how is Alevel PE thought of by universities?

[brimfull]

is it thought of a soft option?

In a word: Yes.

Certainly by Russell Group universities -- you might get away with it if you were trying to do a related degree in an ex-poly.

But it will certainly narrow down the child's options compared with a traditional academic subject.

that's what I thought

was having a discussion with dd

how about music?

Music is a bit more kosher. But only really if you're doing a related degree.

It all depends on the kind of grades she's likely to get and the sorts of courses and universities she's aiming at.

In generally, the higher her academic potential, the more conservative she should be in her subject choice, if she wants to have the widest possible range of choices in two years time.

hth

I am psml at the thought of a PE A Level.
ffs give it a better name, like sports science.

dd had already decided hers
we were just talking about PE as her friend is doing it .

dd doing
maths
physics
french
music

Impressive batch there.

PE is offered as a well-regarded degree course at at least one Russell Group university...but unless a career in the field is on the cards, it's not going to be a particularly useful academic option
Your dd has all bases covered there!

yes she just has to pass them now

I think it would be ok if she has 3 other rigorous academic subjects. It links quite well if she has a sciency bent, eg biology.

If she is teaming it with Sociology, media and english language etc then she will be severely limiting her choice of degrees and universities.

Then again if its an A in PE or a D in chemistry then PE is probably the better choice! So hard isn't it, we are trying to help DS choose 2 AS levels for next year (y11) as there are about 12 he wants to take

I think it is acceptable if taken in conjunction with three other academic A levels. Many of my son's contemporaries took it for AS and A2 and are now at Russell Group Universities (eg Manchester, Durham, Nottingham). Agree that it links well with biology (appears to be quite a lot of biologyish stuff in the syllabus!). If taking three 'hard' subjects, its quite good to have an easier one for the fourth and can be dropped after AS level.

It depends on what the student wants to do in university. If they want to do something PE or sports related, then great.

If not, then they are going to limited their choices of what to study and where they will study it.

Scroll down for the list of "less effective" A Levels as considered by Cambridge. It isn't a soft option though -as there is a lot of work involved and you need to be strong in biology to get a good grade but it limits your degree choices - especially if you want to go to a more academic university.

Good if going to pursue sports science, physiotherapy or a BEd and it can work as a 4th Alevel, as long as they're not thinking of medicine, dentistry, veterinary science etc where all 4 A Levels count.

Some of the good modern universities recognise it - DD's friends did PE A level and are now at Exeter, Loughborough and St Mary's Twickenham

crap basically. You could not count it as an A level for any top unis- along with business studies, sometimes psychology, drama, general studies, critical thinking, and various other subjects.

If you do a google search for "soft subjects at A level" you should find the list of subjects.

It is VERY important to choose the right A levels. Both my kids are at "Top 10 " unis and they are very picky about As. It depends on what you are aiming for - there are over 100 unis and they all have different requirements. You need to look at their websites under the subject area you are interested in and see what they accept.

DD1 has a place at Leeds University (a Russell Group Uni) for this October to do Sport and Physiology. She also got offers from Bath, Durham and Sheffield Met. She did PE, Psychology and Biology at A level and Drama to AS. There was no problem in them accepting PE but you had to have another science A level and either Psychology or Biology were okay.

Her offer is 3 B's but she is on course for two A's and a B but is also doing a GNVQ level 3 Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence (which Uni's like Bath, Loughborough etc will take in place of 2 A levels but Leeds only regard as "added value"). She plans to work in elite athlete support eventually.

She finishes her exams tomorrow and has commented a couple of times that having done Biology and Psychology subjects separately, it made doing the PE modules that deal with sport psychology and biology very easy. I have to say though, that I was suprised at the high level of performance required in the practical part of the PE module - she competes at National level in her assessed sport but found some of the elements very difficult. I didnt think the standard would be set so high for A level.

Isn't music well regarded. I thought it was supposed to be a pretty tough A level. Lots of theory and pretty high level instrumental work.

Sorry, thats Sports Science and Physiology!

I think unless wanting to do a specific PE related degree, a D in Chemistry will trump an A in PE.

Traditional academic subjects are nearly always better than applied subjects.

sports science is very on trend. As others have said, depends what you want to study