

She is likely to do well in all her GCSEs and was planning on doing Media, Lang/lit and PE at A level.

Now she wants to drop English due to the A level teacher (who is really dull and disliked) and the texts they need to read, and do Business instead.

Ive had a look and some unis will let her do a Degree in Sports science with the PE A level, but some want a science/maths too.

She thinks she will struggle with A level Science or Maths, but I feel that her choices are fluffy and lead no where particularly.

I don’t know what to advise for the best. I’d probably rather she got 3 good A levels than I made her swap and she got two poor A levels!

@Sparklingwineandcheese I would go with subjects she's interested in and will do well at. If PE teaching/coaching etc is the current plan, just make sure there are courses that she can apply for without another science (eg UEA do a Physical Education course that would be fine).

My dd wanted to do Psychology at uni and some advice on here suggested she'd really need to do two sciences at A Level. I did some research and discovered there were plenty of options which didn't require that. She wouldn't have done as well in say Biology as she did in RS and History, so she stuck with RS/History/Psychology and got Astar,A,A.

My ds, who's just done A Levels, did more 'fluffy' options too - Sociology, Criminology and Business. I don't know what his results are yet and he hasn't applied to uni, but we've been looking at apprenticeships in accountancy and real estate/surveying and none of them specify specific A Level subjects, just grades/UCAS points.

As an Economics teacher, I beg of you (well, him) don't take it without a genuine interest! Business Studies is fine. An A-level is an A-level.

If anyone is wondering re Economics, go to a big Waterstone's and browse The Economics Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained (in the Dorling Kindersley series) (for the ideas) and any of the A-level textbooks (for the theory).

@Sparklingwineandcheese you would be better off starting a new thread about 'what A levels to do for sports coaching?' or something similar as your DD's issue is much more specific than OP's here.

I can offer some suggestions as I had a DS who followed a similar path, but I don't think this is the right place for a detailed discussion tbh.