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Original post by Dust.
Sensibly speaking; I can only handle 4 A Levels max. Which one, if I want to get into a good law school, should I drop? I am in the process of choosing them now.

Help Please :smile:


from what I've heard, A-level Law doesn't really benefit you in any way when going to university to study Law; a lot of schools don't offer it! Teachers at my school recommended Politics or Sociology for people interested in Law. If there's someone on here who knows more I'm sure they'd be able to clarify it better :smile:
Original post by kayleigh.jean
from what I've heard, A-level Law doesn't really benefit you in any way when going to university to study Law; a lot of schools don't offer it! Teachers at my school recommended Politics or Sociology for people interested in Law. If there's someone on here who knows more I'm sure they'd be able to clarify it better :smile:


I can vouch for this from what my admissions tutor told me - he actually recommended Politics and/or History. Sociology isn't that highly regarded, so one of those two is probably your best bet.
Original post by Dust.
Hello, I made a thread before but just to clarify.

I want to get into a good Law school (preferably Durham/Warwick/Newcastle and at least 1 in London; perhaps Kings or LSE) but i'm undecided about my A Levels.

Here are my 5:

Philosophy and Ethics: Im very good at debating and critical thinking.
Law: I have a high interest and willingness to succeed in it.
Sociology: The study of society interests me greatly.
German: I love languages. I started off on the wrong foot with it but now im dedicated. I speak 2 at the moment, not including German.
English Lit: Very good at English Lit GCSE.

Sensibly speaking; I can only handle 4 A Levels max. Which one, if I want to get into a good law school, should I drop? I am in the process of choosing them now.

Help Please :smile:


You should decide what to drop at the end of AS, that's the whole point in doing five instead of three surely? You'll definitely need to keep going with English though.

Original post by musergirl
I'm close to leaving Secondary School and starting college and my A-Levels. I am certain that I want to do Ancient History. I also want to do English - combined Lit and Language. Do any of you do these subjects? If yes, how did you find/ are you finding them?

That leaves me with 2 more options. I really want to do something based on art and design, which is why I felt that Graphics would be great as I would love to go into design as a career. I really don't know much about it though, but I could always leave it at AS level rather than any of my other 3 subjects. I'd also love to do Fine Art.

So, my questions are:
a) Should I do Graphics or Fine art? If I only do one of these, what sort of thing should I do instead of the one I am not doing? OR,
b) Should I do both? I would love to do both.
c) Is anyone doing any of the underlined subjects? If yes, how did you find them/are you finding them?

I'd like to think that if I did both arts I'd have a good balance of Vocational and Academic, 2 being Vocational and 2 being Academic. I'd just love to do both arts but I'm worried I should do something more academic, though it'd be good to have a break with something I really enjoy. I'd probably drop one of the arts at AS.

Any help would be VERY MUCH appriciated!!!!


Just make sure you do history and a language if you can.
Reply 3203
Original post by Clumsy_Chemist
You should decide what to drop at the end of AS, that's the whole point in doing five instead of three surely? You'll definitely need to keep going with English though.






As I said: "I can only handle four". I will take 5 forward to AS but I will decide within the first 2 weeks which one to drop. Is this is wise choice?
Original post by Dust.
As I said: "I can only handle four". I will take 5 forward to AS but I will decide within the first 2 weeks which one to drop. Is this is wise choice?


I was thinking of taking 5 AS as well because I don't want to drop business or cut off going into a business job but I don't want to really pursue a career in business and I was thinking of taking Maths,Further Maths,RE,Geography and Business Studies and for all those people, who say to take Economics-I have decided not to because It doesn't include the type of business, I want to study(Accounting) and I don't need a really respected 5th AS level because Business AS level will do-I might decide to only do the 4 I mentioned though and all of those I plan on taking to A2.
Original post by Dalek1099
I was thinking of taking 5 AS as well because I don't want to drop business or cut off going into a business job but I don't want to really pursue a career in business and I was thinking of taking Maths,Further Maths,RE,Geography and Business Studies and for all those people, who say to take Economics-I have decided not to because It doesn't include the type of business, I want to study(Accounting) and I don't need a really respected 5th AS level because Business AS level will do-I might decide to only do the 4 I mentioned though and all of those I plan on taking to A2.


i've heard generaly that universities see business studies to be a 'soft' subject, so i dont think you would need it if you wanted to be an acountant though doing the subject may increase your interest in accounting. The Maths subjects you are taking is what really counts to them.
Original post by Dalek1099
I was thinking of taking 5 AS as well because I don't want to drop business or cut off going into a business job but I don't want to really pursue a career in business and I was thinking of taking Maths,Further Maths,RE,Geography and Business Studies and for all those people, who say to take Economics-I have decided not to because It doesn't include the type of business, I want to study(Accounting) and I don't need a really respected 5th AS level because Business AS level will do-I might decide to only do the 4 I mentioned though and all of those I plan on taking to A2.


