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A Level choice: German or not?!

Can someone help me please? At the moment I am fairly certain I want to do either Maths, Actuarial Science or Economics at a top university. I am choosing A-Levels and I will have had an AS Level in ICT by time I start sixth form, but I have decided to drop it, since it is considered a soft subject. However, just this Thursday when I got my results I got a* in all three sciences but also an A in the first unit of ICT (it is 50% of total AS) and I got an A (100 UMS)!

I have decided, therefore to take:
Maths
Further Maths
Physics

But now I am unsure as to my fourth option. I decided to do Chemistry on my preliminary option sheet, yet I am torn between that and German. I got 100% in my chemistry exam ad coursework, but I also have 100% in all my german courseworks, finding them both quite easy. I am good at German; my teacher has given me extra work and I know most of the grammar structures at AS Level and can apply them with ease.

So for my choice of study in maths, would you recommend German or Chemistry or even continue ICT to A2, bearing in mind I am taking 3 maths based subjects anyway?

I would consider doing 5, my school said i can since i'm able, but i don't really want to do too much work and it would mean i have to self study a few maths modules - which i don't really want to do.

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Reply 1

Aylish

German as it's a break from the 'sciences' do you enjoy it do you mind me asking.

Reply 2

GreenLantern1

Original post by Aylish

German as it's a break from the 'sciences' do you enjoy it do you mind me asking.

Yeah I relish in it (lool geek alert)

But yh, that is why i was eager to find out whether i should or not. I really enjoy it, like lots, but also really want to do the other subjects; and not taking chemistry or physics would be a waste since i'm really good at them as well.

Reply 3

JSam1994

I agree, it might be a nice break from the sciences. I do a foreign language at A level and absolutely love it! it opens so many doors for you as well! I'd recommend German myself.

Reply 4

Farm_Vet_in_the_making

At the minute I do Biology, Chemistry Maths and German and whilst I love all my subjects, just remember that you really have to enjoy your at A-Level subjects. German may be a break, but it does come with a heavy workload. Not trying to put you off, just being realistic! It is loads of fun, and I love being able to express myself and talk about topics I never thought I'd have been able to at GCSE, if you enjoy it- it really is worthwhile.
You can't take every subject at A-Level remember ;-)

Reply 5

.snowflake.

I also take 2 sciences and german. I love it, but by god it can be like a small child at times, constantly needing attention.

Reply 6

GreenLantern1

Anyone who takes both, what would you say is harder or has a higher work load; Chemistry or German?

Reply 7

.snowflake.

Original post by GreenLantern1

Anyone who takes both, what would you say is harder or has a higher work load; Chemistry or German?

I do both, i find german harder to do well in, and so much more time consuming.

Reply 8

GreenLantern1

Original post by .snowflake.

I do both, i find german harder to do well in, and so much more time consuming.

But is German, in your opinion more interesting and enjoyable, or not?

Reply 9

Mike93L

I initially chose Maths, French, Chemistry and History as my options for AS and I now do Maths(completed), FM, Chem, Physics, History (dropped after AS). Within the first few lessons I dropped French for Physics becuase I realised that for A level you'd need a genuine passion for the language to get the top grades, something I didn't really have. (just to put in context I got A* in German and French GCSE and found both easy).

That was probably the best decision I've made regarding my secondary education as it freed up so many more options for me. I've now got a conditional place to study Natural Sciences next year which would not have been possible if I stuck with French (I know it's theoretically possible with only 2 'sciences' but in reality much harder). It depends what you want to do after A levels. It doesn't matter so much for Economics or maybe even Maths but if you change your mind then taking Chem would give you more options than German. Remember a language isn't a requirement for any course except languages and you can always learn the language as a hobby. Even subjects such as law often accept people with all sciences.

German will probably take more effort in terms of out-of-class time while Chem is (probably in my opinion) the hardest A Level subject there is so both are challenging. Are you prepared to research German culture and topics that have almost no relevance to conversational German (e.g. talking about the pros and cons of nuclear power in German etc), to listen to German news or to spend considerable time outside of class practicing? I wasn't but if you genuinely love it then go ahead and pick it and you'll do well.

In terms of grades, there aren't many A's out of the people who took languages in my year but then again that's probably true of Chem as well.

Reply 10

.snowflake.

Original post by GreenLantern1

But is German, in your opinion more interesting and enjoyable, or not?

for me chemistry is more interesting, sliiightly biased on that one. I do enjoy German, whether you like your A2 year could well be down to which cultural topics you do/ are forced on you.

Reply 11

GreenLantern1

Original post by .snowflake.

for me chemistry is more interesting, sliiightly biased on that one. I do enjoy German, whether you like your A2 year could well be down to which cultural topics you do/ are forced on you.

If I do take German, I would leave it at AS. I have seen that AS seems to be just language, but A2 has a very large focus on literature; which I wouldn't enjoy so much. But I would really enjoy the AS as I have had a look at papers and it looks like GCSE topics and a similar kind of thing but just a lot more advanced.

I think for now though I shall stick to Chemistry.

So, Maths, Further Maths, Chemistry, Physics, AS ICT (will have this by end of year). I think I will continue them all to A2, but then I don't really know yet since I haven't experienced it :tongue:

Reply 12

.snowflake.

Original post by GreenLantern1

you dont necessarily have the focus on literature. I know a lot of us on TSR do study a book/play at A2 but your school might study a film e.g Das Leben der Anderen and a period of 20th century german history e.g the fall of the berlin wall.

Reply 13

GreenLantern1

Original post by .snowflake.

Still don't think I would like that so much. Would definitely enjoy the AS though; a lot! :colondollar:

Reply 14

.snowflake.

Original post by GreenLantern1

Still don't think I would like that so much. Would definitely enjoy the AS though; a lot! :colondollar:

if you know most of the AS grammar already, you'll sail through it.

Reply 15

GreenLantern1

Original post by .snowflake.

if you know most of the AS grammar already, you'll sail through it.

Well what else is there really?

I know all forms (tenses) of passive and I know most of the tenses themselves; pluperfect, conditional past/pluperfect subjunctive etc. I only don't know the future perfect tense. Are there any other key grammar rules that would be new to me?

Reply 16

.snowflake.

Original post by GreenLantern1

nothing massive that i can recall of the top of my head.

Reply 17

GreenLantern1

Original post by .snowflake.

nothing massive that i can recall of the top of my head.

What do you think about doing 5 AS Levels, and then dropping down to 4 A2s and1 AS (Additional Further Maths)

Reply 18

Mike93L

Original post by GreenLantern1

What do you think about doing 5 AS Levels, and then dropping down to 4 A2s and1 AS (Additional Further Maths)

The few people that did 5 A levels at my school all hate the workload - you won't get any frees basically and you'll have to do even more work at home. To be honest I think you'd struggle to cope with 4 A2s + AS Additional (which is as hard as another A2 since it's A2 content). You'd be doing 9 maths exams in your A2 year + any resits + other exams.

It's ambitious to want to do 5 and if you're really interested in all of them then there's nothing stopping you but bear in mind that in terms of uni applications it will have almost no benefit. It's better to get A*A*A*a than say A*AAAa.(and getting A*A*A*A*a isn't that much better really and probably not worth the effort). If you're not aiming for the top grades already then definitely do 4 and do them well rather than spread yourself thin.

Reply 19

BachIsGod

Take German,

It'll kill you, others will mock you coz they dont understand how hard it is and its realy hard to do well.

But,

At the end, if you do well, the satisfaction beats everything else.

:biggrin: