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Reply 820
A piece of advice that I would give; a lot of people at my College have chosen Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Biology because they think they will get into a better university by doing that.

If you are most interested in those four subjects, and you are capable of getting good grades in them, then go for it. However don't go for them thinking that because you got a few A*'s at GCSE you are pretty much guarenteed an Oxbridge place by choosing those subjects, they are difficult and not to everybodies tastes.

A "B" in Chemistry doesn't trump an "A" in English Literature. A "C" in Biology doesn't trump a "B" in Economics etc... unless you are looking at specific courses. Obviously there are some subjects regarded lower than others, such as General Studies, Media etc... however generally most A Levels are on par until you look at a specific course.

If you don't know what you want to do for Uni, go for a mix of subjects that you are good at and enjoy, whilst thinking of what kind of options they could open for you further along the road.
Reply 821
All of those are fine, so just look at what you will be studying on each of the courses and go for which one you will enjoy the most.

Is there any paticular field of law which you are thinking about moving in to? That may help.

Personally, i'd stay clear of Option 4, simply because unless you really have a passion for chemistry and biology, you probably won't do as well in them as other subjects.
Gawge
A piece of advice that I would give; a lot of people at my College have chosen Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Biology because they think they will get into a better university by doing that.

If you are most interested in those four subjects, and you are capable of getting good grades in them, then go for it. However don't go for them thinking that because you got a few A*'s at GCSE you are pretty much guarenteed an Oxbridge place by choosing those subjects, they are difficult and not to everybodies tastes.

A "B" in Chemistry doesn't trump an "A" in English Literature. A "C" in Biology doesn't trump a "B" in Economics etc... unless you are looking at specific courses. Obviously there are some subjects regarded lower than others, such as General Studies, Media etc... however generally most A Levels are on par until you look at a specific course.

If you don't know what you want to do for Uni, go for a mix of subjects that you are good at and enjoy, whilst thinking of what kind of options they could open for you further along the road.


Of course a B in Chemistry doesn't trump an A in English Literature. English Literature is just as respected as Chemistry, except one is a science and one is a humanity.
They are all fine. Do the one you like best.
Reply 824
Jonty99
Of course a B in Chemistry doesn't trump an A in English Literature. English Literature is just as respected as Chemistry, except one is a science and one is a humanity.


A lot of people when choosing their subjects at my College didn't really seem to know that though. They just went with the "percieved" most difficult subjects, as they believe it will get them into better Universities. When really, unless you have a passion for those subjects, or are extremely talented, you will probably be much worse off.
Reply 825
As others have said, any academic A levels are fine. :smile:
I think I would do something like a science with eng lit, history and maths. Though I think I would probably do psychology as the science! And most likely drop maths or science after getting an as in it.
Duckzilla
Economics would make it easer to get onto an economics course at university if you enjoy it that much, but for chemistry, it doesn't matter at all. Both are respected and traditional subjects. Further maths A-level can be advantageous for chemistry admission at university, but is isn't a requirement, and some people could get bored of double maths anyway.

If you honestly think that German will drag down your other grades then don't do it. If however after GCSE results' day you think you could cope without German affecting anything else, then choose which A-level you think you would enjoy most and/or do the best in.

My school is always encouraging us to take language A-levels because they found some statistics that say: "Those who speak a foreign language to A-level standard often get 5-10% more salary in the same jobs than others do who don't have a language A-level", so that might be something to think about.

Some universities have chemistry degrees with industrial placements (lasting an extra year before you graduate), which often need a language A-level depending on the country you go to.



Thanks a lot for the advice. :smile: I'm going to email my teacher and see how she thinks I'll cope then just see how I do on results day.
Reply 828
I did OCR Religious Studies (Philosophy and Ethics) and loved it. I'll be carrying it on next year for A2.

Really interesting course. The exams are pretty good too, you can prepare the foundations and some pretty good firm paragraphs for all the exams (at AS anyway) and then just shape what you have already prepared towards the question, as only one little part of the question usually changes year upon year.

For the second Unit, we was allowed to choose any specific topic from the branches of Medical Ethics, Environmental Ethics and Social Ethics. I chose Euthanasia but you can choose anything that interests you. You prepare the framework for an essay and then replicate it in the exam leaning towards the specific question.
Reply 829
Unlike many people I know, there is not an academic subject I have a 'passion' for, something that I know I want to study. I want to go to university and don't want to put it off, so I'm trying to decide between a few subjects that I probably wouldn't mind studying. Up until very recently I thought I had decided on Maths, but it dawned on me that I would have to stop studying Chemistry and Biology and I realised I would probably miss them.

Maths is probably the subject that I generally enjoy the most. I don't really know why - mostly it's probably a genuine enjoyment of the subject, but I also have my suspicions that when it comes to the exam period, it's the most fun to revise for because I don't have to sit there slaving over a textbook and trying to memorise it. It's also the subject I find the hardest, and I'm not sure whether or not I'll struggle like hell on a good Maths course. Also, I have no idea what I'd do with a Maths degree - none of the careers that Maths graduates traditionally go into appeal to me. I could always do something that didn't require a specific degree, but then I'd have no reason to pick Maths over another subject.

Chemistry and biology are subjects that I neither love or hate, nor have I struggled with them so far. Some areas I enjoy more than others, but I'd probably end up applying to straight biology or chemistry courses at most universities. I have very little idea of what I want to do after university but I've looked at a few clinical scientist positions in the NHS and they look pretty good, and I like the idea of healthcare. (I might go for graduate medicine when I finish, and having a life science degree would widen the range of unis I could apply to.)

Could anyone offer any advice/insight/empathy? Any other factors I should be considering? :biggrin: Also, is it okay to study a subject I don't love?
heyy

right so basically i need to pick my a levels by the end of august and still have no idea what i want to do. Here are my choices: maths, further maths, economics, chemistry, biology and physics.

Originally i chose maths, further maths, economics and politics because i thought i wanted to be an accountant or maybe a banker.
However after a day in an accountancy firm i soon discovered it definitely was not for me.

so at the minutes i'm considering becoming a doctor however my main priority is choosing my a levels. if anyone can help this would be greatly appreciated.

i really enjoyed maths at gcse and studied add maths. i find sciences easy and got good marks in them .however i do not know if i like biology enough to study it for a full a level.

any help whatsoever will be greatly appreciated

thankyou
heyy

right so basically i need to pick my a levels by the end of august and still have no idea what i want to do. Here are my choices: maths, further maths, economics, chemistry, biology and physics.

Originally i chose maths, further maths, economics and politics because i thought i wanted to be an accountant or maybe a banker.
However after a day in an accountancy firm i soon discovered it definitely was not for me.

so at the minutes i'm considering becoming a doctor however my main priority is choosing my a levels. if anyone can help this would be greatly appreciated.

i really enjoyed maths at gcse and studied add maths. i find sciences easy and got good marks in them .however i do not know if i like biology enough to study it for a full a level.

any help whatsoever will be greatly appreciated

thankyou
Reply 832
Just as a foreword, it's good to see that you've got a well formed holistic view on occupations in healthcare. I personally think you come across as being someone who might well enjoy a degree in Pharmacy. Compared to Medicine, it would likely appeal to a mathematician a little more, and is generally less stressful as a career!

Though yes, I think the best advice you could ever get concerning your education at university is to study something you genuinely enjoy and are interested in. Understandably however, it can be difficult to really feel attracted to any of your A Level subjects. At that level, the content can be restrictive and not entirely reflective of how the subject is at degree level. For this reason, it might be a good idea to try to find out more about the actual content and examples of work from your prospective courses.

Good luck. :smile:
Reply 833
natasha1heak
heyy

right so basically i need to pick my a levels by the end of august and still have no idea what i want to do. Here are my choices: maths, further maths, economics, chemistry, biology and physics.

Originally i chose maths, further maths, economics and politics because i thought i wanted to be an accountant or maybe a banker.
However after a day in an accountancy firm i soon discovered it definitely was not for me.

so at the minutes i'm considering becoming a doctor however my main priority is choosing my a levels. if anyone can help this would be greatly appreciated.

i really enjoyed maths at gcse and studied add maths. i find sciences easy and got good marks in them .however i do not know if i like biology enough to study it for a full a level.

any help whatsoever will be greatly appreciated

thankyou


Hey,

Well your definitely going down a sciences route rather than humanities. With A levels in the sciences you can basically do degrees in that particular science with specialisations (so i'm planning on biology with possibly specialising in marine bio for postgrad).