You generally don't need an AS/A level in Business Studies to go into business.
Reply 3207
Original post by musergirl

That leaves me with 2 more options. I really want to do something based on art and design, which is why I felt that Graphics would be great as I would love to go into design as a career. I really don't know much about it though, but I could always leave it at AS level rather than any of my other 3 subjects. I'd also love to do Fine Art.

So, my questions are:
a) Should I do Graphics or Fine art? If I only do one of these, what sort of thing should I do instead of the one I am not doing? OR,
b) Should I do both? I would love to do both.
c) Is anyone doing any of the underlined subjects? If yes, how did you find them/are you finding them?

I'd like to think that if I did both arts I'd have a good balance of Vocational and Academic, 2 being Vocational and 2 being Academic. I'd just love to do both arts but I'm worried I should do something more academic, though it'd be good to have a break with something I really enjoy. I'd probably drop one of the arts at AS.

Any help would be VERY MUCH appriciated!!!!

I wouldn't really recommend taking both Graphics and Art. I took Photography and Art at A Level and just feel like I totally wasted one potentially useful A Level (although Graphics might actually be alright - most people know that Photography is a doss :wink:). But if you do find you're becoming more interested in an Art/design career towards the end of your A Levels you can always go and do a Foundation course in Art and Design, which gives you a good all round footing for going on to different ~pathways~ and is pretty open. For that, I'd suggest to take Fine art instead of Graphics, but I'm probably biased :colone:
Really, all I'm saying here, is that unless you're totally sure you're going to go on to do something artsy at University/in later life, then there's not too much point taking two potentially very similar subjects.
Furthermore, I found out this year whilst applying, there are a few universities who don't accept more than one vocational subject at a level if you're applying to an academic course.
I hate to seem like I'm putting a downer on the whole thing, but really, art/design universities don't care too much if you have two vocational A Levels or one. Hope I haven't unnecessarily confused things either :P
(edited 11 years ago)
What is a-level biology, psychology and business studies like?
this question is kind of related to choosing a-levels and I'm pretty sure I've posted it here before but asking again:

is it worth doing another AS in year 13 if you've only done 3 in year 12?
I dropped Biology and so only have 3 left (History, English Literature and English Language). My history teacher wants me to do AS Government & Politics next year as a "supplement" to my other subjects/UCAS etc. Just wondering whether it's worth the effort really :s-smilie: I just want to make sure I get into a fairly good uni, but not really sure whether having only 3 AS's will affect that too much. if that makes any sense whatsoever.
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by jacqueline789
What is a-level biology, psychology and business studies like?


Business studies is really easy and as such is a waste of time because nobody respects it. Biology is a little easier than the other sciences, but still pretty hard with loads to learn and good writing skills needed in the exam. Psychology has a similar heavy burden of content to take in.

Original post by ktlaurenroe
this question is kind of related to choosing a-levels and I'm pretty sure I've posted it here before but asking again:

is it worth doing another AS in year 13 if you've only done 3 in year 12?
I dropped Biology and so only have 3 left (History, English Literature and English Language). My history teacher wants me to do AS Government & Politics next year as a "supplement" to my other subjects/UCAS etc. Just wondering whether it's worth the effort really :s-smilie: I just want to make sure I get into a fairly good uni, but not really sure whether having only 3 AS's will affect that too much. if that makes any sense whatsoever.


It's unlikely to make much of a difference to UCAS if you do another AS for the sake of it. But what are you applying to at uni? If you pick an AS that's relevant to a uni course then obviously you will benefit. Maths and languages are very useful in general.
Reply 3211
History, English Lit, Economics, Maths. I want to do PPE, anything else needed or preferable?
Reply 3212
Original post by musergirl
I'm close to leaving Secondary School and starting college and my A-Levels. I am certain that I want to do Ancient History. I also want to do English - combined Lit and Language. Do any of you do these subjects? If yes, how did you find/ are you finding them?


