What do you think of these A level choices?

[pinotnow]

My ds's school always makes them choose 4 A levels with a view to the vast majority of them dropping one. Maths and Biology are his favourite subjects and, in the case of maths, his strongest (got high 8 in the Y10 mock). With biology he has been slowly improving throughout Y10 and is now on a 7. He has always said he'll do chemistry as well in case he wants to go down a medical or other stem route. He gets 8s in the end of topic assessments but got a 6 in the mock, so we are waiting to see what he gets in the mocks that are up and coming, but he is determined to take chemistry - school will allow as long as he gets 6.

After saying for months that history would be his fourth subject as he enjoys most of it and got an 8 in the mock, he has suddenly said he's going to put psychology for his fourth subject and has pretty much admitted it's because his best friend is doing it.

My question is, if the step up to chemistry proves too much and he ends up dropping that, what would maths, biology and psychology be like as a set of 3? I'm worried it's not enough traditional stem but he will have closed the door to humanities as well. He is good at German and the teacher is trying to persuade him to take that but he's adamant he won't and I'm sure it's because he knows it would be a small class with people he doesn't know/like and he would have to talk a lot.

I'm worried he's choosing things for the wrong reasons and is going to make things harder for himself down the line. Thank you for any opinions/advice.

It's a very common choice, especially for those who want to do psychology at university.

The problem with that is he has shown no interest in psychology whatsoever before this week so at this point, it doesn't look likely it will be his choice of degree. Also, I'm a teacher and psychology is a massively popular A level at our school and lots do go on to take degrees in it as well but I remember the teacher saying to me once, 'I daren't tell them all that they'll need a masters to actually get anywhere with it...' Now I don't know much about it but that makes me question how useful it actually is as an A level unless you are set on a career in psychology and want to commit to it long-term.

I think it sounds fine

Psychology is good for many careers; civil service, police force, teaching…

Maths bio and psychology work well together.

MFL a levels are notoriously hard.

It will keep a lot of options open. You say you are worried about him closing off humanities but it doesn't sound like he has any interest in humanities.

The choices sound totally fine and would leave open lots of uni options inc biology and related subjects, some med degrees (some don’t need chemistry) and some engineering degrees as well (many need physics but not all). Not sure what you mean by "not enough traditional STEM" - not enough for what?

I would be concerned tho wrt psych – it’s very popular and also a frequently dropped choice. Not sure if it’s dull, hard work or just not what people think. If he’s shown no interest before then it’s a bit left field. Fits well with bio and maths tho.

German A level would be great but then it’s my subject so I would say that! Small classes also good – DD in a very small French A level class said it was good bc they got so much speaking practice. But if he doesn’t get on with others in the class then that’s a potential issue.

They're great choices. So what if he doesn't want to become a Psychologist? Picking A level subjects don't mean anyone wants to work in that area as a career. What a shitty comment from the teacher though. Also inaccurate. Whatever he picks he'll have three sciences. And actually because Psychology is so popular it may be slightly easier to get a good grade in.

Chemistry is one of the most fun A levels. If your ds is good at maths and likes science then he may well want to stick with that rather than psychology as it opens more doors.

I agree, maths bio and psych = three sciences. Meant to sat that psych is usually accepted as a science by unis

I did maths psychology and English and did a maths degree - indeed in my first year doing law we could pick other social science subjects politics/psychology etc so it certainly opens up social sciences

And yes MFL need a grasp of a whole lot of stuff the language, literature, history politics etc

I am pretty sure you could apply to do any degree with maths bio and psychology. Apart from medicine where you need chem

I must praise you in the first instance for even getting to have a conversation with your teenage DS about anything academically related. Our Yr11 DS barely makes an utterance about education despite being in top sets at grammar. We do ask, he's mono syllabic responses are irksome, at least you son is engaging about subjects he's interested in. We have absolutely no idea whatsoever. Urgh

My DS did A levels this year. He got a high 7 in his Maths and high 6 in his Physics GCSE. He insisted he wanted tu take these subjects but the step up to A level is huge and he struggled massively. He had tutoring and worked medium hard but very low morale. He got Ds. He chose Maths and Physics because he wanted to work in automotive industry but the grades are not good enough.

I would go with the overlap of what he enjoys most and what he is best at. That's where he'll get the best grades.

It's a good back up if Chemistry is too hard. Realistically is medicine on the cards without top grades at GCSE

There are about ten medical schools which will take that combination (Bio, Maths, Psych) without Chemistry including Sheffield, Manchester, Newcastle.

Hi @pinotnow !

Son doing GCSEs next summer? I really wouldn't worry, at least not just yet. Let him just focus on getting the best GCSEs he can.

For A Levels, what really counts is GCSE grades and how he - and you - feel about the advice teachers offer after A Level results come out. In terms of career focus, a lot will also depend on how his own thoughts evolve and change during Year 12. Chemistry is the 'link' science and is useful or essential for nearly all STEM degrees. Maths goes with any university subject and is good for any career choice; yes, as suggested above, languages can be hard but they are also richly rewarding, in wider life and for life and, possibly, in a career as well. But remember that the most important 'subjects' for a successful modern career include empathy, relationship building, teamwork, flexibility, adaptability, resourcefulness, creativity, practical problem solving, hard work, resilience.

I've posted before that, in Year 11, our daughter was dead keen on a particular set of A Levels (5 of them!), a specific university subject and a specialist University for a particular career choice. She eventually did 4 A Levels and, by the end of Year 12, she had fallen in love with a completely different university subject and changed to a completely different target university. Then, by the end of her university first year vacation, she had completed the professional summer internship she had always wanted, only to discover that the dreamed of career was not for her, after all! She is now doing higher studies in her university subject, she is overseas and, hopefully, on track to be an academic who also has work in a related profession. Kids, eh!

But then isn't that what youth is for, after all? To try things, to change your mind,to do U turns?

Just to say - maths, bio and psych don’t mean any degree is open to you, but maybe the PP means STEM degrees - tho even that isn't true, as lack of phsyics and FM mean some engineering and maths degrees are closed.

Obvs those choices also close loads of other degrees – Eng lit, MFL and others. That may well be fine tho. All A level choices close off some HE avenues.

Wrt MFL A levels – yes, students will need to know about political and social issues, and will need to be able to write about a book and a film, but that’s what’s taught in sixth form! I'm sure lots of things are taught in every subject that are needed at end of year 13. I'd be sorry if anyone were put off MFL bc they thought "but I don't know (at age 15/16) about the politics or literature of Germany".

He should certainly think about university choices now as it would be a pity to rule a university course out as he didn't do the subject. History and German (mentioned) are two of mine. I did English lit too. (Am a lawyer). I don't know what you need for medicine. My twins were just about the last year doing the 4 AS levels and then the 3 A levels the year after. They both did one of their A level subjects at university and then converted to law after.

Maths, bio and psych is quite a common set. I don't think Psych will close any doors that History would keep open IYSWIM - apart from History itself. It's such a popular course, fits with everything and steers a course between essays and science which I think makes it generally a sound choice.

However it's only November and he doesn't need to make a final choice untill August. I would be encouraging a more open mindset at this stage, rather than carving himself a channel for his third and fourth choices. He's got plenty of time to find out more about Psych before he commits to it. It can be v hard for young people this age to be flexible, but it needs encouraging. De-catastrophising lower grades and having a plan B worked out will also be important.

Well ,yes Stem degrees.

Presumably with those choices the ds is not thinking of English lit or Spanish etc

I am assuming your DS is now in the autumn term of Y11 and expected to crystallise A level options after Christmas?

Why not get the GCP Psychology study book (for the relevant exam board) and print off some recent A level exam papers? Sit down and flick through these with your DS.

This may help him make a more informed decision. This approach certainly helped my DC when deciding 'can I see myself studying this syllabus and answering these kinds of questions in an exam?'

@pinotnow DD2 did chem, bio and psych. She didn't love psych tbh but reasoned (correctly) it would be easier than maths. She has 2 STEM degrees including a particularly impressive Masters so I reckon your DS is making a good choice.

Sounds like a good selection to me.

My DC did Chemistry, Biology, Psychology and school said they wouldn’t get any BioChem offers without Maths. They got 5 and are at a top 2 UK Uni, taking BioChem with Psych as an option. Incidentally the workload for psych is more than for Bio or Chem, and the work itself less interesting.