If you did decide to become an accountant, you don't need a degree in accountancy; it's a job that requires a degree, but that can be any degree. For banking the same really applies except it's deadly important to get into the best unis and do a mathematical based course; chemistry, physics, maths, biology are all acceptable; economics is probably the most likely degree to get into banking, but it is so competitive that you have to be very good to get into the best unis. For example, i applied and got into UCL for biology with AAAAB (biology, maths, geography, gen studies, chemistry) at AS; i wouldn't stand a chance at getting into economics at UCL, it's that competitive.

Basically with the A levels that you specify (the sciences and economics) the main degrees would be in those particular sciences/maths or a finance/economics degree. With all of these degrees you can get into research jobs in those particular areas or you can go into business/finance/banking etc. The firms in these areas value the quantitative skills that science graduates have. If i was you in this position i would take the group of A levels that most interest me; all the A levels that you specified are respected so getting top grades in them would allow you to get into any university (obviously PS, GCSEs etc are taken into account too).

You also say that you're interested in becoming a doctor; obviously this makes medicine the main degree that you should consider. This link gives you the main information on A level choice to get into medical schools.
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Medical_School_A_Level_Requirements
Obviously use that to choose your A levels; so biology and chemistry would be main choices; then you can never know too much maths and it's respected in any degree so i would take that. I would avoid further maths as some of the unis there don't accept it as different from maths (UCL for example); then just add another subject, physics would be the best but any of the subjects that you specified are respected so any of them would do. And biology's a great subject to take at A level by the way :p:
Reply 834
IAmMrPink
And English lit only opens English Lit.

English lit is useful for lots of degrees, like law etc. Even though it is not a requirement, it is still good preparation for the essay-writing at uni.
For my A-levels I had chosen maths, chemistry, biology and physics, but I now realise that I'm not going to enjoy maths and physics so I don't want to do them anymore. I now want to do chemistry, biology, geography and Spanish, will I be hindered for a biology degree without A-level maths? Some universities state it can be 'helpful', will I be disadvantaged by not having maths?
Reply 836
Duckzilla
For my A-levels I had chosen maths, chemistry, biology and physics, but I now realise that I'm not going to enjoy maths and physics so I don't want to do them anymore. I now want to do chemistry, biology, geography and Spanish, will I be hindered for a biology degree without A-level maths? Some universities state it can be 'helpful', will I be disadvantaged by not having maths?

How come you have only realised now that you won't enjoy physics and maths? For a biology degree I think you would be fine without A level maths/physics, however maths is always a useful subject to have and so I would reconsider dropping maths. What about maths, chemistry, biology and spanish? Do you prefer geography or spanish?
star_5
How come you have only realised now that you won't enjoy physics and maths? For a biology degree I think you would be fine without A level maths/physics, however maths is always a useful subject to have and so I would reconsider dropping maths. What about maths, chemistry, biology and spanish? Do you prefer geography or spanish?

Because I just had a giant look through of the past papers and specifications I don't think I'm going to like maths and physics now. I like both geography and Spanish :o:
Reply 838
Duckzilla
Because I just had a giant look through of the past papers and specifications I don't think I'm going to like maths and physics now. I like both geography and Spanish :o:

Which do you think you would enjoy studying most? Spanish is useful for employers but geography would possibly opens doors for a biology degree such as the environment and conservation? So possibly geography would compliment your other a levels more than spanish. Also, I do think you should take a level maths :p:
star_5
Which do you think you would enjoy studying most? Spanish is useful for employers but geography would possibly opens doors for a biology degree such as the environment and conservation? So possibly geography would compliment your other a levels more than spanish. Also, I do think you should take a level maths :p:

I think I would enjoy Spanish the most, but I really like the look of geography too. Maths has always been hard for me, I'm predicted an A at GCSE, but after the last maths module I'm going to be incredibly lucky to get an A now, and I wouldn't feel confident in A-level maths if I got a B at GCSE. If I do get an A I'll consider it, but I really don't know :frown:

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