I just thought I'd come forward and strongly advise you against doing lang/lit as a combination. I can't say don't do it because some people really enjoyed it, but the only reason I chose it was because I'd always been good at english and thought it'd be good and an easy pass- wrong! It isn't anything like gcse because the language side is focused on speech and it's extremely technical, while the literature side depends on what books you have to read, however there is almost no creative writing involved at least at AS (I dropped it) and as you seem into art and stuff I'm guessing that's the kind of thing you'd want to do.

As for art/graphics it's really up to you but I warn you that both of those subjects have a really heavy workload so unless you're prepared to make a lot of sacrifices in your social life or even other subjects, I'd say do one or the other, not both, how you decide which one is up to you.:cool:
I really want to do five A Levels: Biology, Chemistry, Psychology, Maths and Further Maths. Do you think this would be too much?
I want to do History, Philosophy, Politics to go into Law- My problem is my last subject. I wanted to do English Literature since it is respected, but in order to do that I would have to go to a college which I don't want to go to. The college I want to go to next year only offers English Literature and Language combined- How much would taking the combined effect my application for Law? Would it affect my chances into getting into a top university and if so, how much? Thank you :smile:
Original post by Argent-chan
I want to do History, Philosophy, Politics to go into Law- My problem is my last subject. I wanted to do English Literature since it is respected, but in order to do that I would have to go to a college which I don't want to go to. The college I want to go to next year only offers English Literature and Language combined- How much would taking the combined effect my application for Law? Would it affect my chances into getting into a top university and if so, how much? Thank you :smile:


It wouldn't affect your application in a bad way or anything like that, I'd say if you'd rather do English than Politics then I would say do that as you don't want to be doing a subject for two years which you don't enjoy (As much).
Original post by geebee
I just thought I'd come forward and strongly advise you against doing lang/lit as a combination. I can't say don't do it because some people really enjoyed it, but the only reason I chose it was because I'd always been good at english and thought it'd be good and an easy pass- wrong! It isn't anything like gcse because the language side is focused on speech and it's extremely technical, while the literature side depends on what books you have to read, however there is almost no creative writing involved at least at AS (I dropped it) and as you seem into art and stuff I'm guessing that's the kind of thing you'd want to do.

As for art/graphics it's really up to you but I warn you that both of those subjects have a really heavy workload so unless you're prepared to make a lot of sacrifices in your social life or even other subjects, I'd say do one or the other, not both, how you decide which one is up to you.:cool:


Thanks for the advice. I'm in a hurry so I can't reply properly, but I will take your advice into consideration! I may just choose one English, and I am probably only going to do one art subject.

Thanks :smile:
Original post by ehc
I wouldn't really recommend taking both Graphics and Art. I took Photography and Art at A Level and just feel like I totally wasted one potentially useful A Level (although Graphics might actually be alright - most people know that Photography is a doss :wink:). But if you do find you're becoming more interested in an Art/design career towards the end of your A Levels you can always go and do a Foundation course in Art and Design, which gives you a good all round footing for going on to different ~pathways~ and is pretty open. For that, I'd suggest to take Fine art instead of Graphics, but I'm probably biased :colone:
Really, all I'm saying here, is that unless you're totally sure you're going to go on to do something artsy at University/in later life, then there's not too much point taking two potentially very similar subjects.
Furthermore, I found out this year whilst applying, there are a few universities who don't accept more than one vocational subject at a level if you're applying to an academic course.
I hate to seem like I'm putting a downer on the whole thing, but really, art/design universities don't care too much if you have two vocational A Levels or one. Hope I haven't unnecessarily confused things either :P


THANK YOU!

And no, I really appreciate your advice, I've decided against doing two art subjects, but I will still do one. I'm not sure which, yet. This means I will pick one more academic subject it it's place - again, not sure which, but I'm getting advice tonight. :smile:
Original post by lizz-ie
I really want to do five A Levels: Biology, Chemistry, Psychology, Maths and Further Maths. Do you think this would be too much?


Yes, unless you're ridiculously talented at maths and prepared to have less free time than most 6th formers.
Original post by Argent-chan
I want to do History, Philosophy, Politics to go into Law- My problem is my last subject. I wanted to do English Literature since it is respected, but in order to do that I would have to go to a college which I don't want to go to. The college I want to go to next year only offers English Literature and Language combined- How much would taking the combined effect my application for Law? Would it affect my chances into getting into a top university and if so, how much? Thank you :smile:


I don't think it would matter much because history is so respected and the other two are pretty good subjects to have. Literature may be highly respected, but half and half is no micky mouse subject, don't worry :smile:

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