@Anonymousemouses what a tough time. When my eldest was in year 11 my dbil died at about this time (anniversary of his death was last week) and it was incredibly difficult. School were thankfully mostly great (with the exception of one awful teacher). To have that friend missing from class must make being in school tough. The school applied for special consideration for my dd after the exams and she did get that taken into account, they lower the grade boundaries, you never find out by how much, but 1-3% I think. In a funny way the death took the pressure off during the exams, like such an awful thing had happened they weren’t the most important thing anymore.
Regarding A-level choices, I think they are all so hard you really have to be enjoying them to put the effort in. DD did best in Spanish/maths/science and is doing maths now and finding it hard but is still enjoying enough of it that she’s happy to be putting the work in. She did a taster Spanish alevel lesson and said once she realised how difficult it was going to be she decided she didn’t enjoy it enough to pursue it.
Sociology is really interesting, I did it at A-level and honestly it changed my perspective on so much. I wish I’d done it at degree, but dismissed it as I didn’t see a purpose. I have a friend who is a sociology professor and he advises government on policy, he researches ways to improve health outcomes and it is really valuable. I would also say it’s great for developing your writing skills.